Well the story of the 'dodgy' Bosch battery didn't get better and it seems that either due to age or more probably my treatment of the battery it has now decided it is no longer up to the job of kicking Trigger over. The final test was 2 days charging and even then I had to use the Defender batt and some jump leads to kick the engine over. It just doesn't have the strength anymore.
To that end the current Bosch is going to have to be relegated to a backup for the CB and ancilliaries via a split charge. The main battery was going to be replaced with a Halfords 096 I had been given but that is 10mm too wide. In the end I have ordered another Bisch S4 069 size which fits in the FFR dual battery position without issue. Online price only £62 delivered.
TYRES
The crossply Lassa's currently fitted to Trigger originally came off the Tdi engine donating Discovery and were always looked on to be a temporary fit. They are well past their best anyway and while legal they don't have much bite when the going gets rough and also have poor road grip and handling when compared to a newer radial./
So looking at the options :-
a) I have 4x Goodyear Wrangler AT's on the old SWB rims. 2x good and 2x not so good. I could strip these off and fit.
b) Buy new. Tyre prices for LR sized rubber seems to have rocketed recently due to the credit crunch or profitering (you judge). Even Fedima Extreme Evo are £120 a corner and they are remoulds. The std Extreme is £100. All in 750x16, a size I will stick with.
In the end I went with a variation of b).
I also sent a mail to LW Vass to see what they had to hand. After a week I had nothing back so I moved on.
Checking Ebay regularly I spotted a couple of sets of 4 new Michelin XZL's. One set in Scotland and another 'closer' to home near Hereford. The Hereford one was then suddenly removed from auction 12 hours before it was due to finish by a 'buy it now' at £300. Baring in mind XZL's retail at £140-180 unfitted - each!
Not having anything to lose I set the seller a mail saying I was watching the auction and if he had held out I would have bidded more than that and driven up to collect in the next few days. 10 hours later I receved a mail back to say the original BiN buyer thought the tyres were in Hertfordshire and they were still for sale. Mailed the seller back, then followed up with a call and agreed £320.
Here they are....
My 16 year old tom cat even manages to hobble into the pic
So new quality radial tyres that have been in storage for a few years. Not remoulds. Tough sidewalls. Can run tubless or tubed. Result! Now I need to get them fitted.....and maybe find another as a spare.
Should keep Trigger going for a while and no doubt someone on the Bay will buy the old set of Lassas? Also I have an interested party of the Wranglers too.
OTHER
Both military fuel valve assemblies sold and raised £40 towards the electric Pevekoil valves. One is on it's way to Portugal.
Nothing done with the fuel setup yet. I will get the battery and tyres out of the way first.
I now have a pair of interior door handles though. Cheers Twizzle!
No comments:
Post a Comment