Treewolf

To fall into the definition of a DPV, a vehicle must have a MAM (Maximum Authorised Mass, ie GVW) not exceeding 3500lg and an unladen weight not exceeding 2040kg, as well full- or part-time all-wheel-drive and/or other qualifying features. If a vehicle weighs more than 2040kg unladen or has a MAM in excess of 3500kg then it cannot under any circumstances be a DPV. The definition of a DPV for all legal purposes is the definition contained in the Motor Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended), and is very specific and quite simple. It is entirely based on the design characteristics of the vehicle and not the way it is actually used. There is no way that a 7.5 tonne GVW curtain-sider can possibly legally be a DPV.

It is a nice Landrover, but I don't understand the Ag tax class at all. According to direct.gov.uk:- Agricultural machines The following vehicles can be taxed in the 'agricultural machine' tax class: Agricultural tractor A tractor used on the public roads only for purposes: relating to agriculture, horticulture, forestry of cutting verges bordering public roads of cutting hedges or trees bordering public roads or bordering verges which border public roads Off road tractor A tractor which isn’t an agricultural tractor which is: designed and constructed mainly for use off road isn’t capable due to its construction of going over a speed limit of 25 miles per hour on the level under its own power Agricultural engine A vehicle which: is a machine specially designed or permanently converted to perform an agricultural operation on the land (eg a combine harvester) cannot be used on the road for any other purpose than going to or from the site of agricultural operation Light agricultural vehicle A vehicle which: has a weight not exceeding 1,000kg is designed and constructed so as to seat only the driver is designed and constructed primarily for use other than on roads is used only for the purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture or forestry It is not a "tractor" because it doesn't fit the C&U Regs definition of a tractor, so it cannot fit into the top two categories. It is not an "agricultural engine" since it doesn't perform an "agricultural operation" (ie it doesn't do any processing) and it can clearly be used on the road for things other than getting to a from the worksite. It is not a "light agricultural vehicle" (which is essentially something like an ATV) since it is clearly over 1 tonne and has more than one seat. So I do not see how this can possibly legally be an agricultural vehicle. Furthermore, even if it is ag, it cannot run on red.

Historic vehicle tax and classic insurance are only available to vehicles which are not used in connection with a business. So if the OP is looking for something to use in connection with his work, a classic Land-Rover may be a suitable choise but not for these reasons.

If you're going out to buy one of these, is there a way to tell if it is first batch (with problems) or later batch (with problems fixed)? Thinking of buying one but don't want to get a dud.

Yes they will fit, but they are really a bit small for a Defender. A 110 will come as standard with 235/85 x 16 which is 23.5mm taller in section than your size (so your diff will be nearly an inch nearer that ground). 235/75 is a popular size on a Disco (the biggest you can fit to a Disco 2 without modifications is 245/75 x 16). If you don't mind that slightly odd appearance, they will be fine.

Remember that there is no legal requirement for a diesel to be fitted with a cat except at manufacture, so you can quite legally remove it. This is popular with Landrover owners, and there are severl firms that supply decat pipes for Landrovers to replace the cat with plain pipe. Removing the cat from a diesel will not cause problems at MOT time and the changes to the MOT test which came in recently (ie if the vehicle was built with a cat, it must have a cat to pass the MOT) only apply to spark-ignition (ie petrol) engines, not compression-ignition engines. My advice would be to replace the cat with plain pipe. Perhaps the government's long-overdue determination to do something about metal theft will impact this particular crime, since the only reason for stealing a cat is to flog it for the scrap value of the platinum it contains, and this is only possible if you know a bent scrappy.

A lot of people are unaware that you can register mobile numbers with the telephone Preference Service, just as you can domestic numbers. All my phones are now registered, and it has cut down on this problem for me.

Idiots are the biggest cause of accidents. In the "good old days", idiots were allowed to kill or injure themselves without hindrance, so there were fewer surviving idiots. Now idiots are protected with the result that they are breeding uncontrollably and we are becoming overwhelmed by them.

Probably inbreeding!

Both. Excessive crackling sound on a voice call, and evidently the poor line quality was preventing the ADSL from working. I wondered if that was the case, it was certainly the impression that the BT linesman who came out gave. "Not my problem, mate! You'll have to get those trees cut". Couldn't agree more. In this particular case the BT bloke said that he thought the problem was probably the trees, but that he could do anything about it. The trees were not on the phone owners land, but on at least two other properties, one of which (as it happens the one where the problem was occuring) just happened to be my family member's, so we were able to sort it out. However in many cases I doubt the phone owner can even find out whose land it is, or where the problem is. It seems to me absolute rubbish if BT has no responsibility at all for carrying out line clearance.

I am confused with the whole situation with BT lines (and I doubt I am the only one). Around Christmas I was asked to help out a family member. Her next-door neighbour (a good friend of hers) was having repeated problems with the phone line and BT broadband which BT seemed unable to fix. Eventually the BT 'engineer' (and I hesitate to use that word since it suggests competence) spotted that the phone line from the neighbour's house runs out over my family member's garden passing striaght through two yew trees (which were there years before the line was last replaced, then out over a third property's garden. Where it passed through the yew trees there was a branch which was rubbing hard on the wire. BT 'engineer' announces that this must be the problem, and says to the neighbour "you need to get that branch cut off", then BT washed their hands of the whole problem. BT said that the neighbour had to arrange for the cutting, even though it isn't the neighbour's tree and isn't on the neighbour's property, which is clearly rather difficult to enforce. I always though in this situation it was down to BT to sort it out, since there was clearly a line fault and they have a contract to supply a satisfactory phone service to the house. In the end, I took the branch off without disturbing the phone line, and the reduced tension in the wire does seem to have solved the problem. I did however notice while doing this that where the line passes through the third property it has been pressed up against an ash tree so hard and so long that the ash has enveloped the line completely - it runs straight through the trunk! Fortunately it doesn't seem to be causing a problem at the moment. So does BT actually do any line clearance themselves? Or do they always take the "not our problem, fix it yourself" approach?

I am well impressed with my Led Lenser P7 !

Breathtaking, simply stunning!

A T35 is way bigger and heavier than you need for recreational vehicle recovery, and although you can use a snatch block with it (to double the pull and halve the linespeed) you will grow old and die before you move the vehicle very far! A T800 (or equivalent) will do just fine for most normal-sized 4x4 recoveries, and can be used with the same kind of (inexpensive) snatch block used with 4x4-type winches. Tirfors are rated by their lifting capacity (usually about a 5x safety factor) not pulling capacity (usually 2x SF) like vehicle winches. So an 800kg Tirfor is actually rated about the same as a 2000kg electric winch (which is of course why the cable is about the same size). Carrying something as big and heavy as a T35 plus cable in a 4x4 will probably get you stuck. Unless of course you off-road in a Bedford or similar.

I sold an ex-Disco2 t-box to a friend with a TD5 Defender last year. He fitted the gears out of it into his t-box (did it that way because it was the kind of Disco box with no difflock) and is delighted with the result. Defenders up to and including the TD5 have a transfer box ratio of 1.4:1 TDCi (Puma 2.4 and 2.2) Defenders, and all Discoverys have 1.2:1 Generally fitting is straightforward, but be aware that there are differences in the speedo drive arrrangements (Disco2 I think uses signals from the ABS sensor and has no provision on the output housing for the speedo transducer, however you can swap the Defender one onto the Disco box). Also remember that many Disco2s didn't have the centre difflock fitted - some have the difflock but no linkage, but most don't even have the difflock. It is, however, relatively easy to put the Defender difflock bits on the Disco2 box. Fitting the Disco2 t-box into a Defender is a very popular conversion; the usual problem is finding the Disco t-box since demand usually outweighs supply. The TDCi (puma 2.4 and 2.2) transfer box has the same ratio as the Disco2 box.

The term "dual purpose vehicle" originates from Regulation 3(2) of the Road Vehicles (Construction & use) Regulations 1986 [C&U(1986)] which defines (inter alia) a “dual purpose vehicle” as follows:- dual-purpose vehicle a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage both of passengers and of goods or burden of any description, being a vehicle of which the unladen weight does not exceed 2040 kg, and which either— (i) is so constructed or adapted that the driving power of the engine is, or by the appropriate use of the controls of the vehicle can be, transmitted to all the wheels of the vehicle; or (ii) satisfies the following conditions as to construction, namely— (a) the vehicle must be permanently fitted with a rigid roof, with or without a sliding panel; (b) the area of the vehicle to the rear of the driver's seat must— (i) be permanently fitted with at least one row of transverse seats (fixed or folding) for two or more passengers and those seats must be properly sprung or cushioned and provided with upholstered back-rests, attached either to the seats or to a side or the floor of the vehicle; and (ii) be lit on each side and at the rear by a window or windows of glass or other transparent material having an area or aggregate area of not less than 1850 square centimetres on each side and not less than 770 square centimetres at the rear; and © the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the row of transverse seats satisfying the requirements specified in head (i) of sub-paragraph (b) (or, if there is more than one such row of seats, the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the rearmost such row) must, when the seats are ready for use, be not less than one-third of the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the rearmost part of the floor of the vehicle. (See The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986) This is of particular significance to owners/drivers of Landrovers (and other 4x4 pickups etc) since it is the legislation which allows a Landrover to be driven at "normal" (i.e., car) speeds on roads where National Speed Limits apply; if it were not for this definition then these vehicles would be subject to the reduced limits application to light goods vehicles. A point to note about the C&U(1986) definition quoted above is that the distinction is made on unladen weight, which is not the same as kerb weight. Kerb weight is the one quoted by most manufacturers, and which appears on vehicle plates etc. Kerb weights include provision for driver and fuel, and one or two other items. This has resulted in a lot of confusion as far as Landrovers are concerned, since LR now quotes kerb weights in excess of 2040Kg for 110 Station Wagon, Utility Wagon, Double Cab Pick Up, and 130 Double Cab High Cap Pick Up models causing gsome people to believe that these are no longer DPVs and therefore subject to the lower limits. However, the LR kerb weight figures include a 75Kg driver, a 90% full fuel tanks, and all vehicle fluids. If you remove the driver and deduct the appropriate weight of fuel according to the tank size, the result is that even the heaviest of the list above (the DCHCPU with a kerb weight of 2149Kg) comes out with an unladen weight of 2016.625Kg, which is still within the DPV weight limit. The definiton does cause some strange effects though - for example technically an Audi TT is a dual purpose vehicle, since it has full-time 4WD. Try getting a ton of chip into one of them! (Actually it might be fun, as long as it was someone else's car)!

Well, the hydraulic lock works just as well on the braking circuit as the clutch, although it is illegal to have any kind of security device which when operated immobilises the vehicle totally eg by locking the brakes, so it is technically illegal to fit one in this way. However it seems to me that the risk of being done for improperly fitting a security device is very small, unless the vehicle is nicked and then becomes immobilised in the middle of a junction or somewhere, in which case I bet you get notified and the vehicle gets recovered pretty quick. I suppose the only real problem would be if the villains managed to immobilise it on a level crossing or similar. Personally, I would take the risk and fit the lock to the brakes. But I didn't say that......

I'd check the pump drivebelt first of all, then pump. I would have thought that it was a lack fluid pressure causing this, not a box fault. Is the fluid level correct? Has it ever been allow to drop very low, if so the box may need bleeding (usually there's a bleed nipple on top of steering box). Generally the Adwest steering box is reliable and the only recurring faults are leaky seals.

Speeding is a very small part of a much wider problem, that of bad driving. Preventing speeding is like treating the symptoms of a disease rather than curing the disease. Stamp out bad driving - cure the disease - and all the problems will go away. Lord knows how you do it, though!

In general I don't have any argument when people get done for speeding, but I do object to the general vilification of motorists - we tend now to be looked on as evil for speeding, for burning fossil fuels, you name it - and also the general presumption that if there is ever an accident involving a motorist and a pedestrian then it must be the motorist's fault. Round my way, especially in the summer when the kids "hang out" outside of an evening, it is entirely normal to see kids sitting on the kerb with their legs in the road. They will cross the road in a way which forces the cars to take avoiding action, and they know exactly what they are doing. I guess it must be "cool". If a fraction of the money spend targetting motorists was spent educating youngsters that it's actually not clever to out yourself at risk, and that in a vehicle vs person collision there will never be a winner, then more might be achieved. The accident statistics always tell you that if you drove at 15 there would be a better chance of survival, but not that if the victim didn't run out in front of an approaching car there would be a 100% chance of survival. They don't tell you either the proportion of acidents where gormless behaviour by the pedestrian was a contributing factor. When I grew up there were initiatives (like, if I remember correctly, something called the "Tufty Club", later the Green Cross Code) to educate kids. Now they live in a computer-generated fantasy world where they can be "killed" without ill-effect. I guess it is probably politically incorrect to suggest that some people today are so unbelievably gormless that you might be doing them a favour to run them over at an early age (and the world a favour by doing so before they've managed to breed excessively). I guess the point I am trying to make is that road safety is the responsibility of all road users, not just drivers.

I like that Mog a lot! Mind you, I also rather like this:- Latil Timber forest winch tractor 1937 classic vintage matador foden unipower | eBay

Note that the quote you posted states that the dog is not insured if it is used in connection with any business. You would not be using the dog, it would simply be with you, and I would expect normal pet cover to apply. If the dog was carrying out a commercial function (SAR perhaps, or you ran an establishment for training dog owners and used the dog for training purposes), then I would not expect the cover to apply. There are specialist insurers who will insure, for example, working dogs, dangerous wild animals, that sort of thing.

If the axle is old enough to have had a leather pinion oil seal then it is certainly old enough for the pinion to be worn where the seal runs. Fit a new oil seal and a new pinion (which, as posted above, are very inexpensive and easy to fit) and I'll wager the leak will stop. Salisbury axles are scarce (hence expensive second-hand) and also very strong. If your only problem is an oil leak, your axle will be fine.

So for the delay in replying! The ones I used came from Ebay and were these They are not as bright as a traditional 55W lamp but are perfectly adequate, and also have the advantage that they use very little current and can therefore be left on with the engine stopped without flattening the battery.

Certainly wouldn't mind one of those for Christmas!