The Rover-Landers of BC

Hello again from Brisbane.

We just had a couple of long weekends in a row down here which was to be the catalyst for a fresh attack on the truck. So, with an embarrassingly long 'to do' list to accommodate I figured the most efficient route was to attack the hubs as a prelude to completely replacing the front and rear brakes, hub seals, bearings, swivel seals, pins, bushes, bearings, seals and assorted what-not.

So, started to undo the driven plate nuts only to find that the PO must have used something like Loctite or similar on them at some time in the past - removal resisted both physical and verbal attack for several hours before the bolts, but not the plates, were independent of the hubs. Refusing to succumb they were left overnight with a generous application of penetrating fluids and bad thoughts for company. A renewed sortie the following morning with a very large hammer (FBH class) and driver finally saw the plates give ground and reassemble on the garage floor.


Now this should have heralded in the 'very easy' bit as with words of the factory manual still ringing in my ears ("just unbend the spacing washer tab and undo the outer retainer nut with the special tool, then go make yourself a nice pot of tea") I took the special tool specially imported from the UK from its pristine blue bag (there's a clue there) and approached the first nut........ Well, I can report that not only did it refuse to budge, so too did its' other three mates and the special tool proved to be worse than f___ing useless. Simply slid sideways off the nut and the slot for a cross bar - in this case a large screw driver - quite inadequate for getting any real force onto the job.

History is replete with cases where successful generals picked their battle sites. So, not being one in this instance I retreated for the rest of the weekend while fetching around for a better alternative. Fortuitously this emerged in the form of a nice bit of kit borrowed from a colleague (Killer) who had previously been confronted with a similar challenge. Being a fitter and turner by early training he had the advantage of a little knowledge and aptitude to support his approach.


Now this is a seriously nice bit of home made kit - it actually fits the nuts properly and has the advantage of being mated to the wheel brace for useful leverage and can also be linked directly to a torque wrench for the later Defender set up. I have sought a pup from it when he has time to run one up.

So, the nuts were finally defeated, the hubs were off ready for the brake plate and stub axle retainers bolts to step up to offer a bit of the usual grief. Well, they did put up a bit of a fight, but all finally declared defeat and joined the rest of the dis-assemblage in the parts bucket. One small ray of hope emerged in that the seal lands look to be in good shape.

I'm off to India this weekend and then the remote Kimberley and Indonesia in quick succession - so, a few weeks before any further advances are likely to be reportworthy.

Cheers,

Neil

P.S. I had the first purchase option on a very original rust-free and roadworthy 1951 Series 1 80" last week and thought my number had finally come in. But, twixt sighting and a final handshake the little woman (Mrs S3ute) decided to reverse her previous stance, stamped her dainty foot and said "no" - or words to that effect. Got sold yesterday to a phone buyer for about $2000 more than it was offered to me. It happens..................

Glad I'm not the only one to think that the BP hubnut spanner is about as useful as sn underwater fire engine. I've busted many knuckles slipping off of nuts while using a screwdriver as a lever on that thing!

That lioness looks like a cold blooded killer - her eyes compared to the other two give her away.

Good to see some parts of Africa still use the landy. I was in the Sudan a couple of months ago and I saw 4 Rovers. Two on blocks and two on the road... everything else was Toyota.

Who doesn't love a good story to go along with their land rover maintenance?

Hello again from Brisbane.

It's been a fair while since I posted anything to do with Land Rovers, mine in particular, and the miscellaneous topics that a life of wandering creates an opportunity to explore. Having returned from southern Africa in August last year in relatively high spirits, the immediate family found itself walking into a bit of a wall of stress related to a health crisis for one its members. I won't dwell on that but simply note that it didn't do much for promoting mechanical pursuits of a hobbying nature nor the inclination to write much about the same.

But having said all of that, there has been a bit of activity on the project through those months and a good bit found its way off the vehicle since it was last shown.

One of those small jobs that was previously offering up considerable scope for grief was removing the hub carriers - this came on the heels of a previously remarked on small job that was also offering a chance for grief, the hub retaining nuts....

Now one problem with sensing the nature of a job through intuition or a quick glance of the exploded parts diagrams is that subtle differences in part numbers are easily missed. In this instance these two hub carriers innocently might look alike, as they do in the parts manual which only shows this same side.


So, after much heaving and puffing trying the separate the rear ones from the axle casing flange by tapping from above, as was easily accomplished on the front - in the midst of a Homer Simpson moment - the thought occurred "H'mm what if they aren't actually the same"?


Whoo hoo............



Previous optimism over the state of the swivels dissipated on closer inspection, particularly in better light....



So, new ones were procured - in keeping with the international nature of the project the replacements were previously unused ex-MOD stock sourced from Cyprus.

Finding that some of the bolts/nuts in and around the swivel hubs share similar DNA with the Series 1 - ie, Whitworth rather than SAE - the time was opportune to dig out my late father's old tool roll from a much earlier time and there like a gleaming nugget was the right size ring spanner.....


Priceless - gripped tightly for the first time since about 1972 when he was still alive and we worked on such projects together on the farm it was a nostalgic old time feeling the power of torque beat the recalcitrant nuts into surrender. In the process a few more bits and pieces found their way onto the shed floor.

There is more, but it is of a similar nature and can wait another day.

Now back to Africa - although the travel was some months ago - during a recent sundowners session at the yurt a colleague asked me "did you see any fekking lions this time"? I thought about it for a while and said "suppose so" and handed him my phone.


This pair of cavortees were spotted in the bush around Sabie Sands near the Kruger Park and had been at it for a while - and seemed ready to keep at it for a while longer before presumably wandering off to kill something other than time.

Now I have seen the S3cat do this manoeuvre a few times and had previously put it down to sloth..........


But not one to let an opportunity for learning go begging I discovered that this is intended to help the wayward genes find their target - in the case of the S3cat, a long ago trip to the vet probably put paid to this being anything other than being a cat.

And finally,


I guess this is the leonate equivalent of sharing a cigarette.

Isn't nature marvelous?

Next time it may be back to mechanics.

Cheers,

Neil

Hello again from Brisbane.

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything on the restoration project that features in this thread.

There are a good many reasons for the absence that I won’t go into here. However, there had been a bit of progress since the last post - so, my plan is to bring it up to date some time in the not so distant future.

Neil

Hi Neil,

Good to see you back again. I see a bunch of your past Photo#ucket pictures are not showing up. If you cant get them working again you can upload photos directly onto the forum rather than use Photo#ucket hosting,

I spent a couple of years travelling up and down the East coast of Australia, including a week on Fraser Island in an old ex-military 109, good times for sure!

-Andy

Hello from the Antipodes.

It's been a long time since posting and the ship of good intentions got well and truly lost along the way - life's often like that I suppose.

Anyhoo, happy to announce that Ratel is no longer a pile of strewn parts under my house - former house and one reason for being distracted - but has been reassembled and road registered for a little over a year now. After nearly 14 years of episodic starts, stops, restarts, inspecting and rejecting the steady and expensive flow of imported parts etc it came close to a failed project on several occasions. That's some history for now.

Wearing number plates for probably the first time in nearly 20 years or longer the truck has covered about 8000kms covering a mix of highways, byways and good or indifferent gravel tracks. Most largely without incident although these things don't always run smoothly and some of the restoration effort had to be re-restored.... Partly my fault as the truck could have been a show queen with little use other than parked up on sports fields or shopping mall car parks. That seemed to be a waste of the re-established latent capability of the truck - so, I decided to drive it and ignore the cosmetic damage that would entail.

No regrets and a few longer interstate drives were largely following little used backroads through a number of old mining centres dotted along the Great Diving Range here in Eastern Australia. One was to a Grey Ferguson tractor rally in the New England and another was further south to Gundagai in the Riverina of New South Wales. Ratel was the best in its' class (Series 3) at both events confirming its show queen potential but the gravel travel has given it a bit more of an earthy look.... The point of going to Gundagai was to take part in an attempt to set a new world record for the most Land Rovers in a single convoy - both successful and enjoyable.

That's a little of where it's at - below are a few random snaps.

Cheers,

Neil

Hello again.

When I pulled Ratel apart and rebuilt him/her/it I thought the original springs were still OK and retained them - albeit after fitting new bushes, shockers, U bolts etc and soaking them in a lanolin based grease for several months. Unfortunately, despite that optimistic view, it bottomed out at every whoa-boy, cattle grid, driveway or creek crossing. Potholes were met with a resounding crash.

So, I pulled all that apart and fitted new parabolics and shockers. Made a definite improvement, especially on the gravel tracks - bottom outs are much less frequent and you don’t have to wince at the sight of another cattle grid of which this part of the world has many.

Cheers,

Neil

Hello again.

A quick comment for the keen sighted.

In one of the previous photos some might have noticed the Roverlanders badge on the grille of the truck - kindly given to me by your President during a very enjoyable visit to Vancouver a few years ago. I had a lot to choose from many sources but thought highly enough of that one to include it - it draws a lot of comment locally.

Here's another view and a closer view in the photos below.

Cheers,

Neil



P.S. The top photo was taken during one of the earlier testing runs in the Border Ranges - one that clinched the decision to scrap the springs for parabolics. The long ridge in the background is the weathered remains of what was once a series of supervolcanos that extended for several hundred kilometres forming The Scenic Rim between Queensland and New South Wales. The flora includes pockets of remnant stands of Antarctic tree species highlighting the great tropical forests that once stretched across the Continent through to Tasmania and Antarctica.

Hi Neil,

The Landy is looking fantastic, great job 8) Life is short so enjoy your time together!

The RL club badge is a nice addition on the grill.

Enjoy your adventures together and share more photos along the way.

Cheers,
Andy

ANDYD wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 6:15 pm Hi Neil,

The Landy is looking fantastic, great job 8) Life is short so enjoy your time together!

The RL club badge is a nice addition on the grill.

Enjoy your adventures together and share more photos along the way.

Cheers,
Andy

Andy,

Hello again and thanks.

Yes, the project finally came up well and it has been enjoyable getting out and about in the truck since it finally got back on the road.

I have some genuine regrets over the many missed opportunities that were lost over the years while it languished unfinished under my house. So, I suppose if there was one thing I could pass on to anyone else whose unfinished project seems to be a bit overwhelming that would be to persevere - the rewards will come in the end if you do.

One major goal that I have is to drive down the main street of Cooma (regional town in New South Wales) in 2028 for the 80th Anniversary of Land Rover gathering. I had originally planned to buy Ratel with an aim to doing that for the 60th and then failed to get it finished for the 70th in 2018. There were about 900 Rovers at that last event and hopefully a good many will come back again in a couple of years.

Cheers,

Neil

P.S. A couple of photos from Cooma back in 2018.


Cooma was/is the headquarters of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme which started not long after WW2. It was the largest civil engineering project in the world at the time and once had a fleet of about 300 vehicles including the largest private fleet of Land Rovers. So, it's sort of the spiritual home of the marque in this country.