Tag: Range Rover

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Upper Tailgate Repair on a Range Rover Classic, Part 1 (Post #671) 9/15/2024

Yeah, yeah, I know, “I thought you were working on the floor bed?!?”

I was, but I looked at the upper tailgate and I know it’s gonna be hard to believe, but I found RUST! Shocking! Anyway, I thought I’d investigate and my OCD took over and then I was halfway through with taking it apart.

So what’s wrong? The inner tube of the lower frame is rusting BADLY from the inside out. Lots of surface rust on the outside but also rust has eaten through the steel inside out.

Do I have any hope at all that I can save it? A little, at least I’m gonna slow it down. This is one of those parts on a Range Rover Classic that rusts. Check the message boards…everyone has rust on their tailgate.

IF you buy a new upper tailgate protect it from rust immediately, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. If you don’t you will lose it to rust.

So the plan now is to paint it, I already have two coats of primer on it. The second is a daffy plan to pour rust preventative paint down the tube. Yeah, you read that correctly. I found a place to buy steel tube brushes. Justman Brush Company. I ordered the minimum of 6 brushes.

I’m going to run the brush through the tube until it stops the rust bits stop coming out. I’ve already poured “kitty litter”, you know the stuff that you use to soak up oil spills, down it until I was sure it wasn’t doing anything.

Once that job is done, I’ll reassemble. I’ve already bought all stainless steel hardware. I’ll protect the threads with copper anti-seize. This will hopefully limit the corrosion on the hardware.

That’s about it. If the brushes arrive by next weekend I’ll be finishing the tailgate and reassembling. If no, I’ll be working on the floor again. I forgot to disconnect the battery last weekend so this weekend I was reminded I have a slow drain somewhere in the wiring OR the alternator diodes have failed again. I’ll test next week by just disconnecting the alternator.

Upper Tailgate Repair, Part Two

Upper Tailgate Repair, Part Three

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Fuel Pump Failure: Part Duex (Post #667) 8/19/2024

Well here we go again. I decided this weekend I was going to get the Big White Bus started and move her out of the shoppe. I tried to get her started and nothing. I didn’t hear the fuel pump kick on. That’s…a bad sign.

So I asked my son to help me test. I had him turn the ignition on while I checked the voltage at the fuel pump. I had voltage.

That eliminated a LOT of testing of other components. I had a bad feeling the fuel pump was crapped out again. Turns out I was right. It was completely varnished.

What the hell right? I put 5 gallons of fresh gas in it back in December after I replaced the rubber filler hoses. I guess that wasn’t enough fresh gas. I called my friend JagGuy and asked some “chemistry” questions regarding gasoline.

Is it possible that the gas in the tank is so far gone that it varnishes? Its possible was his reply. We came to the same conclusion that all the gas needs to be removed and fresh gas added. We also talked about fuel stabilizer. I’ve never used fuel stabilizer. I guess I’m going to use it going forward.

Who knows how long the Big White Bus is going to be laid up until I can get her running regularly? Not me and I’m the project manager! So fuel stabilizer is going to be all the rage. And I’ll start running her on a regular basis.

What is odd are all these “This [insert vehicle type here] has been sitting in this field for 30 years!!! Will it start?!?!” videos on Youtube. JagGuy surmised, probably accurately that most of the truly ancient stuff has mechanical fuel pumps. Throw in a fresh battery, hope the rats haven’t eaten the wires, and if they drain the tank and use fresh gas…maybe that’s how they get them started.

Otherwise I’m calling bullshit on all these videos. There’s no way 30 year old gas is any good. My gas is five years, old give or take a year, and it’s crap.

Now I’m going to be tasked with trying to drain the tank. And then what do I do with it. Do I dare trying to mix it with good gas and burning it in my cars? What do you think?

If you watch the video you’ll see a demonstration on how simple it is to fix the fuel pump.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Footwell Repair Part 7: Floor Panel Repair, Final Assembly (Post #666) 8/12/2024

Post #666!!!! Not today Satan, I finally wrap this fender up. Maybe a proper Devil Dog would have made a more creative 666 post. You’ll just have to settle for one of my old tags.

Mrs. Okierover made me get a new tag…she’s religious that way.

Anyway, I got this beast reassembled. Mostly reassembled…okay I got the fender on and the wiring loom back in place. It’s significant okay!? Dang!

My grand son Grady came over (mostly because he was bored at home) to help. And help he did! A lot of what I filmed before he got there was lost. I truly hate this GoPro, if its not overheating halfway through a shot, it’s dropping files, or losing the sound track off a segment. Trash. I’ve read a bunch of complaints about this GoPro 11. Several telling everyone they’ve fixed a bunch of the overheating in the GoPro12!! Now it overheats 1/3 less! Nope. Not gonna fall for it. GoPro, if you want to redeem yourself you can send me a 12 for free and I’ll give it a review. You probably won’t like the review, but I’ll give one an honest one.

Back to the assembly, I got the wiring loom put back in place. It went surprisingly well. The fender went on pretty easy. I did make one mistake in the building of the side bulkhead. I should have made it longer. The result was I didn’t have one of the two fender mounting places. I also lost some hardware. So I went to the hardware store to get replacements. Met a fellow Marine building a Skoolie camper for his family to travel in. Sounded like a fun project.

When I got back and Grady and I had wrapped up the video I was finishing the assembly and guess what I found?? Yeah, the missing screws and bolts I stopped looking for 3 hours earlier. Isn’t that just typical.

On an annoying note… the damn Big Whit Bus wouldn’t start. So I get to deal with that issue again. YAY! /sarcasm font.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Footwell Repair Part 6: Floor Panel Repair, Seam Sealer (Post #665) 8/5/2024

I started the weekend fixing my 2014 F150. I’ve been hearing noises from the front and could feel some vibration in the floorboard. I talked to a few of my co-workers and they diagnosed wheel hubs. So I ordered a set of Timkin hubs and new brake discs and pads. I spent 5 hours putting them on. I setup the awning for shade so I wasn’t in the sun the whole day.

Victory was mine and I spent the rest of the day mowing the yard and working in my pumpkin patch. I have 5 Kakai pumpkins so far and will have a bunch of pepitas to munch on.

Sunday I set to getting the seam on the new panel sealed. Nothing too exciting about this. I did learn that 3M seam sealer is way more expensive than the German made UPOL brand. 3M $72.00(US), UPOL $22.00(US). That’s a big discrepancy.

I’ve got a problem with the welds on the transmission tunnel side. I can’t reach them to get them cleaned (the panel under there is oily and dirty), the rubber coating (no longer attached to the steel), and I can’t get to the panel because the exhaust is in the way. I’ll need to drop the exhaust. I’m not excited about that. I need to get her up on a lift to see if it would be easier. More on this on another post.

I’ve got everything sealed. Next up, I need to coat all the panels in the wheel well in truck bed liner. I’m hoping this will DELAY the inevitable.

The next post will be me fumbling to remember how to reassemble this part of the truck.

A little shout out to Mrs. Okierover as it is our 35th wedding anniversary this weekend. Happy Anniversary sweetheart.

That’s about it, like and subscribe, and as always Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/yBh2xRWomw0
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Footwell Repair Part 3: Floor Panel Repair, Welding (Post #662) 7/13/2024

We got a big break in the weather. A cold front hit and we got a lovely lightning show along with the fireworks. And we got some cooler weather. The shop wasn’t crazy hot today and won’t be all weekend. So I’m going to take advantage of it and get some work done.

In this post my goal was to get the floor pan welded up. I first had to fix a small patch to the bottom corner. I made a template and got the steel cut. It welded up pretty well. I was pretty happy with the results.

Then I started on the floor panel. I first drilled some holes for the plug welds. This reinforced my need for a drill press. I really want a drill press.

Due to the odd shape of the floor. My panel does not fit very well. Off camera I tried several things to get the panel to line up and contour to the floor. I didn’t have much success. And getting the panel to stay put while I welded, well, I was trying to hold it and weld it. I struggled greatly.

So I decided to put a few self-tapping screws in the panel. These held the panel as expected. I put my hand-made plug weld bit to good use and started welding. I had some success all across the bottom. I didn’t have much luck with the welds near the transmission tunnel but I did finally get some welds to stick.

At this point I realized my welding helmet stopped darkening. This could have gone really badly for me. I did weld two plugs without darkening. I’m glad I noticed, because that kind of eye damage is the real deal.

At this point I’m going to used the self tapping screws to pull the two panels together. I’ll make the plug welds in the holes and then pull the self tapping screws and fill those with welds. At least I have a plan and I am relatively confident this will work.

I’ll then fill the gap on the bottom side with seal sealer. Paint everything with a couple more coats and then I’ll seal it all up with rattle can truck bed liner.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

https://youtu.be/jHhHI75723A
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Footwell Repair Part 2: Floor Panel Repair, Well Sort Of (Post #661) 7/6/2024

What a day.

I started out with all the intention I could muster to complete the floor pan. Unfortunately Fate had another plan for the day.

My plan started out solid. Paint the panels and while it dried see if I could get the Scion started and moved. The Scion as you may (or may not) remember is my son’s first car and he was still driving it until he was rear-ended by a mid-90s model Chevy pickup. The truck was moving at 35-40mph when he hit Rooster sitting still in bumper to bumper traffic. The pickup was completely disabled. The Scion had it’s rear tucked under and was touching the tires.

The though was it wouldn’t take that long to get the wheel wells pushed off the tires. I was wrong. The more I fought with it the hotter the day got and I finally reached my limit. So I went inside to cool off. I was watching the Germany-Denmark match when I got a call from Mrs. Okierover telling me the Honda Pilot with all of the grandchildren in tow would not start.

There is a whole long drama about a forgotten cell phone and a melt down of worry and a lot of really important details about how the battery got run down were left out. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Here we go.

  • Grandchild #1 left her cell phone at bathroom break an hour back up the road.
  • My oldest son who was following along in his car take said grand back to her phone.
  • Grandchild #2 melts down with worry.
  • Mrs. Okierover tells him to go sit in the car and calm down.
  • Grandchild #2 thinks he starts the car but places it in accessory mode and proceeds to sit in the car for more than 30 minutes.
  • Dead battery.
  • Not confident of the traveler’s ability to purchase and install a new battery I begin googling likely reasons of dead battery not aware of the 30 minute accessory episode.
  • Eventually Answers Online mechanic calls wife and diagnoses dead battery.
  • Oldest son returns and we attempt to jump battery.
  • Battery is buried under the air intake and only the positive is visible.
  • Plastic parts removed we finally ground to an engine lift point.
  • Car is started.

I learned a lot watching Law and Order: Criminal Intent and I use all those skills to interrogate everyone after they all arrive home. I had the battery tested and it was good, just needed a charge. I also watched a video about placing a new mount which is easy to reach for jumping. So I installed that M6 1.0 bolt and marked it for future reference.

So long story longer, the day was a complete loss. The following day I did get the Scion sorted out and back to running thanks to a sawzall (aka reciprocating saw), a floor jack, a 4 pound hammer, and gravity.

Next week end we’ll get more done ON THE BIG WHITE BUS…hopefully.

Happy Independence Day.

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

https://youtu.be/gHdUjYCurx4
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