In the interest of completeness, this page details work that I have done to 05 KD 28 prior to this project. Most notably was the complete refurbishment of all four corners (bearings, seals, brakes) to get through its last MOT. It was after this I decided that I would be chasing my tail so the time had come to go the whole hog.
Starter for 10
First repair was to replace the starter motor. I had stopped for a work call on way back from collecting 05 KD 28 and just to test my metal it decided that the AA were needed to start again. The starter didn’t like being warm, but even after cooling it took a boost to get it to spin. Easy job to do, but did identify a broken lug on heat shield.
Pedal to the metal
Normally this is in reference to the accelerator. In my case it was the clutch pedal. This is less than ideal when wanting to come out of 4th, and did make the sharp turn into my drive somewhat exciting. Seals blown on slave cylinder but took the opportunity to replace full hydraulic system with OEM parts. Fairly quick to do despite the classic battle between engineer’s ideas and mechanic’s knuckles.
Exhausting
The hanger above tells the story. Hangers shot and pipe about 1/2 in thick due to the expansion of rust. It could well have been the original exhaust – 36 years old – and was certainly an order of magnitude older than the replacement will be when it is replaced. I only managed to replace middle and rear sections. The front section was a thread that didn’t need to be pulled at that time as I had found that one stud between it and the manifold was spinning. This probably will warrant new manifold which means a lot of strip down and the very high risk of snapped studs in the head. Here I again refer to Haynes ‘Step 1: Remove Engine’.
Stopping wheels in motion
All Land Rovers leak; it is only where and how much that matters. 05 KD 28 had started to leak a variety of fluids from one or more corners. Brake fluid and / or oil do not help the stopping power. I therefore decided that the time was right to replace wheel bearings, seals, shoes and pistons on all four corners. This naturally involved to heart in mouth moment as to if the chalices were ok under their gaiters. Fortunately they were. Less fortunately a previous owner (or military caretaker had stripped two threads in the hub for the driving member bolts. They had decided that RTV sealant was better than the 5/16th thread. A new hub ensued.
The last part of this was to replace the tie rod and drag link as the ball joints were shot and naturally had welded themselves to the rods.
Land Rover Series 3 Air Portable ‘Lightweight’ 05 KD 28 