The Land Rover Appreciation Group.

[armchairarborist]

A toyota?

 

 

yeah, look at a toyota, see how weedy they are, and see the price of spares then decide a landy would make much more sense:thumbup:

[tommer9]

yeah, look at a toyota, see how weedy they are, and see the price of spares then decide a landy would make much more sense:thumbup:

 

Only joking.......

[Chris Sheppard]

whats to look for when buying a landy? im starting to think it might be an idea to get one and sell my little french rocket!

 

Bulkhead rot and chassis rot are a good start, but neither are incurable

[tommer9]

whats to look for when buying a landy? im starting to think it might be an idea to get one and sell my little french rocket!

 

Like Chris said, bulkhead and chassis rot, although some years are worse than others. K reg was awful. I have a 95 m reg and the chassis has had a new crossmember at the rear, but I ripped that off winching an 80' beech stem, and otherwise there is no rot whatsoever and no patches yet. Drivetrains are pretty bombproof, but can become pricey if they have suffered years of abuse.

 

The BESt advice i can give is to take someone who has a defender, or has worked with/ on them alot, with you when you go. Having had mine for 10 years now, and 4 other landies before (yeah i am a glutton for punishment LOL:blushing:) i would be confident to appraise any vehicle. I am not trying to sound clever here, just illustrating my point- you 'get to know' their foibles and what different noises etc mean.

[Chris Sheppard]

Good advice Tommer

 

also, don't be put off by ex utility ones - generally they've been well maintained (though may have had some hard use) but they haven't been messed around with liek some you'll go and see off ebay etc. Gives you a bit more of a blank canvas to start with.

 

The good thing with defenders is that there's very little that can't be done by a good home mechanic and parts are sensibly priced and easily available.

 

Things that can be good bargaining points are leaky swivel seals, knackered bushes and trailing/radius arms/panhard rod etc as well as tyres - all fairly easy fixes but time consumign or reasonably costly to sort.

[scraggs]

Good advice Tommer

 

also, don't be put off by ex utility ones - generally they've been well maintained (though may have had some hard use)

 

Be very carefull buying an ex utility if it's a 130, the utility spec 130 chassis has the factory optional strengthening plates all over it, which make it very strong but also a rust trap between the plates, I have just replaced a 130 utility spec chassis due to the inside being rotted away but looking fine on the outside.

Apparently lots of utility companies ordered the 130 chassis with the extra plates.

Edited June 5, 2011 by scraggs

[Chris Sheppard]

Be very carefull buying an ex utility if it's a 130, the utility spec 130 chassis has the factory optional strengthening plates all over it, which make it very strong but also a rust trap between the plates, I have just replaced a 130 utility spec chassis due to the inside being rotted away but looking fine on the outside.

Apparently lots of utility companies ordered the 130 chassis with the extra plates.

 

Mine had the extra plates on, din't know about it trapping rust but that's good to know

 

Mine did need a rear crossmember by the time I sold it though (should never have sold it though)

[RobRainford]

Well looks like we may be getting a 110 in the near future, the Nissan we put a new engine in funded by my old hilux has something wrong, we think it's an ancillary or injector somewhere as it's gutless and won't pull you out of bed!

 

We were thinking sell that then buy a landy with what we can get together and build a very simple to remove spraying system, with rear booms instead of front ones.

 

Would be a 110 as it seems to cope well with the weight like the one we've got now, I could try and find a tipper that we could do this to! That would cover all the bases.

[tommer9]

Not being funny but how bad is the nissan- They arent the best pullers anyway depending on what engine they have. Is it a turbo engine or standard, and what are you trying to pull?

[Tree Man Tom]

Well looks like we may be getting a 110 in the near future, the Nissan we put a new engine in funded by my old hilux has something wrong, we think it's an ancillary or injector somewhere as it's gutless and won't pull you out of bed!

 

We were thinking sell that then buy a landy with what we can get together and build a very simple to remove spraying system, with rear booms instead of front ones.

 

Would be a 110 as it seems to cope well with the weight like the one we've got now, I could try and find a tipper that we could do this to! That would cover all the bases.

 

Would you not be better getting a truck of your own rob, instead of using your dads all the time? Then you dont have to worry about changing the back around all the time, it can just be set up for tree work, and stay like it.