Treewolf

If you have B without E, and then take and pass the C test followed by the C+E test, doesn't that automatically add the E entitlement to the B as well? I assume that you can't go from B to C+E without doing C first, but do you have to have B+E before you can go for C+E? I'm lucky, my licence is well pre-97 and I did the HGV test when it was still Class 3, Class 2, and Class 1. Much easier to understand!

Second that! Bought it just before Christmas, very enjoyable.

Could've been a lot worse. Anyone remember back in Feb 2008 when a tipper truck leaving a worksite did the same thing to a footbridge over the railway near Loughborough, just as a train was approaching? The train derailed but miraculously no-one was seriously injured. If I was the bloke on the bridge in this clip I would've been legging it back the way I came.

Awesome machine and nice to see one which still has the full 'dozer gear! You must get this running again!

Looks like the jury is back with the verdict, thanks everyone! I can now see the error of my ways.....

Only about 30.

Thanks for the advice guys. I planted the first few posts over the weekend to see how it went, and it was much easier digging by hand than I expected, so I reckon that that is the way to go. I'll probably end up doing the rest after Christmas so as long as there isn't hard frost it shoudl be OK.

Looks like I will shortly need to acquire a post hole borer for a fencing job. Vehicle access is not practical so it will need to be the portable petrol type. I wondered if anyone had any recommendations for a good machine and the best place to buy one (I will probably buy rather than hire since it seems like a useful tool to have). Any advice would be gratefully received. Hopefully this won't start another Stihl vs Husky debate!! Thanks.

I converted my '54 Series 1 to halogen years ago - well worth doing. Quick, cheap, and much better light. For some reason I usd "Z" beam Cibie conversions not the more usual "H" beam, if I was doing it again I would use "H" beam. As already posted HID conversions are generally not legal unless several conditions are met. The main conditions are that the whole light unit must be changed so the reflector and lense are right for the light source, the dip beam (arc) must stay on when the main beam comes on (so wiring changed are needed) and there must be some form of self-levelling mechanism either on the lights or suspension (this must be automatic, not a manual knob on the dash). In effect the vehcile after conversion must be the same as it would be if these lights had been fitted from new. This means that it is probably not legal to fit them to the majority of arb vehicles. Link to DfT factsheet here:- Aftermarket HID (Xenon) headlamps

Bonnet intake is probably air flow into the intercooler, same as on the D22 Navara. Not sure that filling it with water would be a good idea even so!

For hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years humans have grown up around yew trees, and the majority have made it into adulthood without eating them and dying. Has evolution really brought us to the point where trees have to be cut down for the overused mantra of "safety". I was born and grew up in a house where the garden ended in a magnificent yew hedge (it is still there even though I am not) and it was instilled in me from an early age that I shouldn't eat the trees (along with not playing with dog poo, sticking my fingers in the power sockets, etc etc). I used to climb in the yew trees - I even had a den at the top of the hedge; it really did no harm. My - admittedly controversial and politically incorrect - view is that we cosset youngsters far too much these days. Doing stuff that hurts is how we learn not to do it! Everything dangerous now has to be eliminated, cut down, or fenced off. I remember getting worked up some years ago when Norwich city council cut down a row of mature horse-chestnut trees to prevent the local children running the risk of hurting themselves by throwing sticks into the trees to knock down conkers. Mad! Hazards are nature's way of getting the hopeless genes out of the gene pool. Sorry, rant over!

County's right, but a "dual purpose vehicle" is not a commercial vehcile. So for those of us with Landrovers car speed limits apply. As I understand it, a DPV is one which either has four-wheel-drive (full time or selectable), or is designed for carrying both goods and passengers and has a row of seats behind the drivers seat, with side windows and a roof. So, for example, a 2WD double cab pickup is a DPV, but the single cab version of the same truck is a commercial and therefore subject to reduced speed limits. Crazy or what? Any 4WD light truck is a DPV. I have heard a rumour that the law is to change to remove the DPV classification, but I am not sure if this is to happen. Anyone know any more on this?

Any idea what became of the Unipower in the second photo? I really really want one of those!

I have ARBs in both axles on one of my Landrovers. It is formidable off road, but there are some things to be aware of with any locking diffs in the axles:- 1) not surprisingly steering becomes a problem with the rear diff locked and the front unlocked 2) steering becomes a memory with the front diff locked. Forget it, go in a straight line. 3) the risk of breaking halfshafts increases ENORMOUSLY with the diffs locked. If three of your wheels have no traction and one has good traction, with both axle diffs locked (and the centre diff locked on a permanent 4WD model) ALL the power is transmitted to the wheel with traction and you wil break the halfshaft very easily, especially in low box. Use carefully and sensibly they are fantastic. Combine them with tyre chains on all four wheels and you will be almost unstoppable.

Removing the EGR system shouldn't make any difference to the MOT at all. The EGR valve only does anything at relatively low engine speeds, and the MOT smoke test is carried out at max (governed) RPM, at which speed the EGR valve will be shut. I took the system off my TD5 some time ago and wished I had done it earlier. On the Landrover TD5 it is definitely worth completely removing the valve assembly from the inlet tract using a purpose made bypass pipe since the valve body constricts the airflow. Many suitable kits are available, mine came from Devon 4x4 in I would recommend it highly.

Just spotted this on Ebay - might be of historic interest to someone: Practical Forestry Handbook 1895 Trees Forest Timber on eBay (end time 07-Aug-09 18:52:34 BST) I bet the chapter on pricing work makes interesting reading!

XP3 seems ok to me and I find texting no problem (but I am an old git and don't text as much as you youngsters)! It is very different to the Motorola I had before and took some getting used to, but I prefer it now. As I said I my original post, the standard XP3 is available SIM-free for around £220. I don't know what you're looking at for £350, perhaps the upgraded XP3/Landrover phone which has GPS and a camera? The Landrover phone has apparently become a fashion icon now, which is a good reason for not getting one. The XP2, well that's another story.....

The JCB Toughphone is a rebadged Sonim XP1. The Sonim XP1 has been superseded by the XP3 "Enduro" which is IP-57 and MIL-810F certified and has a 3-year unconditional guarantee. It is available SIM-free and unlocked for around £220. The XP3 is at the moment the only mobile phone with an IP-57 rating. The Land Rover S1 tough phone is a rebadged Somin XP3.20-E "Quest" which is essentially the XP3 with th addition of a camera and GPS navigation. I think it is around £350 and is locked to the Orange network. I have just bought a bright yellow SIM-free XP3 "Enduro" to replace my old Motorola which drowned and died in the heavy rains two weeks ago, and so far I have been very impressed. It is big and heavy by modern standards, but it is LOUD and you can operate it in gloves. If it gets covered in crud, you stick it under the tap. It even has a chainsaw as a built-in ringtone! It doesn't take photos, and it doesn't have gadgets, but it does make phone calls.

A 1966 Triumph 2000 Mk1 estate - bought in 1978 and a very nice car despite the tin-worm. Leather seats, 4-speed manual with Laycock overdrive, and very comfortable. However it leaked like a seive, stank of rotting carpet as a result, and the only time I turned the heater on the car filled with smoke, and when it finally suffered terminal rust about a year later, I broke it for parts and doubled my money. It also helped that petrol was less than 50p a gallon then! Spent the proceeds of the Triumph on a 15-seat 2-litre twin-wheel Transit minibus with an auto transmission, probably the worst engine/gearbox combination ever made. Dreadful engine design (it was the V4 that was so unbalanced it had to have a balance shaft driven off the crank) but fortunately mine had had a new engine about 3 months before I bought it, with an awful gearbox which would not change from 1st to 2nd unless you came right off the pedal and counted to five. But it was dirt cheap, not in bad nick, and at that time I went potholing every weekend and it was ideal for carrying about 4 people plus gear. Eventually I sold the Transit (again for a profit) and used the proceeds to buy my first Land-Rover, and 1953 Series 1 80" which I then ran for about ten years until he chassis fell apart, but I still have the remains to this day and one day I might get round to rebuilding it. Since then various other wierd and wonderful vehicles had been through my hands, including a 1949 Fordson E27N TVO tractor, a 1953 Bedford OLBD lorry, and a 1961 Iron Fairy 6 mobile crane.

Get in touch with Tractel in Sheffield (here's a link to their website Homepage ) and ask them for the details of your nearest dealer. They were very helpful when I did this. Hope this helps.

Spoiler alert - don't read on if you believe in magic and want to go on believing......... It is all to do with 9. There are only nine different possible numbers that you can end up with following the instructions, namely 0, 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, and 81. If you don't believe it, try it. Any two digit number between 00 and 09 gives 0, between 10 and 19 gives 9, 20 and 29 gives 18, etc. If you are quick, you will see that all these numbers have the same symbol when the symbol screen appears, so if you have done your maths right, it will always show you the right symbol. There are two clever tricks to the way it works though. The first is that the symbols are different each time which makes it harder to spot that the set of nine possible answers all have the same symbol (try using the same two-digit number twice in a row, the symbol will be different), and secondly only giving you 10 seconds to look at the symbol makes it very hard to spot that the critical nine are all the same. Very clever.

Over the years I have stripped and rebuilt a number of Tirfors. It is not difficult - the engineering is straightforward - but some parts are VERY awkward to reassemble. There are several springs which can drop off when you dismantle the unit before you have had the chance to see where they go. Unless there is some pressing reason to do so (like it doesn't work) then I would recommend NOT taking it to bits. The biggest problem if you do it yourself is that Tractel (who makes them) absolutely won't sell you any spare internal parts, they will only supply them to an accredited service agent. If you can persuade the local agent to get the parts for you, you're laughing. Parts are not cheap either, but they are of course very high quality. If you need a test certificate (which you will if you use it for lifting/lowering as opposed to dragging objects on the ground) it also is difficult to test the unit youself unless you happen to have a calibrated load cell or dynamometer. Generally speaking there is little to go wrong unless the unit has been seriously abused, although if I bought a second-hand machine and didn't know its history, I would definitely either overhaul it myself of take it to a dealer for a service and retest to make sure it hasn't been damaged. (I have seen units bought on ebay that have been bodged together to make them work so they can be sold as "good working order"). Keep them as clean as possible and well lubricated, and always make sure the correct shear pin is fitted. The rope for a Tirfor (or any other 'griphoist' machine) is not standard wire rope, it is made to tighter tolerances, so it is not a good idea to use anything other than rope designed for the purpose and for the right size machine. If the rope gets kinked you will have a problem. If it is looked after sensibly, a Tirfor will outlast most of us. Personally I would never bother with one of the cheaper look-alike copies, would always go for the genuine article. Most of the operating instructions and manuals are now available on line but the sare parts lists are not - these also are only available to accredited service agents.

I was told some years ago that muntjac will run round the outside of a circular fenced enclosure but go through a rectangular one. The bloke who told me was a gamekeeper in the Chilterns where the muntjac population is large, and presumably knew his onions, but to this day I don't know if this is a wind-up or true. Anyone know?

Yup, and I'll wager that periodically he re-annealed the sheet to keep it malleable. Either that or he's using a very fancy alloy.

What happens when you hammer a metal it depends whether it is a material that work hardens. Do that with aluminium and it will break unless you anneal it. With some materials hammering can stress-relieve them, but aluminium isn't one of them.