Rover Cannibal - OKIEROVER.COM

August 29, 2013May 15, 2023

Holy Crap on a Cracker (Post #385) 8/29/2013

Yes, that is a broken water pump pulley.
How does a water pump pulley get broken you might ask?
That’s a good question.

As you know the two pulleys you see here are nested and bolted to the water pump shaft. You don’t expect that to EVER fail.

When I saw that today and said the very words titling this post. I asked Mickey of Mickey’s Garage had he ever seen one broken before. His answer was a resounding, “No.”

I have blogged before that my truck came to me after a front end wreck restoration. The first thing I replaced on my Range Rover was a failed water pump. It had failed because during the wreck the shaft had been pushed back toward the motor. Actually slipping in its sleeve from the impact.

That impact must have broken or weakened that pulley. Mickey pointed out some older rust and the fresh (silver colored) break. It had probably been wobbling there for 125,000 miles, give or take a mile or so. It’s amazing to me that it lasted as long as it did.

Mickey called me and told me the news and asked me if I could stop by Rover Cannibal to pick up the replacements. I said sure and drove over there right after work.

Ryan was helping a customer with his Discovery. He described a whining sound which is common to Land Rover Discovery’s. I told him he needed to change the transaxle fluid. It will quiet, but will not go away.

I got caught up with Ryan as he hurried back through the shop. The engine shop looked awesome. I too was in a hurry as five o’clock traffic starts about five minutes after four. Turned out the traffic had already started backing up. I need to get my list together and get back down there.

I have a quick note here. You may have noticed I’ve had a lot of work done lately at Mickey’s. The AC pump that had just been put on failed. Mickey was going to swap it when the pulley left me chained to the back of a wrecker. I had the BWB at Mickey’s already and since it wasn’t going anywhere with a broken water pump. I had him fix it. I trust him with my truck so it’s all good.

If you aren’t already a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you should be.
Penny and her signature catch phrase…

Thanks for reading, do business locally, and Happy Rovering.

July 22, 2009May 15, 2023

Viscous Coupley Goodness (Post #151) 7/22/2009

I picked up two things today. First was a used viscous coupling from Rob at Rover Cannibal. The second was an air grinding tool from Lowe’s. My Dremel died a few months ago. And I was faced with replacing it for 50 odd bucks or I saw this grinder on clearance for around 16$(US).

I figured I’d use this for the big stuff. I will probably get another Dremel for the small stuff but for now this will work.

The viscous coupling is finally becoming an emergency fix. This weekend couldn’t come soon enough. I can tell the CV joints are getting noisy and I can see the tires getting balder.

Oh, did I forget to mention I’m driving the BWB again? Well I am. My son turned 16 over the past week and we bought him a….Scion xB. He was not going to be a Land Rover kid after all.

Erica’s untimely crash with the Discovery ended that for him. Yeah I know I could have bought him a Land Rover for the same price as the xB. But it wouldn’t get 32 miles per gallon and have only 5700 miles on it.

I love driving the Rangie. I had forgotten what a joy it was to drive. I love being able to see everything around me. It was a treat to drive this morning and I love the comment of my friend Butch from my office, “your back to being a REAL man, with your manly truck.”

That meant a lot.

More next week after I tear the viscous coupling off and charge the AC for some cooler driving.

Happy Rovering

May 29, 2008May 15, 2023

Heavy Sigh (Post #91) 5/29/2008

So a year and a half ago I bought a poly-bush kit for the Classic. I thought, “I’ll just go up to JagGuy’s shop and throw these on and be done with it.” I found out this is an eight hour job and mostly not much fun. So I’m looking for a shop that will do it for me. I went to one today (I’m not going to mention the name) and they had a policy that prohibited customers bringing their own parts in for replacement.

I got the red ones.

I’ve to respect that in some small way, due to watching too many people “bring their own knowledge” and parts to the computer industry I work in. If you told them up front, if you work on it before I do, it will cost you double, most people would laugh. But it often does. First you have to un-do their mistakes and then work on it yourself.

So now I’m still looking. I’m thinking though that I can’t afford the 8 hours of labor a shop is going to charge me and I’m probably going to do the job myself. Gone are the days when I could just whip out the credit card and worry about paying later. Heavy sigh…I hate being broke.

The Classic sounds like CRAP. The exhaust is screwed. I need new catalytic converters for sure. I know this due to hearing the ceramics bouncing around in them for a year. But even though I don’t drive it…it’s bothering me how it sounds. I’ve got two routes: new catalytic converters or a new Y pipe. Either way I’m out several hundred dollars. If I had a welder and the knowledge I’d do this myself. Heavy sigh…I don’t know how to weld.

I have a feeling that I will be driving it again before the end of next year on a daily basis. So I need to keep it up and take good care of it, even though it goes mostly unappreciated and depreciated by a daughter who uses the ample leg room in the back much like she uses the floor in her room to “store” things. Considering the last time I cleaned out the back for her, I’ve been in cleaner dumpsters. I fuss about it…and she continues to trash it out. Heavy sigh…teenagers.

The leather in the Classic is also visually telling us it’s had better days. I found Lexol at a local feed store. Surprised I made an impulse purchase only to find I already had a bottle at home I haven’t been using. Good news, it was slightly cheaper than the online places and I helped out a local guy with a sale. Heavy sigh…too much crap in the garage.

Our current house doesn't look like this, not at all

My garage at our previous house.

So I need to get out there and save what is left of the leather in the Classic. The driver’s seat is a goner. Nothing to do there. But the rest of the leather can be saved if I religiously put that stuff on and possibly some “leather feed” my Jaguar buddy is always telling me about. So I’ve got to find a seat to replace the trashed one. Just getting the leather and putting it on is, I’m told, a huge undertaking. So I can buy a seat from Rover Cannibal, I heard Ryan mumble one day, “they have plenty of seats”. Heavy sigh…another project I don’t have time to do.

Still the coolest logo in the business.

Today we added a fourth to our carpool. The drive to work just got a lot cheaper.

Thanks for reading, and happy rovering.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

October 26th, 2004 (Post #53)

October 26th, 2004
No console, window problems, leaky windshield
Had to put off putting the console back in. It really needs to be glued properly. I have it sitting in the garage while I finish the painting on the house.

The window ECU fried a week ago when I was picking up my daughter from one of her cheerleading assignments. I rolled the window down to offer one of the kids a ride and there was a spark and then another and the windows all rolled down. I futzed with it a bit and then drove home in the 49 degree weather. It wasn’t too bad. I spent 40 minutes figuring out which of the relays allowed the windows to be rolled back up.

I couldn’t get the part that late on Saturday. So I made sure the windows were up just incase of bad weather. Low and behold it was like 85 that day and I really wish the windows worked. We used the air conditioning to keep up cool and avoided the restaurants with drive thru windows.

Monday I went down to Rover Cannibal and picked up another ECU. Now I can roll up and down the back windows and the front windows. How exciting!

I haven’t been getting anything else done on the truck other than adding the “horse pills” to help with the head gasket leak. I have an engine in the works and if everything goes well I should be putting a rebuilt 4.2 in by Spring. JagGuy and I will rebuild the 4.2 then rebuild mine and put it in his 90 Range Rover. Replacing his anemic and failing 3.9. We will probably rebuild the 3.9 and offer it for sale to cover the costs. More news on that as soon as the deal is done.

I got a quote for removing the windshield and refitting it to hopefully stop a leak that I believe is there. “Hopefully” is not the word I would like to be using but it’s the best I can do for now.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

September 30th, 2004 (Post #52)

September 30th, 2004
House going fine, console back in
Everything is going well on the house. Waiting on brick to arrive now.

I started to put the console back in this weekend. The broken bits I have had
to glue held up well. The parts that were not broke are now broke. So I spent
Sunday gluing those pieces. The front part connects to the cubby box so they will
need to be glued together. I have noticed with my glue in place that they no longer
fit well together. I will have to chop part of the rear portion of the gear
selector section back. I also glued a new piece to attach the window switch panel
to. The previous holes were destroyed and the panel with the switches mostly danced
around there. I will be able to secure it now.

The switch relay that powers the rear windows that don’t normally operate correctly still needs to be replace. I have fitted it in the Rover anyway and will inquire with Rover Cannibal about getting another to see if it fixes the problem.

Tossed, and I mean literally tossed, a ladder up on the top to haul down to the new house in order to run cable for the computers. Just as I released it I realized I have a sun roof. I thought for sure I had just broke it out. But I hadn’t. That was a close call. Just another reason I need a roof rack. Maybe Santa will bring me one? Who am I kidding? Santa is going to have to buy window treatments for the new house. I’ll be lucky if I get a lump of coal in my stocking.

I fired off an email to Ozzie at Ozzie’s Offroad asking for his pics of the bracket to move the ECU up to the dash. I told him I’ve been jonesing for something new to read about Rovers. Seems this lack of getting out and my lack of being able to work on the Big White Bus has got me down in the dumps.

The water in the floor boards has to be from a leaking wind screen (wind shield). I will have to find a good shop to pull that and reseal it. Any suggestions you might have just send me an email.

July 6, 2007May 15, 2023

June 26th, 2004 (Post #47)

June 26th, 2004
New Site, New Shocks
I decided that I needed a site for the online display of my Big White Bus. So as you read this
OkieRover.com is up and running. It contains the same old stuff I had before just in a different format and with a different look.

I was finally able to get some money together to replace the shocks. The control of the dead shocks is starting to scare me on bumps. It’s adventure to go from I-235 on to I-40 west bound. That’s what I call “real driving”. Anyway…I bought Old Man Emu shocks from Ryan at Rover Cannibal. They should be in any day now. Hopefully I can put them on this long weekend. I’ll post the models and maybe some links when they arrive.