Category: repairs

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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
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Planning Random Jobs on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #715) 8/18/2025

It’s the Dog Days of Summer.

From Wikipedia: The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the “Dog Star”), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Actually we are a week outside the OFFICIAL Dog Days of Summer, that’s okay Oklahoma is behind in a lot of things.

In 2024 Oklahoma was 49th in Education among the states. Thanks New Mexico!

We are 37th in crime…

48th in Healthcare! West Virginia and Mississippi are still worse.

On the good side!!!!!

2025 US News ranked Oklahoma City was named #1 Big City to live in!!!!

When it comes to food, Oklahoma is #1 in Onion Burgers and probably chicken fried steak. I’d say we are top 5 in BBQ too.

When it comes to oppressive heat we are rocking it on that too!!!

It’s too hot to work in the shoppe. I’ve tried to get out in this hell-scape but my 60 year old body is not my 40 year old body and I’ve had a mutiny. My brain still thinks I’m 40 so my body chronologically aged is 60+.

I’ve got a few things I’ve been putting off fixing. They aren’t all that important individually, but necessary.

Zip tie some wires. I’ve got a bunch of failed zip ties underneath. I bought some special for this and I need to get under and get this sorted.

Rear brake line bracket. I cut the bracket off so I didn’t have to deal with the brake lines. Now it’s just hanging and needs to be reattached.

Rust. I bought some rust converter. I could use it very judiciously to make some stuff look better and to stop the rust.

GMRS Radio. I need a solution for my GMRS radio that would make it portable. Was thinking ammo can… haven’t decided exactly.

Not in the video. I have to seal up the floor of the passenger side footwell where I welded and it melted off the stone chip coating.

That’s about it. Like and subscribe, hell drop me an email or comment on the video. Share it with friends at parties…

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

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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
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Removing the Radius Arms on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig: Part 2 (Post #712) 7/27/2025

Sorry no post last week. I was really tired and my back was really acting up. All you missed was three hours of frustration and a hot ember flying off the cutting wheel and landing in my ear. WHICH I didn’t manage to catch on the video. Stupid GoPro. I’ll post the link to both videos down below.

This weekend I pulled the second radius arm off. I went straight to the cutting. There was no resolution to remove the bolt with a wrench. The bushing sleave was completely rust welded to the bolt. I banged and banged on the first one to NO avail. I even managed to hit my hand at the wrist with the hammer. OUCH does not cover it. Two pound hammers win EVERY time when they meet bone.

Once off everything needed to have rust removed or nasty old sticky polyurethane failed bushing material removed from it. Think, chewing gum, but it doesn’t dissolve in acetone. Nasty.

After I spent 30 minutes at the bench wire wheel, I remembered I own a sandblasting cabinet. So I blasted all the parts. So easy. It did reinforce that I need to improve that cabinet by relocating the pick up tube like they do on a hundred YouTube videos.

Once clean all the parts got a nice couple of coats of primer and a coat of matte black paint in the vain hope that rust and corrosion will not cause me trouble later. I know I’m fooling myself, but it’s become habit at this point.

I found a nice surprise… I have already replaced the poly bushings on the front half!!! Yeah! Holy unexpected outcomes Batman! I am swapping the panhard rod bushing because its been sitting soaked in steering oil for 5 years. I wonder if a put a boot over it, it would not deteriorate….. hmmmmm.

Next step is getting the new bushings pressed into the radius arm and the panhard rod. For this I will need to visit one of my friends shops that own a press. That’s either the Evil German Dude or Mike the JagGuy. You’ll see who wins next week.

That’s about it for this week. Thanks for visiting.

May the wind take your troubles away…. Happy Rovering.

Part 1

Part 2

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Reassembling the D Pillar on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #704) 5/9/2025

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.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/EJF01ULdaCM
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Fixing the Seat Switch on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #703) 5/6/2025

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.

Shout out to This Old Tony and his video style. https://www.youtube.com/@ThisOldTony

That’s about all the tips I can muster.

Good luck.

Thanks for readying an Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/qjS73xq4YQM
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