Diet Mountain Drew – OKIEROVER.COM

August 31, 2025August 26, 2025

Random Next Jobs on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig Part 2 (Post #716) 8/31/2025

The first thing we did this weekend was drive up and surprise Lucas by taking him to his first pro football game. It was my first too, but we made it all about him. He had a great time.

In this post I worked on the footwell and the rust issues that may come up from melting off the stone chip/bedliner material with my welding. I got underneath and scraped off as much as I could reach with all the exhaust and drive shafts in the way. I also now realize there is a fair amount of leaking oil on this beast.

I found some transmission fluid, obviously engine oil, and I saw some antifreeze too. These are all leaks I can list along with my power steering which is weeping from the lower seal. All very annoying. Some we can fix. Some we will probably not fix. Engine oil could be coming from the valve covers which I think need sorting. Antifreeze is likely coming from one of the heater hoses on top the engine. All of those should probably be replaced based on age alone.

I also used some of the fancy zip ties to lock some stuff down. That was very satisfying. There is actually only one size in the bag and they were too small for some of the holes.

I also found some rust. “NO, how is this possible!!!” you might say. The front differential is really rusty. Flakey rusty. So that will need to be cleaned up and coated in rust converter. Then painted. The other rust I found was on the tube that houses the bonnet release (hood release to my fellow Americans). It looked terrible. I got the wire wheel out and got it knocked down to bare metal. I was pretty proud of myself for not wire wheeling my fingers.

I got it coated in rust converter and will get it painted next weekend. I still have several additional jobs to do. It’s labor day weekend so I plan to spend some quality time out there.

That’s about it for this week. No video last week because I had trouble getting the video to build and by the time it was built it was the middle of the week. So I slotted it for later.

Thanks for reading, like and subscribe, and may the wind take your troubles away.

Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/ERO8ZXFW5Q4

August 10, 2025August 10, 2025

Installing the Radius Arms on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig: Part 4 (Post #714) 8/10/2025

Thanks for coming back. This week I installed the Panhard Rod and got the rear Radius Arms back on the Range Rover. Interesting observation from the install. The suspension had moved due to the poly bushings failing. Probably didn’t help with me driving it.

The new bushing could not be tightened until the axle side had been installed. The was just not enough play in the system. On the first side I first tried to install it with the frame bushing installed. That was a no go. I could not get the axle side to line up the holes for the bush and the bolt.

You may encounter that when you are doing yours. I also had some trouble with the port side bushing due to my use of the cutting disc. It had carved a ridge on the mount that I couldn’t slide the bushing past. That took a little extra encouragement to get it lined up.

I used anti-seize on all the bolts. I feel pretty good about that. I’ll need to replace these at some point and it doesn’t help when they are rust welding themselves together.

The panhard rod still did not want to get lined up when I tried to install the bolt. I used the old bolt and drove it through the bushing to eliminate what ever was keeping me from installing the bolt.

I took her out for a drive down and OH MAN what a difference. This small upgrade fixed a bunch of the issues. She’s safe to drive again.

It was soooooo hot today. I tried to start early but just couldn’t get out of bed and started. By the time I was cleaning up the garage floor it was 105F in the shop and it was really taking its toll on me.

Mrs. Okierover got home from the National Senior Games where she competed in the Women’s 3v3 basketball in the over 60 age division. They did not have big point differentials so they were relegated to the Bronze Division this year. They swept all the teams but the last one out of San Diego.

The ladies of the Oklahoma Wolfpack played well and we were extremely proud of them.

My wife took our oldest grand daughter Cadence along as well as my son Drew. Erica even drove up from Spring Hill, Kansas with the boys so they could spend some time with Mimi and so they could watch her play.

I added a short clip of one of her games on the end of the video I posted.

I had some website trouble this week, so hopefully you didn’t come by and find it down. I got some TERRIBLE advise from Go Daddy’s online chat support (from India) and they managed to get my page hijacked by a restaurant somewhere in Maine(?). I also had no way to make any changes. They just kept suggesting I add products that would help me. It was all in vain because I had no protection after they had me remove my SSL certificate. Idiots.

I called back and talked to two help desk technicians (American) and they were awesome. The first guy was awesome. “Why didn’t they just put it back to the original configuration?” I said, “EXACTLY!” They nearly lost my business over this latest SNAFU.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering. May the wind take your troubles away.

https://youtu.be/b23aFdQC_0E

October 28, 2014May 16, 2023

RovErica Got Married (Post #516) 10/28/2014

The good people at Lucky 8 are always asking, “”What did you do Roverish today?” Well this weekend I didn’t do anything “Roverish”. I did however watch my little RovErica get married to Brian Trowman. Brian is 6’4″ a former Ball State offensive lineman and Erica is wearing 4 inch heals so I guess she isn’t my little RovErica any more.

Yes the little girl you have watched grow up on this blog is now all grown up and married. If it is a surprise to you, imagine how I feel.

She was the first kid in the family to say she loved our Land Rovers. She even drove the BWB for 2 years while in high school. While she was hard on the old bus she could break her more than I could fix her.

If you haven’t priced a wedding lately take my word for it they are expensive. So it will be a while before I do very much with the Land Rover. It might be a while before I do anything “Roverish”. We had a lovely wedding and it was a truly great time with friends and family.

The good news, Brian, our new son-in-law, is a car guy and hopefully will soon be working as a manager for a tire shoppe! Yes!

Welcome to the family Brian.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

June 15, 2014May 16, 2023

Back to the Future (Post #502) 6/15/2014

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there.

My son, Diet Mountain Drew, works at the OnCue on Flood in Norman. When he was leaving the other day a special treat rolled up.

Yes, that is a replica Delorean outfitted like the famous auto from the Back to the Future franchise.

Rich Corinthian Leather, its not really Corinthian.

Diet Mountain Drew said the guy hung out and let people take pictures for almost an hour. That’s great. Sharing your toys with others.

I am a little surprised he stopped for petrol when he clearly has a Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor installed. Hmmmmm…..

Thanks for reading and Happy Time Travel.

April 3, 2014May 16, 2023

SCARR – Day One (Post #477) 4/3/2014

The South Central Area Rover Rally was finally upon us. Leading in to it, I have had the worst two weeks professionally in my career. My wife has been my rock through it all and wanted me to get away for a trip. Mr. Fisher’s life recently has not been a cake walk either and Mrs. Fisher was also happy to see him out of the house doing something fun.

I’m going to stop here and thank both of them. You two are the best wives any two guys could possibly have. Your support to us is never-ending and we are very appreciative. Thank you.

Thursday started cold and blustery in Norman. Mr. Fisher and I organized our kit and got it loaded on to the Range Rover. It seemed like a lot of kit for a three-day event but we wanted to be comfortable. Even with all the kit we managed to forget several items: Continue reading “SCARR – Day One (Post #477) 4/3/2014”

December 30, 2013May 15, 2023

Radiator Cooling Fan Cracked Again (Post #426) 12/30/2013

I was under the hood looking for my power steering leak and noticed my cooling fan was cracked. This is the third failed fan. So annoying.

As you know or may have read, if the cooling fan fails while you are driving down the highway catastrophe ensues. My understanding is it destroys most everything under the hood. I’ve even heard of a bonnet damaged so much it had to be replaced.

My options are… Continue reading “Radiator Cooling Fan Cracked Again (Post #426) 12/30/2013”