Category: restoration

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Planning the Suspension Repairs for my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #708) 6/29/2025

Camp Mimi 10 is in full swing. Part of Camp Mimi this year is Mrs. Okierover taking the grands to a “cabin” in Medicine Park, Oklahoma. Its a house, but if she wants to call it a cabin, whatever.

With that she needed to take the Honda Pilot to the dealer for a check of the air conditioning. We had a lively debate as to whether or not it was actually cooling when we went to get a Fro-Yo from Braums last weekend. My assertion was it was NOT cooling. She insisted it was and I said, “whatever you think dear…”. So she didn’t get it looked at and drove it to Kansas to pick up Lucas and Logan.

When she got back she said it was NOT cooling. So off to the dealer for investigation. No leaks just 6 year old coolant. So they swapped it out. Yay cooling!

They also told us that our brake pads wore dangerously worn. She told them I would take care of it. I stopped by O’Reilly’s on the way home picked up a set of pads $92.00(US) or there abouts.

I swapped them first thing Saturday. They were NOT dangerous if anything they were about half way. The pads wear pretty unevenly. The inside pads wear less than the outside pads. I need to get over to the Piloteer Message Board and see what that is all about. While I was swapping them, I managed to do one stupid thing and put my back out.

It doesn’t take much, and I’ve been REALLY careful for nearly a year, so it was pretty unexpected that I cut my weekend short by screwing that up.

I’ve started my steroids and am popping Ibuprofen like an over-zealous Corpsman was handing Chicklets to me. I see the doc on Tuesday, and I bet she’ll give me a steroid shot if I ask for one. I’ll be right as rain by the time the campers return.

With all that going on, I took Lucas for a ride. He enjoyed it. The ride just reinforced to me that I need to swap all the bushings and get the shocks replaced. I ordered them Saturday night and expect them this week. They will go in either late on Sunday or early Monday so look for another video then.

That’s about it, like and subscribe to the channel, and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/jEocqJyciC0

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Planning the Exterior Lights for my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #707) 6/22/2025

I have a plan to light the exterior of the Range Rover Classic. I want to be able to turn on the exterior lights while I lay on my mattress inside. This is mostly to have a tactical advantage if something or someone is on the outside of my vehicle.

I want to be able to turn on a single light or with one switch turn on ALL THE LIGHTS. In order to do this I needed to come up with a circuit drawing for this task. I tried my hand but had little to no confidence that I had done it correctly.

So I consulted my best friend Mike to get a circuit drawn and to get a source for the parts. I drove up last weekend and had lunch with he and Paul and then went back to Mike’s shop. We sat and had a beer in his RV while we talked about lots of stuff and got caught up since we saw each other at my birthday part in October last year.

He scribbled a circuit for me. We talked about where to get the parts and he gave me the details. He buys parts that are for automotive use. He buys from them to build the trailer wiring conversions from military to civilian / civilian to military. He sells them on XM381.com if that is something you are looking for.

xm381.com image of a cable conversion.

I took the graphic and re-drew it. Then from the parts I ordered after we met I cobbled together a loose circuit and tested it. Using the battery from the Range Rover Classic and some wires and two lights from my stock of lights I’ve salvaged from breaker’s yards.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Next thing I need to do is order some switches and 16 gauge wire and decide on the lights I want to install. I have some picked out, I’ll need to make a decision one way or another.

I took my time and puzzled this out and I’m so happy I got it to work. My drawing was “close” but would not have worked. Mike was so gracious to help me with this.

Thanks for reading, like and subscribe, and Happy Rovering.

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Planning the Interior of my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #706) 6/9/2025

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!

Like and Subscribe.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Let’s go for a ride in my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #705) 6/1/2025

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.

That’s about it for this week.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/WDFVjEBxj08
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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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