The MOT………….

The MOT expired in early August, so I let it go as I knew the car was not going anywhere for a while!

When Perentie was in my favourite garage (Milford Motors) having his suspension upgraded, Dave was kind enough to spend some time with me looking over the car and discussing what needed to be done for the MOT.

This proved to be an interesting exercise and I can recommend it to anyone.

I now needed to finally tidy the wiring now the re-wire was complete. I had left this up until now as I just knew, the moment I bound it all up and secured it neatly, that I would need to add another wire. This was a good call as that is exactly what had happened on more than one occasion!

Similarly, some of the brake pipes needed securing as I had moved a couple in order to paint the axes and tidy up the previous, rather rusty brackets that may have caused the pipes to corrode in the future.

Dave drew my attention to the lower steering joint that was corroded and a track rod end whose rubber seal had perished. He also pointed out that the flexible clutch hose than goes from the slave on the gearbox to the main pipe leading to the master cylinder had not been secured properly (probably when the box was changed) and was in danger of chaffing.

I was also concerned about the lower (low pressure) power steering hose; that was not the correct hose; hence the leaking issue. It was swelling and in danger of giving up the ghost completely!

So it was another trip to Paul Light Land Rover for parts………….

The steering joints were only about £20 each, so I decided to replace both the upper and lower at the same time.

The ball joint is also an inexpensive part but the others were not in the best condition. Paul suggested that given the weight of the vehicle and our planned trip that I might like to consider upgrading to heavy duty steering arms and drag link from Brit Part (DA5502M). These came with the new ball joints already fitted and since they were new, re-setting the tracking would not involve a battle with seized adjusters – sold…………. He was not kidding when he said heavy duty, they are heavy!

I was not sure which clutch hose I needed due to the gearbox change, so Paul gave all three of the possibilities; to save messing around when the job was being done.

Perentie was booked in for the MOT and returned a coupe of day later…………….

The steerings joint were a pain as they were completely seized, although I had been spraying then with WD40 for a few days. I knew this was one job that I could never do myself on the drive, first because I knew it would be a pain and secondly, I have no means to re-set the tracking properly.

The clutch flexihose was not simple either. The logical place to secure the bracket was to one of the clutch slave fixings which made sense. The only problem was that the clave was actually only held on with one bolt, the second was doing nothing. So this has to be heli-coiled – another delay, but a lovely neat job done by Dave.

I had got a length of steel braided power steering hose for protection as the pipe is quite vulnerable at the front of the vehicle. I did get the right size, but it was a bit of a fight apparently, as the fittings at each end were very slightly different.

The old steering damper had to come off anyway, so this was replaced wit the Old Man Emu one that I got at the same time as the suspension parts.

That done I got my MOT ticket!

Sadly though, they replacement hose has not fixed my power steering leak completely, the steering box has a leak as well which really needs to be done. The steering has been a problem ever since we got the vehicle, see “Power Steering Woes”, I suspect a new pump will be obtained before we go away.

Other advisories were some corrosion in the drivers footwell, which was on my list to be done anyway, (the only corrosion on the entire vehicle, by the way!) and some play in the front radius arm bushes, which is not an issue right now.

When I drove Perentie after the suspension was sorted there was an amazing difference, but the upgrades to the steering has transformed it…….it now goes in the direction that you want it to go, rather than making its own mind up.

I now consider it safe for Benita to drive as it was more than a handful before – so I have promised her a trip out at there weekend along some of those bumpy undulating New Forest Roads….(que Mutley style laugh!).