In this video I talk about some of our crazy Oklahoma weather and what I’m planning for the back of the Range Rover Classic Overlander.
In short, mostly because I think you’ll enjoy the video, I’m planning a few things. First among them is how I’ll be wiring up some lights I have planned. Next is the bed box with the cliche drawer to hold my cook stove and some cooking gear and maybe even some clothes or whatever.
A second battery is definitely going to happen too. I’ve been making a list of all the items that would be supported by a second battery. I think you’d be surprised at all the things you might want to have on your overland rig that takes up precious battery juice.
Here’s the list so far:
Interior lights
Exterior security lights
Phone
Cell phone booster
Tablet
Camera batteries
Drone batteries
Refrigerator
Cooking light
Diesel or Propane heater
Hot water heater
Water pump
Are you surprised? I was! The more I think about it the more items I come up with that would be supported by the second battery.
Electric blanket
See! Watch a couple hundred hours of YouTube (like me) and I bet you’d come up with a few more.
Tire inflator
See! There I go again!
Tune in to the channel and follow along. You never know, I might come up with another one!
I took the Range Rover around the block (technically the section lines) to get all the fluids warmed up and to gauge road readiness. The fluids did get hot. The RRC is NOT ready for the road.
What I experienced was a vehicle that has some obvious issues.
First, the shocks. I think they are tired and probably done. They’ve been on this truck for at least 15 years.
Second, my medium springs on an empty truck make the ride pretty harsh. I’ve pulled all the seats out and all the interior. Besides the noise, it has very little on board to make the springs do anything.
Third, there are some bushings that have failed. You’ve seen the poly bushes in the back failing. I also experienced the signs of a panhard bush failing when the truck dives right when I let off the gas. Probably wouldn’t hurt to get them all refreshed.
I have this crazy idea to take the truck over to Mickey’s Garage and have him get her up on the lift to do an inspection. If I could get a list of all the stuff that needed replacement, I’d feel better about what I needed to do next.
In the video, I talk about my coolant being low. It took about a half gallon to top her off. Considering how long she’s sat and air bubbles getting flushed out from the engine being at full revs I’m not worried about the level changing like that.
I also had a brake light on. I had replaced the plug on the brake fluid reservoir. I got the wires swapped into the new plug and I guess one had a poor connection. I fussed with it and the light went out. I’ll probably crimp the spade connectors again to tighten them up.
I also showed off my new Knightsbridge seat covers with Molle. I’ve got a couple of bags on there and am scouring Pinterest on the potentials.
In this video I reassemble the D Pillars on my Range Rover Classic overland build. If you like watching a guy assemble and disassemble stuff and get really frustrated at his dumbassery this is the right channel for you!
I managed to find the hardware in the pile of screws and nuts and bolts. That saved me a trip to the hardware store. But the side vents required new press nuts.
I had to dig through the three tiny boxes at the hardware store to get the number I needed. I needed 16. They had 18 spread across the three boxes of different sizes. So I bought all 18. I joked with the register lady that I wouldn’t charge her for organizing their entire collection of press nuts. I don’t think the joke landed.
I put this together several times. I managed to drop the washers and nuts a few times. Then I installed the right beauty panel without the vent. So it had to all come apart again. The hole covers were really brittle. I replaced them with rubber hole grommets. I cleaned it all up and it looks great. Well it looks okay. The paint on the pillars is only rattle can good. and I managed to get a couple of runs. I will have to do for now.
In this post I show how to disassemble and refurbish a seat switch. The seat switches you find on a Range Rover Classic were also used on Discovery 1’s from 1994-1999 and BONUS tip Mercedes in the 1980s. My switch was made in WEST GERMANY. If you don’t know what WEST GERMANY is you are probably less than 40 years old. Check it out at this post [Britannica] from the old days of the Cold War.
You’ll need a few tools for this project.
#2 Phillips screwdriver
Needle nose pliers or a hemostat
Old t-shirt
razor blade or sharp pen knife
Q-tips
Toothpick
Dielectric grease (optional but highly recommended)
Steady hands
Patience
Faith
The t-shirt is so when you drop a spring or ball bearing it doesn’t go anywhere. These are small and if it travels more than 2 feet from the switch casing it will fall into a worm hole and disappear from your current plane and travel to another you are unable to reach in your corporal form. So take heed and work on this on a t-shirt or a dish towel you will certainly get yelled at by your significant other for using to work on “that damn dirty Rover”. You’re welcome.
If you have big gorilla fingers, like I do, that are riddled with hard use and arthritis, I recommend you get a hemostat or some needle nose pliers to fetch the contact rockers and springs and ball bearings. They are difficult to grab and even more difficult to drop in the precise location you want.
My final PRO TIP is to use some grease. The last time I did this job I used just ordinary bearing grease. It seemed like a good idea at the time mostly because I didn’t know about dielectric grease, or didn’t have any on hand. A little grease goes a long way to keeping the precariously balanced ball bearings atop the springs on the rocker toggles and in the toggle.
I said you might need a toothpick. I used the toothpick to remove the old nasty grease that had deteriorated into basically an earwax substance. It was still sticky and all that, but was not in its best condition, so I removed the chunks with a toothpick.
You’ll need a razor blade if you have never opened your switches. There is a substantial security tape there and it will need to be cut.
If you are a rookie, I suggest taking a picture as soon as you have the top off. And if you remove a rocker toggle, orient it on the t-shirt just like it came out of the switch.
There may be carbon build up on the contacts. You will need to get that off. I used Q-tips and the hemostat to scratch it off. I also rubbed the rockers on the t-shirt. Don’t go crazy on this cleaning. Just get the big chunks off.
In this video I am finally starting to get the trim back into the Range Rover Classic. I had to do some touch up to some of the pieces. I got that all done.
I also forgot the steering column cowling. So I got that off and gave it a coat of paint and at least three coats of matte clear. This is in the sun most of the time and frankly I’m surprised it isn’t in worse condition.
The rear wiper switch on in the cowl didn’t want to come out. The tabs were badly bent. I don’t remember ever touching that so I can’t say it was me that damaged it. In any event, I had to take it apart to get it out of the cowling piece. And as you can probably follow, I had to refurbish it a bit to get it reinstalled.
I also popped one of the bullet connector ends of the wiring off and had to repair that. That too a little quick thinking as they are very small and the crip was really going to be a bitch to solder. So I used a small jewelers screwdriver end and tapped it through the connector to open up the prongs. This worked better than I thought it would. So bully for me!
I had to make a run to the hardware store for “hardware” to replace the bolts on the passenger side. I found four nuts in my stash for the instrument panel. Where I put all the hardware to take this dash apart is still a mystery. I’ve dug through all the project cups and pie plates and have not found one that had the correct parts.
So I guess I’ll just keep replacing the “hardware” with new. And then one day, I’ll find all the original hardware and think to myself, “why did you put it in that spot?”
The tick invasion is on us. After the creek flooded last weekend all the ticks in this end of the county have moved to higher ground.
The result is the dogs are carrying them in and they are dropping on us from the trees. I had another tick on me during this video. I hate ticks.
My dad hated them too and once said to me, “I’d rather be bitten by a good clean snake than have a tick bite.” I agree dad. I’ve had two on me this year and I haven’t even been camping yet. One latched on and caused an infection. That resulted in me having a round of antibiotics. Damn I hate those things. As I type this I keep thinking I feel them on me. Hopefully a HOT shower will settle my nerves down.
In this video, I clean up my interior trim and put another coat of clear on them. They had gotten dusty since I painted them way back in 2022? WHAT-THE-HELL? Two and a half years ago?
I don’t know why my images are missing. I am not good at WordPress or apparently managing my website. I’ve got to take some time and sort that out.
So I applied another coat of clear for good measure. I’ve got a week off from work and I want to make some progress on the interior in that time. We all know the hot summer is coming and I want to get a bunch done before my shoppe tries to kill me with the oppressive heat we are famous for here in Oklahoma.
