15/16 July - Front brakes fixed plus a new problem

BRAKES

I noticed last week after the weekends shakedown that the brakes all would need to be adjusted again after bedding in. So tonite I jacked up the axles and gave them all a click on the snail cams.

Rears were fine (so they should be after all the time I devoted to them!) but one of the snail cams on the NS front would not tighten the shoe against the drum. Last time I adjusted this was about a year ago so off came the drum. It turned out one of the cam 'heads' had not been driven over the splines of the rear shaft which allowed it to turn. Result being no further pressure could be applied to the shoe without the assembly trying to undo itself.

The trick to getting these cam assy's to tighten up square is to hold the front screw with an 11mm spanner and only rotate from the rear (14mm). This way the rotating force of the front screw head does not cause the cam to drift out of line.

Fronts now adjusted up fine.


STARTER MOTOR

Last weekend Trig would occasionally refuse to start on the button, and the 'occassions' were getting more frequent by the end of play Sunday. I would hit the starter and there would be a click as the solenoid engaged and the sprag went forward but no rotation from the motor.

Voltage on the solenoid etc. were all good and when the starter contacts were shorted (along with the solenoid input for the sprag) the engine fired up straight away - so it must be the solenoid assy.

Pulled the starter (came out from under Trig without too many hassles) and checked it is the original fitment Valeo and not a cheap 'Britsmart' copy. So complete solenoid assemblies are available for about £30. So ordered one from Craddocks (RTC 4978).

For comparison for a complete starter motor assy a sh1tsmart is around £100, Valeo £160 and Bosch £200.

The offending article

On splitting the business end of the starter I found the comm surface to be in very good condition, and the brushes seemed 'almost new'. So I just gave it a general clean-up and some dry PTFE lube on the sprag gears and shaft. Then a bit of ubiquitous BBQ paint to the end cap etc. ;)

If anyone needs to source new brushes then check these guys out. Very good prices for Paris-Rhome (Valeo) etc. ---> http://www.anglocarbon.com/acatalog/Paris_Rhone_Starter.html


INTERIOR DOOR HANDLES

In the last blog post I mentioned trying to locate some of the original Series LR interior door handles. These are now selling for around £30 a pair on 'the bay' which seems extortionate for something that not many years ago was treated as scrap.

Anyhoo a post on the Series 2 forum brought a reply of, 'Paddocks still have them in stock...for £6 each!'. So for info if anyone needs handles search for Land Rover part No. 306460.

Order now placed and lets see whether they actually appear?

UPDATE!! - Paddocks rang back today to say the handles will be with them Monday and they will be sent to Tuesday!