191,191 (Post #277) 12/23/2011

191,191 miles. Its a mileage palindrome. I know that is a lot of miles on a truck. All in all, she’s in pretty good condition considering that. However, I think I still need some undercarriage work. A new set of springs and shocks and a new steering damper would probably make things a lot nicer.

There was a threat of snow ever so briefly this week, so I got her out this weekend for some work and to test the starting issues I had this month. It was a beautiful weekend 61F and just a slight breeze. And with a successful road trial I drove her to work and back, too.

She did pretty good. As you can see she hauled some fire wood for us. It was interesting to me how different the ride was with a load in her. This makes me rethink my spring selection. Probably going with the “medium duty” springs. I don’t haul a lot but would like to know if I did I’d be good to go.

While I was out this week, I also stopped by the furniture store and grabbed a set of chairs we ordered with our new table. The kid that loaded the box was funny. He was so worried about putting the box in the back seat.

I had to finally say, “Its a truck, just set the box on the seat.”
“Its a Range Rover.”
“Its just a truck son, put the box back there.” 

I have to respect that he didn’t want to damage anything. I’m sure he’s run into some snobby lady that didn’t like the way he loaded something in their Range Rover or Lexus or Mercedes. And with that lesson he’s learned to be careful. I wasn’t hard on him, just matter of fact about it.

When I pulled into the neighborhood for the last time I could hear some sounds underneath. It was definitely related to the speed I was going. Sounded like something rubbing, whomp, whomp, whomp, and it would increase in frequency when I sped up.

So I guess I’ll have to try and sort that out this weekend. I hope it’s simple like last time and just something I forgot to button up tightly.  hope its nothing silly like a rear end about to quit.

Its that time of year again. This year I don’t think I’ll be doing a 12 days of Christmas post. I’m still a little burned out from the school work this semester and I have enjoyed my brain being idled. But if I get some energy I’ll get one going.

So from my family to yours, Merry Christmas, thanks for reading and happy rovering.

The 12 Days of Christmas Okierover Style (Post #238) 12/25/2010

12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
12 inches of ground clearance.

Okay I confess, I don’t have twelve inches of ground clearance under my stock Range Rover Classic. But I did have 12 inches of snow to navigate through and that was given by my other true love, The Almighty.

You can see from the picture that this storm was not for the inadequate vehicles to the Land Rover’s right. We had drifts in some places up to five feet. You can see one in front of my neighbor’s house at the far left of this picture. There have been five or so notable weather events that I have been very pleased I bought and maintain a Land Rover for. Two of them came a month apart last year Christmas Eve 2009 and the January 2010 Icepocalypse that crippled the state for a week.

Thank you for reading and Merry Christmas and Happy Rovering everyone.

The 12 Days of Christmas Okierover Style (Post #237) 12/24/2010

I dug and dug and could not find a single thing that had anything to do with Eleven. The only thing is the obvious reference to the move Spinal Tap (1984). The great scene where Marti DiBergi is interviewing Nigel Tufnel. Nigel is telling him about his amp that goes to eleven, one louder. The words, “…but this one goes to eleven” have been repeated many, many times. Most people know the reference and make the connection.

I am going to replace or repair the sound system in the Range Rover during this restoration. When I’m done, I’m hoping it will “go to eleven“. I have it on good authority that Santa’s radio goes to eleven.

The 12 Days of Christmas Okierover Style (Post #236) 12/23/2010

10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Ten nuts to tighten

There are ten nuts holding the rear differential on the axle housing. I had to pull the differential to remove the piece of broken axle out of the differential. To get it out I also had to sacrifice a screwdriver and convert it to a long narrow punch.

It was kinda awesome to see how the differential worked. It is almost magical, sort of how you imagine Santa’s workshop functions. I would have liked to done this job while my Classic was on a rack but I learned that I can do this job flat on my back. So if ever I see a differential go out on the trail, I know I can do this job. All the mystery is gone.

The 12 Days of Christmas Okierover Style (Post #235) 12/22/2010

9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Nine spots of rust on the tailgate to address.

Only slightly less famous than Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer is the rusting of Range Rover Classic upper and lower tailgates. When you look through the pictures of my tailgate after 17 years, its a wonder any of it was left at all. The missing paint on the bottom of the lower tailgate was probably on the day that Land Rover’s Quality Assurance Team took off early to attend the Christmas Party down at the pub. When you look at some of the things I found it is funny that my Land Rover was actually on the assembly line over Christmas or real close. The delivery date was January 1993.

I learned the basics of automotive painting by painting my tailgate. I also learned that you should not paint without a mask while you have the flu. I survived but only just barely, sort of like my tailgate.

The 12 Days of Christmas Okierover Style (Post #233) 12/21/2010

8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Eight soft nyloc nuts to cut off and replace with grade 8 nuts

Few things make me want to punch someone in the face. Using inadequate materials on a LUXURY SUV is in top five things that I would punch someone in the face over. I know punching someone in the face will put me on Santa’s bad list, but I’m pretty sure the bean counting jackass that sourced the nuts for the drive shafts on Range Rover Classics is already on Santa’s bad list.

Do us all a favor next time and spend the extra 50p [1$(US)] and get the hardened nuts. Some poor bastard like me will thank you when they have to take them off ten years from now.