Thanks GD,

Definitely a wee success tonight! Got the collet and O rings cleaned, lubed and into the plug; plug into tank; pipe trimmed chamfered and pressed firmly into the plug - and away we went!

I eased it out of the garage so as not to poison myself, and then let it run. I was getting a little anxious when rear then front climbed up.

As I still have an MOT I took it for a test run. Learnt that you can't drive a P38 in rigger boots.... it's hard to show off its acceleration when your foot is pressing accelerator and brake at the same time. Had to stick it on cruise control and yank one boot off!

Nice to get it going again! Nice also to have no fresh warning lights - unfortunately the friendly old 'SRS / airbag' couple are still hanging around. I was told by the seller this was something to do with the passenger seat. We'll see.

I do have a nanocom evo but have never used it, so I'll need to register that and see if it can clear those codes.

Then... a new MOT hopefully before I tackle the rear axle, though that could end up being the other way around..

Thanks again guys,
I got the collet and O rings out of the plug - managed not to lose them!

I think there's life left in the O rings and the collet, so I'll have a go at putting that back in meantime. On a point of detail - to save me watching dozens of videos - on reassembly is it simply two O rings inserted, and then the collet; or are one or other of the O rings supposed to go around the outside of the collet? I hope that makes sense, if not I can try and get a picture later. It seems to me as if o ring + o ring + collet is right, as I can't imagine how I would manage to get an O ring around the collet taper once in the plug, and they certainly won't go into the plug if joined together. Edit: I think I've got this now. A bit of googling suggests that I am right - two o rings, then the collet. O rings seal around the pipe; collet holds it in place.

Clive - if you are willing to machine a replacement plug in your exceptional toy box, then I'd happily source a plug to send down?

Thanks again. Fingers crossed I'll get the car mobile again tonight and out for a test drive. I kind of have to as the MOT expires tomorrow!

Excellent, thanks. Given that there's no pressure in the tank anymore.. I'll undo the nut and take it apart on the bench.

I just hadn't got to the stage in my P38 journey where I knew the collets would come out.

I thought I'd pushed the pipe in OK, but clearly not. I'll also check the end of the pipe for damage, but I wouldn't expect that.

Thanks Clive. I had that exact same thought about the EAS tank fixing. That it probably went on before the body was lowered onto the chassis.

The EAS thing - there isn't actually an additional coupler in there, so I'm not sure what you mean? I can picture the sort of connector I think you're referring to, but perhaps it's something to do with the model year?

On mine, the pipe just plugs straight into the connector/collet which itself is integral to the bolt which screws into the tank. I was assuming (dangerous!) that there were no serviceable parts in there? As I say I've been told STC3809 is unavailable. On second thoughts, has someone before me cut a corner somewhere? Is the pipe supposed to go into an inline connector, and then another length of pipe goes into the reservoir fitting?

Re bleeding the brakes - it's certainly complicated in comparison with anything else I've done. On the Defender, I plug in my pressure bleeder, run round all four corners and let fluid out, job's done. Having said that, we followed the checklist and it seems to have worked OK. The pedal didn't seem wonderful on the driveway, but then it is all new stuff at the front so I'd expect it to need some time to bed in.

Well.... ups and downs again today. No triumphal pics... as it was too dark, and by that stage I wasn't really in the mood.

Long story short, I got the car back onto all four wheels and out of the garage - even if only very briefly!

First hassle was getting the EAS tank back in. That fixing at the top/rear is a PITA. There was a sense of humour failure right there, and lots of verbal encouragement..

Then.... the joys of brake bleeding. As my wife has just said: "why was that so f***ing complicated?" Not only is it a complicated procedure, but access to those front and rear booster screws, up against the bulkhead is awful. I don't have tiny hands, but they're not massive either. Even then, getting in there with room and angle to swing a spanner is difficult.

Rear calipers were pretty crusty. In fact most of the stuff at the back looks pretty grim, but at least the bleed nipples opened and closed.

So, wheels back on, still on axle stands, start the engine. It started straight away so I was happy with that. Took a bit longer than I thought for the air springs to fill, but eventually it lifted enough so that I could get all the stands out from under the chassis and drive it out of the garage!

As it sat there running and warming up, I was sweeping up the garage floor when "PSHHHHHT" big air leak noise. The pipe has blown out of the EAS reservoir connector.... drove it back into the garage, switched off, and down it went :-(

Is there anything I can do to make that a better join? It was holding air OK before I took the tank out. Do I just put a tiny bit of lube on and reconnect? Ideally I'd get a new connector, but STC3809 seems out of stock everywhere.

Overall though, still making progress. It would have been nice to have managed a successful test drive, but on the other hand it's better to have that connector go on my own driveway that on a dark B or even C road somewhere.

What's the collective thought on the tank connector?

Thanks guys,

It's only shiny for the same reason as yours! New bits that won't stay shiny for long once the salt hits the roads. One of the last jobs on the list will be to spray dinitrol onto lots of the fixings, just in case I do ever need to take anything apart again.

EAS seems fairly simple then.... fingers crossed for no leaks.

Just back on the bleeding question, and to turn Clive's current question on its head, given that I haven't touched the back at all (yet) do I need to do anything there, or just the fronts? When I removed the calipers, I just let the old flexi hoses drain out.... I've no idea if that makes any difference, but it seems to me that the rear circuit could be unaffected.

Hey hey! A couple of pretty good days and I'm nearly there! There will be some 'daft laddie' questions at the end of this, so please be nice!

I've just been slowly building up the hubs, but for some 'light' relief.... a couple of folk have commented on the amount of rust around this car. I'd got to that stage in the job where Cpt James T Kirk might have said (had he ever refurbished a P38) - "Set ratchets to tighten...!" So I decided to do a little clean up and clear away the evidence of the 'strip down' phase. This is the amount of rust that came of the driver's side of the axle. I reckon there was about 1 - 1.5kg of rust in that pan. The same on the passenger's side.

I posted another thread about the EAS reservoir. It looked like this:

And now looks like this:

This is after 1 coat of rust converter, 2 coats of 'shiny', and a last coat of a brushable underseal which I've pretty good results with elsewhere. I invested a Princely £5.00 in a few packets of O rings to be able to reseal the fixings at either end. This will go back under the car tomorrow using stainless fixings and anti-gall paste.

New propshaft fitted.... Whose idea was it to put the gearbox crossmember under the gearbox end of the front propshaft? This is actually a job I hate. The 'special tool' to access these nuts/bolts isn't really so wonderful, and I'm pretty sure the new nuts and bolts we get are made of cheese. Ho Hum. It's on, and I can refurb the original with new UJs at my leisure.

EAS sensors back on, with new heat shields and Clive's nice stainless fixings where they tie to the radius arm.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I managed to destroy the steering stop bolts by having my windy gun set to tighten by mistake - so here's my workaround. Overkill on the securing nuts no doubt, but I remember my first ever MOT in the early 90's and the tester complaining I hadn't used a locking nut on something, so.......

As above I had bought new CV boots - but there was just no way I was going to get them fitted. So here's my "hanging half-shaft" technique....

This way, gravity was working in my favour so I could pull the boot down and rummage about to get as much as possible of the old grease out before putting new stuff back in. The boots themselves were actually in strong condition, so I'm quite happy to resuse them. Better sealed this time. The britpart boot clamps I got with the grease sachets were also made of chinesium, so I had to go into town for a pack of good ones and the old boots are now properly secure.

Anyway, you guys have all seen this stuff before, and more often than I have, so here we are - one, more or less complete axle end. The other one is at exactly the same stage. It's nice to be putting new bolts into place.

Not particularly obvious in the pics are: new draglink and trackrod; new panhard rod dampers; new steering damper; new brake flexis.

After all that, about 5.30pm today, I wasn't ready to venture into fresh territory and tackle the brake bleeding, so I treated myself to playing with some more new stuff. I got the roof rail 'sliders' moving and offered up one of the rails/bars I got off ebay. Looking good!

So that's where we are. Now the 'daft laddie' questions :-)

I now have a car with two new front air springs; and two new front calipers. It seems to me that a lot's going to happen when I reconnect the battery and turn on the ignition - and I'm a little scared that my brain might melt, far less the car's ECU.

1) Can I stagger the work by pulling fuses/relays? Or is this just not necessary?

2) I've checked the manual for the brake bleeding procedure. It talks of depressurising the system by repeated pedal pressing. I just can't remember if I did that at the outset. Is this critical, and will it stop me going any further? Can I just do it now, even with the battery out and the front caliper circuits empty?

3) the workshop manual bleeding process seems very complicated (remember, I'm an old Defender owner!) and doesn't mention use of any pressure bleeding kit. I have a good one of them. Can I use it, and does it simplify things?? I have tried searching. Is there an idiot's guide?

4) Do I need to do anything regards the EAS system? Will that just kick in, repressurise and fill the new springs without my doing anything?

Genuinely appreciate any help I can get here.

This could either be a 30 min, quick completion, allowing me to drive the car tomorrow; or a protracted PITA..... !

I did check for a hex head - in one of my more alert moments! Nothing - just a wee useless dimple!

There was a 16mm flat, and that was it. Hey ho. They are in, and that's something else that's behind me.

Thanks very much! I'll give that a go when I'm at the desktop, with a CD drive.

I meant to say above.... RAVE...? I've never managed to find a useable download of this, so I tend to work off the paper manuals - P38 and 300Tdi.

Well, pretty good day today actually.

I got the arb links done up - to 125Nm! - that was actually easy enough once I'd got over my numpty idiot moment and realised the chassis 'recess' for the links is actually open at the top..... On the question of torque values it's quite noticeable that the P38 torques are significantly higher than the Defender. I guess it's a big, heavy car, and is capable of travelling much faster.

Got the panhard rod on too, with new bushes. Those bolts are even tighter.... I've found I can 'bench-press' 200Nm. On another forum, discussing Defender panhard rods, someone was saying it's the clamping force of the nuts that make the difference, not the bushes. At 200Nm I can believe that. Panhard rod was actually a bit of a pain.... With the axle so stripped down; radius arms off, albeit one at a time; shockers off; air springs off; etc etc. the only thing holding it in place was the propshaft. So, the axle had actually moved sideways a little, and needed to be persuaded back the other way. I have some sash clamps that I needed to put into 'spreader' mode, but it worked OK.

I also got my new drag link and track rod set to length against the old ones - near enough to get going with when the time comes.

Got the driver's side swivel adjusted - a bit disappointed that it's maybe 1mm 'high' after the final torqueing up - but I'm afraid that's close enough for me today. If it causes problems, now that I've a better idea what I'm doing, I can revisit it.

...and finally, some fun and games with the passenger's side CV joint and boot...... What a pain. There was no way whatsoever that my new boot was going to stretch enough to fit. Not a chance. So (should have taken pics of this!) I suspended the driveshaft and hub from the floor joists and tried to clean out the boot and the old grease as much as I could.

Interestingly inside the boot, which was "attached" at the CV joint end by a loose, large tie wrap, I found the old crimp clamp! Quite innovative I thought.... I wonder if they've done the same on the driver's side?? Might find out tomorrow.

Anyway, got the old grease out; new grease in; used my clamping pliers for the first time, then reintroduced the driveshaft to the axle! Starting to look like a car again.

Ah well, a joyful time ahead fiddling with my 16mm spanner then..... I might see if I can find a thinner/smaller one in an old bicycle toolbox that can be bent into a more helpful shape. The alternative is to try and 'clamp' the link into the chassis with some plumbers pipe grips and see if they can provide enough friction to allow me to spin up the nut. I'll try that first just because it's easier.

I was actually wondering if the picture/fitting alignment was a typo - not the torque setting. Pretty sure 125Nm is correct - it's in my manual and I've just checked another version online. But there's not much diffference between 125Nm and just doing it up 'FT'...

A miserable day up here, so perfect for spending some quality time in the garage.

In fact yesterday was a lovely day - and I still spent it in the garage! I was working on the O/S and got the radius arm, airspring, shocker and brake fllexi fitted, and then the swivel ball joints into place.

Today I followed the procedure for setting the height of the N/S swivel. I was a little concerned about this (hence my other post about the dimensions of the special tool) but in the event it went OK. The alu. tube that's pictured in one of the posts above worked pretty well as a datum point and I think it's now as close as I'm going to get without the tool itself or a functional copy.

As well as the swivel height, I also fitted the axle oil seal using an old bearing outer race as a drift. Happy with that. I'm not more or less at the point where I can refit the driveshaft, but before I do that I'm going to try and fit a new CV boot to it. Never done this before..... I bought a CV boot 'cone tool' - but I've decided to modify it so that I can fit the boot from the diff end of the drive shaft (given that they're out of the car anyway). That way the boot only has to stretch over the small flange that sits against the axle seal. Sounds simple enough, but anything involving lubrication and stretchy rubber..... well... there may be some verbal encouragement required as well.

I think I'd rather not heat up the boot using hot water - as that will potentially introduce some water into the joint - even if only minimal, so I have the boots sitting on top of the heating boiler overnight. Does boiling water do the job OK without affecting the CV joint??

So here's where I'm at right now on the N/S:

And finally for now, (another) question.

I'm using new anti roll bar links. The manual shows them fitting like this - with the chassis end inside the little 'housing' for it.

However, if I do this, how do I get the nut tightened up? It's supposed to go up to 125Nm, and the ball joint and stud are already turning as I try to tighten the nut. There's a flat on the ball joint end of the stud for a 16mm spanner, but I can't get to it when it's inside that chassis recess??

Is the manual picture a 'typo'? Would it go on OK from the other side? I just can't remember how the old one was fitted when I removed it.

He he. Well, maybe not then.

However, I have to say that maybe I was making too much of this. I've managed to get one side adjusted to my satisfaction using the aluminium tube I'd bought to set into the axle and through the swivel as a datum point. There's maybe 0.25/0.5mm of a difference top to bottom, but that's all. Let's see how that goes in real life once the car's back on the road.

If someone does have, or find the critical measurements for the adjustment tool I'd still be really pleased to get hold of those, and maybe make one up that could 'do the rounds' of forum members as required. While I think I've got the height correct, I might not have, and might be dealing with a leak in a few weeks time - in which case the 'tool' would come in very handy.

Hi guys,

I've searched here, and googled extensively, but no joy....

I'm at the stage where I'm about to fit the swivels back on. I had to remove the old collets, so vertical adjustment will be needed. My googling has shown some Heath Robinson options and I might try a 'workaround' based on these. I'm confident that I'll get it "into the ballpark", but I don't really want to get into a protracted series of tinkering and adjustments, so ideally I'd like to get the proper dimensions and see if I could get something made up locally.

The web has thrown up nothing. Forum posters saying they'd measure and post and then nothing. There was a hopeful looking attachment on the rr.net site, but it can't be found. It's like looking for the 'poo' from the offspring of a unicorn and a rocking horse....

As we probably all know, the proper tool is about £1k..!

I think I did ask this earlier, but buried in a rebuild thread, so I thought I'd try once more and ask more specifically.

Ta.

(off out to the garage shortly to see how confident I am in the results of my workaround option)

Thanks guys.

Chris - I think it's always the case that the 2nd, 3rd or whatever time you do a job it's easier. You'll pick up ideas or solutions that work. I'll know next time....!

Not much progress on the axle itself to report, but the crusty EAS tank has been zapped with the grinder brush, rust converted, and now enjoying its first coat of paint. 2nd coat tomorrow eve, and hopefully make more progress on Friday when I've a day off work.

I've also decided to get a new hub/bearing for the offside. The heat coming off that wheel with the binding brake was just intense, and I recently had to change a wheel bearing on the Defender where heat had clearly affected the grease that was in there, though I don't really know why. There's obviously no logical link between them, but it doesn't stop it playing on my mind!

I've got a timken bearing one coming up, so if nothing else it will be peace of mind.

Right, time for a wee update.

The rust remover stuff which Morat mentioned worked really, really well. Quite impressed with that, and something I'll keep in my armoury.

The knuckles / hub carriers came up pretty well:

Then on the way to both being primed and painted:

The axle ends were a bit more tricky obviously. I had to go around each nook and cranny with a hammer and chisel first to get the bigger/flakier bits of rust off. There was a lot of this.... After that, a combination of grinder and wire brush; drill and various wire brushes for the same nooks and crannies.

Then I used a rust converter - not the best pic...

and couple of coats of paint - but shiny black paint, inside a dark wheelarch doesn't photo too well.

Actually, the OS just got its first coat of paint today. On the NS this is roughly where I'm at just now:

The pics also show Clive's 'spare' radius arms which changed hands - now painted and installed!
The aluminium tube is my 'work in progress'/Heath Robinson thing which I'll use to try and set the hub height as close as I can.

Will get another coat of paint on the other axle end tomorrow and maybe make some more progress fitting up the NS hub. Off to a Covid-safe 'party' now... so it will depend on the state of my health tomorrow!

Ah.. never thought of something like a 'bleed' groove. Makes sense.

In any event, while I was waiting for paint to dry on the OS end of the axle I had a go at this. It's certainly complicated by the fact that with the car on the ground, I can't actually focus close enough to see what I'm doing properly! My glasses aren't designed to work on something 6" off the end of my nose!

I'd assumed that with all 4 airbags empty, there would be no pressure in the tanks. Not so. However I take this is a very good sign that the tank is holding air and worth refurbishing. I bled it in stages via the bolt opposite the air hose. No drama.

Then, it put up a bit of a fight as I assume it's never been off the car, but my garage-fu was strong today, and eventually three out of three of the bolts snapped. Thankfully in a manner that allowed me to remove the tank.

This is the top - still a little rusty:

and the rest:

I'll do the whole wire-brush, prime, paint thing and get it refitted. I think I'll use stainless spire nuts and ss bolts on reassembly, with an anti-galling paste. One less thing for the MOT man to pick up on.

Sometimes I think that good evidence of recent work makes them view a car a little more kindly, and what might have been a borderline 'fail', they'll make as an advisory - being more confident it will be sorted.

Thanks for the further replies. No doubt I'll be along with more daft questions as I tackle this!

However, at this stage, if I was to take it out and refurb, I'd like to use new 'fittings' and I don't mean just the ones attaching it to the car. I have enough 'stock' of regular or stainless nuts n bolts to manage that.

I'd like to replace the air hose entry thing; the big m8 x 22 bolt at the other end; and the drain plug. However looking at the parts diagrams on 'new lr cat' they only really list the whole assembly. Does anyone have another source of part numbers for those bits n pieces?

Clive - I've been pondering doing another PM to ask about your spare tank, just in case I take this one off; attack it with the wire brush/grinder and find that it's too far gone. But I think I'll just see how I go in the first instance. However I'd definitely be interested in your 'sticker' pdf file. I'll PM again in case my email details weren't on the last one. Ta.

Thanks guys,

More verbal encouragement Clive...?! I indulged in some of that today when trying to get the clips onto the top of the front suspensions bags...

Seems this is just another question mark about last September's MOT.

I think that the point about 10bar or so is important though. I'm too used to 230bar in scuba, so probably overly sensitive.

I will look at the manual, but in the real world, how awkward is it to remove? If I'm going to be using the wire brush on the grinder, I'd prefer not to be doing it lying on my back. I've no reason to believe it wasn't holding air so if the consensus is that it's not a disaster, then dropping it out and tidying it up will be the thing. More mission creep....!