A while ago I wrote about A Wheely Interesting Dilemma which came about after I bought Katy some new tyres
I had a problem with scrubbing on full lock which i knew would be an MOT failure
I had thought that it was an issue with the new tyres being wider, and so I looked into wheel spacers as I talked about in that post
With all the wonderful feedback I had from LRO and LRS, and the learning I had about wheel offsets, and information that having scrubbing wheels was an MOT failure I decided that before I did anything else I needed to get the front and rear wheels swapped to see if the more negative offset wheels made much of a difference to the steering and especially to the scrubbing, because the MOT was coming due
I have, and it does.
The difference in offset according to my measurement of the front of the plate that is attached to the hub when measured to the plane of the front end of the rims is 2cm. I am presuming that this is reflected in the offset either fully or in part because I don't have wheels without tyres so can't make all of the measurements necessary to be definitive about this. Either the hubs are 2cm more offset or they are wider and some of this reflects in the offset. At some time I'll have wheels without tyres and I'll try and work it out, but for now I'll just accept it
What is even better is that I've been offered some more of the wider wheels so I can get her to having all the same wheels and I don't need to worry about it in the future
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Thursday, 5 January 2012
The Truth, The Whole Truth and Some Fun
I know that many people we don't know drop in to this blog, and we also know a few old friends drop in from time to time because we get nice comments either here or in person
If you are either of these you may like to know that the full first year story is now available to read in a more relaxed and strightforward manner by looking at the PDF version of this blog which has now been updated to have the full first year of our adventures togther
Just click the link on the right of this post in the My Links section (you may need to scroll down a bit) and there it all is
With MOT and insurance due soon there are bound to be some new adventures and expenditure
If you are either of these you may like to know that the full first year story is now available to read in a more relaxed and strightforward manner by looking at the PDF version of this blog which has now been updated to have the full first year of our adventures togther
Just click the link on the right of this post in the My Links section (you may need to scroll down a bit) and there it all is
With MOT and insurance due soon there are bound to be some new adventures and expenditure
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
It's windy enough...
Yesterday I had a bright idea..
Drop the suzuki in a day early for a service when I had plenty of spare time it being a day off and take Katy to work this morning
Driving a 7 foot wide, 9 foot high 18 foot long Land Rover to work this morning wasn't fun
Water dripping onto my knees as well proves she's still leaking
Note to self... look at the forecast first next time
Drop the suzuki in a day early for a service when I had plenty of spare time it being a day off and take Katy to work this morning
Driving a 7 foot wide, 9 foot high 18 foot long Land Rover to work this morning wasn't fun
Water dripping onto my knees as well proves she's still leaking
Note to self... look at the forecast first next time
Sunday, 1 January 2012
2011 Summary
What a year...
Back in January, the days lengthened and I started looking forwards to the year, but we were met with the sad news of the loss of a good friend, he would have laughed so much if he's known that on the day of his funeral in February we would be sitting with other good friends in Cheddar, drinking red wine and I'd be bidding to purchase a 24 year old vehicle for no better reason than I wanted one to have fun with.
I won and then being terrified stated as I wondered what I had done. No way to stop things now and I arranged insurance and road tax and by the end of that month, with a few adventures in Preston to go with it we had collected her. In March the hard work began. So much of that has been a learning experience that it's hard to reflect on how little I knew back then... Mind you I am not sure even now whether I realise how much more there is to learn.
April was a real set-back being recovered home on the back of a truck from Hopwell Services on the M42 having learned that the gearbox(s) were shot and therefore May was a month of trying to work out what to do about it, ordering parts and making preparation
June came along and so did the new gearboxes and I had wonderful fun installing them with help from Steve, so in July we had our first real adventure camping in Anglesey and cooking in the rain
In August we learned how much she leaked in Pembrokeshire and I made a start on what I nwo understand will be a lifetime in water prevention and I gave up on the electrics and had someone else do it, and then in September we all went to a wedding together which was real fun
In October I failed to fit a new exhaust a few times and I learned the ancient martial art of waxoyling. I also got a copy of Katy's military history and we joined a Land Rover club
In November I fitted some exhaust sections and learned that some more needed doing, but I didn't have the parts
In December with all the parts I finally got the new exhaust in place and I have started to look into some of the next things I need to do
I know a lot of my friends tune into this blog from time to time, and I've met a whole bunch more people on-line and in person in the local Land Rover club that I don't know well yet so I think I'd like to say to my friends old and new, readers and anyone just dropping in
My best wishes to anyone who's enjoyed reading this in 2011 and my thanks to those who have helped so far. especially Rhian who's put up with me on some bad days during this project and will have that joy again I'm sure
I didn't start this as blog as anything other than an on-line diary of an adventure, but from some comments (BTW If you are enjoying it I'd lve to hear about it through a comment) and links made to the blog from other websites, it is clear that it is starting to be of use to come people and therefore it will be continuing.
I will start to add a few articles about things I've learned and other items of Land Rover interest from time to time, but the essence will remain a story of our adventures together.
Happy New year for 2012 !
Back in January, the days lengthened and I started looking forwards to the year, but we were met with the sad news of the loss of a good friend, he would have laughed so much if he's known that on the day of his funeral in February we would be sitting with other good friends in Cheddar, drinking red wine and I'd be bidding to purchase a 24 year old vehicle for no better reason than I wanted one to have fun with.
I won and then being terrified stated as I wondered what I had done. No way to stop things now and I arranged insurance and road tax and by the end of that month, with a few adventures in Preston to go with it we had collected her. In March the hard work began. So much of that has been a learning experience that it's hard to reflect on how little I knew back then... Mind you I am not sure even now whether I realise how much more there is to learn.
April was a real set-back being recovered home on the back of a truck from Hopwell Services on the M42 having learned that the gearbox(s) were shot and therefore May was a month of trying to work out what to do about it, ordering parts and making preparation
June came along and so did the new gearboxes and I had wonderful fun installing them with help from Steve, so in July we had our first real adventure camping in Anglesey and cooking in the rain
In August we learned how much she leaked in Pembrokeshire and I made a start on what I nwo understand will be a lifetime in water prevention and I gave up on the electrics and had someone else do it, and then in September we all went to a wedding together which was real fun
In October I failed to fit a new exhaust a few times and I learned the ancient martial art of waxoyling. I also got a copy of Katy's military history and we joined a Land Rover club
In November I fitted some exhaust sections and learned that some more needed doing, but I didn't have the parts
In December with all the parts I finally got the new exhaust in place and I have started to look into some of the next things I need to do
I know a lot of my friends tune into this blog from time to time, and I've met a whole bunch more people on-line and in person in the local Land Rover club that I don't know well yet so I think I'd like to say to my friends old and new, readers and anyone just dropping in
My best wishes to anyone who's enjoyed reading this in 2011 and my thanks to those who have helped so far. especially Rhian who's put up with me on some bad days during this project and will have that joy again I'm sure
I didn't start this as blog as anything other than an on-line diary of an adventure, but from some comments (BTW If you are enjoying it I'd lve to hear about it through a comment) and links made to the blog from other websites, it is clear that it is starting to be of use to come people and therefore it will be continuing.
I will start to add a few articles about things I've learned and other items of Land Rover interest from time to time, but the essence will remain a story of our adventures together.
Happy New year for 2012 !
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Wheel options ?
As I wrote in A Wheely interesting dilemma I was looking into what I can do about Katy's mismatched wheels which is a situation I'm not really happy with
This posting is about some of the research and information I've gathered whilst looking into this and some links to some sources of information to explain the concepts I've learned
The Problem
Wider wheels scrub on the radius arm (or other aspects of the inside of the wheel arches) or you want to just make the tyres look bigger and have potentially more stability by having a wider axle width on the road or you need more turning circle (all of these would be nice on Katy)
Spacers
What they are for, is to move the wheel further out from the hub. This has the positive of making the wheel look bigger, and it gives some additional space when turning the wheel which will give increased turning circle and stop the tyre rubbing on the radus arm (or anywhere else) which is why I was looking into them
The trouble is that they are heavy lumps of metal and the effort of moving them around causes more strain on the suspension and transmission, and can increase bump steer which is a steering effect you get when you change the suspension geometry of any car, and it's bad because Excessive bump steer increases tire wear and makes the vehicle more difficult to handle on rough roads which is where Land Rovers are meant to go.
I've also heard (especially from the really helpful people on Land Rover Scene ) about all of the problems you can have if they are not absolutely tightened and come loose behind the wheel when you are driving, which ase led to wobbling wheels and even wheels coming off on the motorway, and also that many insurance companies don't like them
The guys on Land Rover Owner explained more
"Quality is very important as you are putting load on them from the hub to the spacer then from the spacer to the wheel from acceleration, braking, bumps, cornering and centripetal [see comments] forces from the spinning of the wheels and spacers themselves.Spacers should not effect wheel balancing as most spacers are turned on a lathe. Spacers can cause slightly higher wear rates in brakes and wheel bearings due to the extra forces they have to deal with under breaking and turning due to larger moving mass that comprises of the wheel, tyre and spacer combination when compared to wheel and tyre only"
OK that's enough for me to explore the other option which is why I then asked the same experts about wheel options and got a lot of comments about wheel offset which was something else I had never learned about so here is what I now understand about those concepts
Offset wheels
Wheel offset is the difference between the mounting plate that connects to the hub and the centre of the wheel. Fitting wheels with different offsets will move the tyre out like a spacer or inwards. Moving it outwards requires you to put on a tyre with a smaller (or negative) offset whereas making the tyre move inwards requires an increase (more positive offset)
To help you get your head around the concept this diagram may help
So to get more room for tyres to prevent scrubbing on the body or suspension which is the problem I've had I need to get wheels that have a more negative offset.
If I wanted to fit bigger wheels but had a problem with them sticking out of the wheel arches I would need to fit wheels with a more positive offset because that brings the wheels further back into the arches
It's been suggested that all four should be the same as the ones I have on the rear and I will certainly investigate getting some more like that
I've still got more thinking about this to do, and I need to get under Katy and on top to check out all the wheels I have and work out wat ofset they have, and see what I should have and make decisions
This posting is about some of the research and information I've gathered whilst looking into this and some links to some sources of information to explain the concepts I've learned
The Problem
Wider wheels scrub on the radius arm (or other aspects of the inside of the wheel arches) or you want to just make the tyres look bigger and have potentially more stability by having a wider axle width on the road or you need more turning circle (all of these would be nice on Katy)
Spacers
What they are for, is to move the wheel further out from the hub. This has the positive of making the wheel look bigger, and it gives some additional space when turning the wheel which will give increased turning circle and stop the tyre rubbing on the radus arm (or anywhere else) which is why I was looking into them
The trouble is that they are heavy lumps of metal and the effort of moving them around causes more strain on the suspension and transmission, and can increase bump steer which is a steering effect you get when you change the suspension geometry of any car, and it's bad because Excessive bump steer increases tire wear and makes the vehicle more difficult to handle on rough roads which is where Land Rovers are meant to go.
I've also heard (especially from the really helpful people on Land Rover Scene ) about all of the problems you can have if they are not absolutely tightened and come loose behind the wheel when you are driving, which ase led to wobbling wheels and even wheels coming off on the motorway, and also that many insurance companies don't like them
The guys on Land Rover Owner explained more
"Quality is very important as you are putting load on them from the hub to the spacer then from the spacer to the wheel from acceleration, braking, bumps, cornering and centripetal [see comments] forces from the spinning of the wheels and spacers themselves.Spacers should not effect wheel balancing as most spacers are turned on a lathe. Spacers can cause slightly higher wear rates in brakes and wheel bearings due to the extra forces they have to deal with under breaking and turning due to larger moving mass that comprises of the wheel, tyre and spacer combination when compared to wheel and tyre only"
OK that's enough for me to explore the other option which is why I then asked the same experts about wheel options and got a lot of comments about wheel offset which was something else I had never learned about so here is what I now understand about those concepts
Offset wheels
Wheel offset is the difference between the mounting plate that connects to the hub and the centre of the wheel. Fitting wheels with different offsets will move the tyre out like a spacer or inwards. Moving it outwards requires you to put on a tyre with a smaller (or negative) offset whereas making the tyre move inwards requires an increase (more positive offset)
To help you get your head around the concept this diagram may help
If I wanted to fit bigger wheels but had a problem with them sticking out of the wheel arches I would need to fit wheels with a more positive offset because that brings the wheels further back into the arches
It's been suggested that all four should be the same as the ones I have on the rear and I will certainly investigate getting some more like that
I've still got more thinking about this to do, and I need to get under Katy and on top to check out all the wheels I have and work out wat ofset they have, and see what I should have and make decisions
Friday, 9 December 2011
A Wheely interesting dilemma
Some time ago I bought Katy some new tyres which were a little wider than the ones she came with
Since then to be honest is is possible to get the tyres rubbing when applying full lock and i believe that this is an MOT failure so I've been looking into the options to resolve it
I considered just adjusting the stops, but to be hones she probably needs every little bit of turning circle she can get
I considered wheel spacers, but the advice from all the people on-line at LRO and LRS on this topic really seems to have come down on the this isn't a good idea. Steve Walford my master mechanic friend agrees with this stance
So it's either back to plan A or have a closer look at the wheels. I've known for a long time they were different. On the front (shown below) the space from the wheel rim top the bolted centre is 6cm
This makes me think about swapping them around or getting 2 more wheels like the rear wheels to put on the front.
I think I need more advice before I decide so I'm going to call on all those on-line friends yet again (and a few more!)
Finally Exhaused
At long last I have completed the exhaust repairs
Here you can see the old and new centre sections and the extra section that goes in a 110 Land Rover exhaust system in order to make it a 127 / 130 exhaust system. The sections are joined with the olive I referred to in a recent post
I have to say that putting these sections back was harder than I had thought as there is no hanger on these 2 sections which meant wrestling one end up into place and then getting one bolt in place, getting the other end in place and then coming back and tightening it all up. I did have to loosten off the rear section to give some wiggle room and then tighten it all back up again
One last thing was needed. Once I had it running it was clear that there was some soot being deposited on the side of the body. I'd been warned about this being a porr bit of Land Rover Exhaust design and I duly applied the fix I'd been told about which was to put a bend on the end.
I could have had a bit of a bend put in the pipe, but this extender from Halfords does the job fine and looks OK too (not too showy).
A girl likes bit of bling now and again so why shouldn't Katy have some :-)
Here you can see the old and new centre sections and the extra section that goes in a 110 Land Rover exhaust system in order to make it a 127 / 130 exhaust system. The sections are joined with the olive I referred to in a recent post
And this is what it looks like in place
I have to say that putting these sections back was harder than I had thought as there is no hanger on these 2 sections which meant wrestling one end up into place and then getting one bolt in place, getting the other end in place and then coming back and tightening it all up. I did have to loosten off the rear section to give some wiggle room and then tighten it all back up again
One last thing was needed. Once I had it running it was clear that there was some soot being deposited on the side of the body. I'd been warned about this being a porr bit of Land Rover Exhaust design and I duly applied the fix I'd been told about which was to put a bend on the end.
I could have had a bit of a bend put in the pipe, but this extender from Halfords does the job fine and looks OK too (not too showy).
A girl likes bit of bling now and again so why shouldn't Katy have some :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)