|
I've been getting into hunting for a while now, and as I go further and further out into remote areas Ive been learning a fair bit about mud and driving in mud. When I first started hunting I was driving an E39 wagon, which was awesome for driving to and from the areas I hunted but for obvious reasons never left the relative comfort of the asphalt. When things on the e39 started breaking faster than I could repair them I traded it in for a '99 F250, which has been a great truck for a lot of reasons, but for hunting the combination of 2wd and street tires has been problematic....... I get stuck in the mud a lot. After spending several afternoons and one very nerve racking evening stuck in what seemed like very passable mud it became apparent that I was going to need to get appropriate tires. And maybe some four wheel drive. But I use my truck for a lot of stuff other than hunting and the switch to off road tires would have had some disadvantages too. I suppose I could get a second set of tires and swap those out every time I go hunting. Or perhaps I should just sell the 2wd truck and get a 4wd, but a 7.3 mated to a six speed is actually a pretty fun truck to drive and Im not sure I could find the same package in 4wd at a price I liked. So, I guess the only thing to do is get a dedicated hunting vehicle. And after a few months of searching Craigslist and Facebook's marketplace for either a slide in truck camper or some kind of hunting vehicle I fell in love. One family trip to the other side of Dallas later and we were driving home a new project.  A Land Rover Discovery 2 hacked into a truck.  And setup as a rather gnarly looking trail rig.  Along with a Warn 8000 winch up front the truck has Truetracs front and back, a front HD drive shaft and some beefy mud tires. It also has some other common Land Rover mods like an inline thermostat hack and the throttle body heater plate bypassed. Thats the good. The bad is that the truck lived in a field for a while and a rat gnawed through the wiring harness. The previous owner repaired this along with doing lots of other work but the truck does still have electrical gremlins. The radio does work but it appears to not be connected to the trucks antennae, the map light is sporadic at best and most importantly at least one of the o2 sensors is causing a CEL(almost certainly due to wiring).  Dealing with wiring in general will be a theme of this project. I have almost zero experience dealing with automotive electrical stuff so this is going to be a learning experience for sure.  The back is also spacious. Ive got my camp in a box box and two coolers with room to spare. Thats my usually multi day hunt package so I was glad to see it fits so well. I think a cargo net of some sort would be helpful too.  The other issue is the passenger side rubbed up against something while on a trail ride. After crawling around the truck a bit it looks like the damage is some cracked bondo and a warped front fender. This is largely cosmetic stuff that Im honestly not that worried about. It would be nice to patch it up a bit but its fairly low priority. So for now my priority list is as follows: 1. Mud flaps. Preferably the kind that have a lady on them. 2: Get the truck registered, inspected and road legal. The only issue preventing this currently is the CEL caused by the o2 sensor(s) being disconnected and/or broken. Ive gotten under the truck and verified that all four sensors are there and are plugged into something. Now I need to follow those wires back into the engine bay to make sure they are connected. It couldnt hurt to also pull the sensors to verify they havent gone bad, but the prior owner knows the truck pretty well and his recommendation to focus on the wiring is probably a good one. I should also go ahead and change the oil/filter, replace the air filter and do some other routine maintenance to get started on the trucks maintenance log. 3: Roll back some of the off road tweaking to make the truck a bit more civilized for driving on roads. While a big part of my reason for purchasing this rig was not getting stuck in the mud again, the reality is I spend far more time driving to and from the areas I hunt than actually being off road. Doing some basic stuff like reinstalling the front swaybar will make the ride a lot less hair raising on the highway. Installing a new heater core will also make the truck much more comfortable for hunting season. 4. Clean up the interior. The number one issue here is going to be doing something to protect the wiring. Most of my gear will go in the back of the truck, but firearms need to be inside where they can be locked up if for some reason I have to stop off en route. That means Im going to have to be reaching back behind the seats where all those wires are dangling, and thats just asking for trouble. I think this will be as simple as getting some wiring sleaves and zip tires but any advice about how to do this is appreciated. A new headliner and replacing some of the broken interior plastic bits would also be nice. I see these trucks on sale for parts all the time on Craiglist so it should be easy to replace a lot of the little plastic bits as well. Oh, and hooking up the sunroof would be handy too. 5. Exterior work. Straighten up those bent panels, patch up that bondo(can you patch up bondo?) and maybe a refresh on the paint. I think the truck would look good in olive green, but then again its current color does kind of give it a cool Desert Rats feel. I also need to install a set of cargo tie downs in the back and add a cargo net to help secure anything that goes back there. This is all pretty far off in the distance so Ill flesh it out more as the time arrives. DapperDraculaDeer fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Aug 4, 2020 |
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 01:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 14:36 |
|
|
DapperDraculaDeer posted:5. Mud flaps. Preferably the kind that have a lady on them. Sir, your priorities seem to be off, that should be #1! Also, this should be an entertaining journey for you. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 05:12
|
|
|
Digging the repurposed rear window.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 08:31
|
|
|
What year is it?
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 09:19
|
|
|
I'm disappointed that this isn't a thread about a Gladiator, but on the other hand I love these sorts of off-the-deep-end project threads where you've got pretty much nowhere to go but up!
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 10:25
|
|
|
Raluek posted:I'm disappointed that this isn't a thread about a Gladiator, but on the other hand I love these sorts of off-the-deep-end project threads where you've got pretty much nowhere to go but up! I'm the complete opposite. I'm thankful this isn't a "watch me spend 15k upgrading my 35k Gladiator" thread, and is instead something much entertaining and unique.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 13:24
|
|
|
Elmnt80 posted:Sir, your priorities seem to be off, that should be #1! Also, this should be an entertaining journey for you. This is wise. Ive rearranged my priorities list accordingly. bolind posted:Digging the repurposed rear window. Thats actually the entire rear door. Its pop riveted on then sealed with.... something. Maybe JB Weld? Its far to tough to be window caulking, whatever it is. The whole design is really neat and well thought out. The implementation isnt perfect but I think its still really good. The entire thing is the work of a talented amateur rather than a professional and it couldnt be more perfect. InitialDave posted:What year is it? This is a 2000. sharkytm posted:I'm the complete opposite. I'm thankful this isn't a "watch me spend 15k upgrading my 35k Gladiator" thread, and is instead something much entertaining and unique. By the time this all said and done a Gladiator might turn out to have been cheaper and less stressful. It wouldnt be nearly as entertaining though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 14:50
|
|
|
DapperDraculaDeer posted:This is a 2000.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 15:13
|
|
|
This seems like a cry for help, but I also love it. Very excited to see how deep this rabbit hole goes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 17:44
|
|
|
Seat Safety Switch posted:This seems like a cry for help, but I also love it. Very excited to see how deep this rabbit hole goes. Yup. The antennas are gone. they're in the c/d pillar windows, with amplifiers nearby. Post your O2 sensor codes. Also post pics of your jarvics heart delete. heater core is easy. you don't even need to drop the column. pull the fuse panel kickplate, and all the dashboard mounting hardware at the bottom and middle frames. Remove the radio as there's a bracket behind it. put a thick beach towel on the passenger seat. Lift the dash up and over and sit it on the passenger seat. Driver's side will still be around the column. there's a bracket you'll need to trim with a dremel to slide the heatercore out without evacuating the aircon. Use new o-rings on the core and go easy on the aluminum clamps. Ditch the rear driveshaft giubo. cursedshitbox fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Aug 4, 2020 |
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 18:21
|
|
|
InitialDave posted:Cool, it should still have a centre diff lock, then, through if someone's upgraded the axle diffs and half shafts already, I'd be surprised if they hadn't already enabled it. This is good! I think. At least I think it is. Im pretty new to 4x4ing and stuff like this. I expect the previous owner did this, Ill have to check with him just to be sure though. cursedshitbox posted:Yup. Im pretty sure this is just the next step in a rather extensive series of cries for help. Its been a ton of fun though. And thats possibly the most reasonable heater core access Ive heard of in a while too. I forgot to save my previous log in Torq so I went out and pulled the code again. The codes are as follow: P0161 - 02 Sensor Heater Circuit (Bank 2 Sensor 2) P01590 - Powetrain - my understanding is that this is unrelated and due to the truck being offroaded. It should in theory go away with a reset P0137 - 02 Sensor Circuit Low Voltage (Bank 1 Sensor 2) P0141 - O2 Sensor Heater Circuit (Bank 1 Sensor 2) P0160 - O2 Sensor No Activity Detected (Bank 2 Sensor 2) P0327 - Knock Sensor 1 Circuit Low Input And is the driveshaft giubo really such a big deal? The original was replaced by the previous owner and he provided the old one as a spare. Will removing it help much with on road comfort? Oh, and on a Land Rover whats a javics heart?
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 18:49
|
|
|
DapperDraculaDeer posted:This is good! I think. At least I think it is. Im pretty new to 4x4ing and stuff like this. I expect the previous owner did this, Ill have to check with him just to be sure though. For the D2, they didn't include the difflock, so they're open-centred and are meant to rely on the traction control system. But on early ones like yours, the internals are all still there! So if you can actuate the difflock, it'll work. You can either use an aftermarket linkage, a linkage from a ~2004 when it was available again with CDL, or the linkage from a D1 should basically work too. If your transfer shifter has an H pattern and/or can be moved laterally, or there's a separate unidentified mechanism in the vicinity, you might already have it sorted. DapperDraculaDeer posted:And is the driveshaft giubo really such a big deal? The original was replaced by the previous owner and he provided the old one as a spare. Will removing it help much with on road comfort? DapperDraculaDeer posted:Oh, and on a Land Rover whats a javics heart?
|
|
#
?
Aug 4, 2020 19:16
|
|
|
InitialDave posted:Traditionally, Land Rovers using the LT230 transfer case have a diff lock, so you have high and low range with neutral in the middle, when you move the transfer shifter fore and aft, but you can move the shifter sideways to lock the centre diff and have the same controls. IIRC 99 and 00 models had the CDL and it came back for 04 with the 4.6. Those were cable operated whereas the D1 is mechanical. The D2 cases have different gears to make em a little quieter however slightly weaker. CDL swap is a small pain in the balls, I would just swap whole cases when I was into this sort of thing. D2 cases do not have provisions for a VSS like the D1 case does. It's not needed for the D2 as it gets vss information through the abs system via wheel sensors. P1590 is the "rough road" shuttlevalve abs code, Ignore it. The knock sensor code is probably a poo poo knock sensor, they get piping hot because of the obvious hot running rover v8 and just melt to hell. It's a generic Bosch sensor and pretty cheap. There's two and they both kind of suck to get at. Check for power at the rear O2 sensors, both on the heater circuit and the filament circuit, both plugged in, and not. The sensor can fail shorted. The Giubo is a flaming piece of poo poo that belongs on a LR3 or Mershitties/BMtroubleU. Grab a driveline from a D1/rrc and whip it in. Get the flange too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2020 02:23
|
|
|
sharkytm posted:I'm the complete opposite. I'm thankful this isn't a "watch me spend 15k upgrading my 35k Gladiator" thread, and is instead something much entertaining and unique. I wasn't thinking of a new one. To be honest, I had forgotten that they even brought the name back. InitialDave posted:Traditionally, Land Rovers using the LT230 transfer case have a diff lock, so you have high and low range with neutral in the middle, when you move the transfer shifter fore and aft, but you can move the shifter sideways to lock the centre diff and have the same controls. whoa this is actually pretty cool
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2020 04:44
|
|
|
cursedshitbox posted:IIRC 99 and 00 models had the CDL and it came back for 04 with the 4.6. Those were cable operated whereas the D1 is mechanical. The D2 cases have different gears to make em a little quieter however slightly weaker. CDL swap is a small pain in the balls, I would just swap whole cases when I was into this sort of thing. D2 cases do not have provisions for a VSS like the D1 case does. It's not needed for the D2 as it gets vss information through the abs system via wheel sensors. I think the D2 TCs are actually rated a little higher than earlier ones for torque, but they're all pretty strong. If you're really cheap, dont bother with the linkage, send your kid underneath with a 10mm spanner and they should be able to put the CDL on/off for you...
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2020 08:09
|
|
|
InitialDave posted:
Oh nice, this means its likely already sorted. I got a shot of the Javik's Heart too. Thats a cool name for a thing.  Zip ties are a common theme for the mod, as well as for the truck as a whole. It feels very appropriate. I havent had much time to actually work on the truck this week. I did find a good price on a used front sway bar on ebay. Ill order new bushings and linkages this weekend. My wife has made the very reasonable demand that I fix the intake tuning valve on her car before starting work on the truck so that will be my weekend project. I did take a quick peak at the wiring for the two post cat o2 sensors. My hope was this would be an easy fix, like some broken wires in an easily accessible spot, but so far no luck. It looks like all of that wiring is there.I still need to test that they are actually getting power though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2020 03:17
|
|
|
cursedshitbox posted:
Im going to be cruising for parts vehicles so I might actually be able to get my hands on one of these. Is the main benefit of doing this going to be reliability due to getting rid of the giubo? Will the driveline drop right in or will I need to resort to some other trickery?
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2020 03:20
|
|
|
DapperDraculaDeer posted:Oh nice, this means its likely already sorted. Though you could just jack up the front and try to turn the prop. As I said, I can't imagine someone would start chucking axle diffs and more tyre at it without doing the CDL already. DapperDraculaDeer posted:Im going to be cruising for parts vehicles so I might actually be able to get my hands on one of these. Is the main benefit of doing this going to be reliability due to getting rid of the giubo? Will the driveline drop right in or will I need to resort to some other trickery? See how much a kit to just do it with new parts is, though, I had a look and if seems like you can get everything for maybe $250.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2020 08:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 14:36 |
|
|
So life has been pretty busy for a while and the Disco, which my kids have dubbed "the little truck" has been collecting a bit of dust.  It hasnt bee totally forgotten as I slowly shopped around for a used front sway bar and mounting brackets, along with getting some new bushings and linkages. I also picked up a few spools of wire, butt connecters, and other stuff that would hopefully let me get started on getting the wiring issues fixed.  I got started with what I expected would be the easiest bit, the front swaybar. Thanks to a handy workshop manual page someone scanned getting it installed was easy peasy. It took a few tries to get it inserted correctly so it could properly connect with the linkages on each side, but within about 30 minutes it was in. It took another 15 minutes to discover that the linkages had little holes on the end for an allen wrench so I could tighten them without spinning the bolt pointlessly. With this in hopefully the truck will be a bit tamer on the highway. With the sway bar it in was time to take a good look at the task I was dreading. Wiring the two rear o2 sensors. I started by pulling the passenger side sensor, attaching a multimeter and hitting it with a torch. It dutifully produced the expected voltage, which I wish I had written down since it certainly would be handy to have for this post in case I need to check it later. I did not, so if for some reason I need that info Ill have to go look it up again. Doh. Anyways, with one of the two sensors verified as working and the same error for both I decided I might as well jump in and rewire both. I got under the truck again and did my best to follow the wires from the sensor into the engine bay. I didnt make it far. I could see the wires for each sensor ran up behind the transmission, and then over the transmission and up behind the engine where they joined the harness. For the most part I could not see the wires well enough to verify they were intact so I gently gave each wire a tug and promptly found at least one of my problems.  About six inches back the wire for the passenger side sensor had been chewed through. The other three wires appeared to be at least partially intact, but since I couldnt actually see them and I was already going to be running a wire I decided to run new wire for all four. I cut four lengths of wire and wrapped them into a bundle with electric tape. I fished that back behind the engine and along the frame hopefully keeping it well away from anything that spins. It was easy enough to use butt connectors and a heat gun to connect the sensor side plug. Going back to the engine bay however is where I ran into trouble. For the passenger side sensor I needed to locate four wires, red/black, orange, white/blue and brown/pink. I promptly found at least six wires of each color, except orange. I only found one orange, which I would later discover was for ignition. Im not sure if this style of wiring is normal for automotive stuff, or if this is just a uniquely British thing but it was about here I realized I was in for some pain. So I dug around and did my best to trace the wires and just spent lots of time shining a flashlight into cramped spaces trying to see what was in them. I eventually discovered that two of the wires for each o2 sensor were wrapped in a sheath that appeared to be insulation. There were about six bundles of these wires total, four of which I assumed were for the Disco's o2 sensors. Of course since each bundle was not labelled the only way to find out what wires were inside was to gently cut them open. I was able to do this without cutting any actual wires but hopefully having the insulation cut wont cause any future gremlins. I eventually found the correct bundle, cut it and butt connected the wires I had run to the ECU. Based on the diagrams I have seen these two wires should have been the wires for o2 data and ground. I reset the ECU, fired the little truck up and gave it some time to warm up and it looks like I was successful. I was still getting an error for the sensor's heater circuit but the "low voltage" code seemed to have cleared. So it seems like I had muddled my way forward at least a little bit. Now I needed to locate the heater wire in the harness. This should be the white/blue wire that had been chewed through. Looking at the six white/blue wires where I had split the harness left me absolutely baffled. I consulted a wiring diagram and discovered that particular color combination was shared with the crank position sensor and the throttle pedal switch. Those seem important and just cutting wires willy nilly to see what fixes it seems like a bad idea. I decided now was a good time to stop working on this side of the truck while I was still ahead, do some more research and then come back later to finish this job as well as hopefully get the knock sensor taken care of. I repeated my work on the driver side rear o2 sensor with the same results and called it a day.  And then I woke up early the next day and took the little truck for a long test drive to a nearby National Grasslands to do some hunting. The thing handles like an absolute pig on the highways, and the blower motor hardly blows which makes the passenger compartment pretty stuffy. The heat rising from the center console above the transmission/transfer case made it so that heat was unnecessary, and the cheap mud tires make a horrible racket too, which makes rolling down the window a less than ideal solution. Next time Ill bring some ear plugs, or something. Maybe a little fan.  Once I got out there and onto unpaved roads the little truck was brilliant. There was no mud or anything else that would be challenging for the truck, but the various gravel and dirt roads I was taking went by like a flash. Washboard roads were no problem at all. It was fun. So my todo list as it stands now: 1. Figure out how to finish wiring those o2 sensors. 2. Replace wiring for knock sensor 1. 3. Complete inspection process to be completely road legal 4. Mud flaps
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 01:42
|
|