What did you do with your Haflinger today?

[AustHaflinger]

[quote="heinkeljb"Looking very nice in it's shiny Red suit - bet it does stay that nice and shiny if you take it off road!

John[/quote]

I think that you left a "not" out between does and stay

In my experience if you intend to use a vehicle offroad you make it look nice and pretty and mechanically reliable but not concourse cause it does not stay that way for long.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

Either the fingers are not following what the brain is telling them, or the Wifi keyboard needs new batteries!

I agree with Gary, there should be a "not" in that sentence - i'll leave you to decide where it goes!

At least it is getting used and not just sitting in a room somewhere.

John

[Doug Lennox]

Hi guys,

I have got my tyres and rims sorted now. The rims are 13" from an Alpha Romeo 33 and the tyres are 175/70R13 retreads with a rally pattern from the New South Wales Retread Company in Penrith, Sydney. They should go alright when I finally get haf finished.

Doug

[AustHaflinger]

Doug did you manage to get the same brand of carcasses for the tyres - when I last spoke to the supplier he could not guarantee the same carcasses.

They look good though.

Garry

[Doug Lennox]

Hi Garry,

He couldn't guarantee the same make of casings and I found out by the local tyre fitter that the casings are up to 10 years old. I'm not too worried but keep that in mind if you decide to buy some. A couple of them have slight cracks appearing.

Doug

[AustHaflinger]

I don't think you will have too many problems given the slow cruising speed of a Haffie.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

Not what Lurch did today, but over the last three days!

Drove 175 to Dersingham for a Halinegr and Pinzgauer Club UK meeting. Lots of little "B" and "C" roads withe odd "A" road thrown in when they couldn't be avoided like going through the Blackwall tunnel under the Thames. Next time I will try via the Woolwich ferry.

So arrived in the afternoon, put the tent up etc. Nattered with the Elliot's and then with others as they dropped trailers off carrying Haflingers. The night was a bit wet, but the tent remained dry so that was alright. Saturday saw 5 Haflingers on site, 4 of which proceeded to play in the woods, up and down the hillside, in and out of either just muddy "bomb" holes or one's with water in as well. Haf's got stuck and had to have a helping hand to get out, but that's part of the weekend out.
Decided to do little road run and took four Haflingers and one Pinzgauer to see the sea. Saw huge numbers of geese flying towards Europe, and a little while later, some were coming back! Seems we humans have enough influence on magnetic fields to confuse them!

Nice meal Saturday evening at the local Pub. Retire to bed.

Sunday saw another ex-fire & rescue 6 wheel Pinz turn up out of the blue. First time either Driver or Owner had been off road. SO they were duly shown how! Too many cooks in the brew and someone had to get it stuck! (To be fair, the front diff locker wasn't working)
So two Haflingers to the rescue, straps on the back and Lurch along with Alf's 6 wheeler (with the Pinz helping of course) managed to pull the Pinz out of the hole. Alf then proceeded to prove that where a big 6 wheeler can get stuck, so can a small 6 wheeler! The Pinz pulled him out as a return favour.

Home time saw Lurch set off in daylight, in London, getting dark and starting to rain - the drivers side windscreen wiper starts to get a mind of its own! Difficult to find some where to stop on the approach tot he Blackwall tunnel, so had to struggle on until the other side. Tightened the offending set screw (bolt) and all was good again. Drove the rest of the way in the dark and the rain, but at least I could see where I was going!

So that's what Lurch was up to.

John

[AustHaflinger]

It is great to see Lurch getting out and about mixing with others of its own kind - something I can only dream about here is Aust. (in over two years of ownership I have never see another Haffie other than my own, let alone played with one).

How is the back holding up travelling over the distances you have been doing, with the standard seats, I have enough padding on my rear end to make travelling comfortable enough but the upright seating position does not help my back.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

I have a memory foam cushion originally designed for use with a wheel chair, the two sewn in ties make fixing it to the seat easy. Then I have one of those bent wire net back rests which is supposed to keep your back from the vinyl back rest and so provide air circulation between your back and a plastic layer. Between the two every thing works for me.

If I remember I'll take a picture of them as description might not have been adequate to explain things to everyone.

Sounds like you will have to go out of your way to find some friends! Either go to an existing Trefen or organise your own. Shouldn't be to difficult if you have some nice back roads you can drive down and either a campsite or B&B's nearby. If there is a dearth of such gatherings near you, I am sure you will get several people turn up. If not enough interest, then open it to Landrover and others.

John.

[AustHaflinger]

While I have the front left hub out to replace the hub gears I prepared it to put in new new king pins in - as usual getting the top blind bush out was fun and games - after a lot of butchering, swearing and cursing it came out. I put the new bush in the freezer for an hour and it went in no issues.

I also tried to remove the left front swing arm fulcrum pins but the stud bolt that secures the speedo drive assembly to the diff assembly stops it coming out . I guess I have to pull the speedo drive stud out to get the rear fulcrum pin out.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

Like the rear fulcrum pins, I expect they think you will take the whole side plate off and pull the whole drive shaft out of the differential rather than make it easy for you to do what would be simple job other than the fact things are in the way!

I'll laugh now, but cry later when i have to do the same task!

John

[kerry460]

G,,day . I probably shouldn't say this now .
king pins are easy with the correct tool .
sorry.
kerry

[AustHaflinger]

Hi Kerry - yes everything is easy with the correct tools but if you bought all the correct tools you would be poor and have a lot of tools that only get used once in a lifetime.

A drill, a centre punch and a small cold chisel gets the blind bush out in about 15 minutes. Unfortunately the dremel I was using to cut grooves in the old bush to weaken the walls died so for me that was the real issue for me - handy piece of kit the dremel.

Cheers

Garry

[kerry460]

true mate . but when you have you appreciate them .
some times even seeing them can make it easy to make a useable substitute .
kerry

[AustHaflinger]

Yes - I agree.

With those blind bushes I just use a bit in the dremel and cut two grooves down each side of the bush on the inside and slot the top of the bush. Then with a small cold chisel I start taping at the top where the slots are and once the top of the bush starts to move in towards the centre then it usually just pops out. The bush material is brittle and usually just cracks along the slots on the inside of the bush.

I am doing a bit of work on my Haffie at the moment - new hub gears (now done) and looking for a bearing noise in the front end that is annoying but not getting worse - is not in the hubs so about to pull the front diff out to check the bearings in it - I suspect a pinion bearing but we will see.

Any advice you are able to offer would be appreciated - both front hubs are off and starting Sat will pull the diff with swing arms still attached.

Cheers

Garry

[kerry460]

Yes - I agree.

With those blind bushes I just use a bit in the dremel and cut two grooves down each side of the bush on the inside and slot the top of the bush. Then with a small cold chisel I start taping at the top where the slots are and once the top of the bush starts to move in towards the centre then it usually just pops out. The bush material is brittle and usually just cracks along the slots on the inside of the bush.

I am doing a bit of work on my Haffie at the moment - new hub gears (now done) and looking for a bearing noise in the front end that is annoying but not getting worse - is not in the hubs so about to pull the front diff out to check the bearings in it - I suspect a pinion bearing but we will see.

Any advice you are able to offer would be appreciated - both front hubs are off and starting Sat will pull the diff with swing arms still attached.

Cheers

Garry

I must get back to work in a sec .
make sure you have no metal to metal contact to the front bash / diff protection plate .
it acts as a sound magnifier . I got caught by it once .
I hope you understand my quick comment .
kerry

[AustHaflinger]

Hi Kerry - yes I know exactly what you mean -thankfully all the mounting rubbers are in place but the steering tie rods on the relay do touch the bash plate in the straight ahead position so I need to fix that.

Cheers

Garry

[kerry460]

Garry , check it any way with the bash plate off .
I would hate you to kick yourself afterwards .
if you don't know , a stethoscope or a screwdriver in place of one can be very handy to trace noises .

it also pays to run some oil , hypoid 90 . in the centre tube . a lot are dry , not good for the bearings
use something as a dip stick , about half full .

kerry

[heinkeljb]

........
it also pays to run some oil , hypoid 90 . in the centre tube . a lot are dry , not good for the bearings
use something as a dip stick , about half full .

kerry

Half Full? On a long wheel base that would be at least a liter and a half! The repair manual / owners handbook only quotes 500ml.

What about those tubes which don't have a filler hole? How are you supposed to get oil it there?

Sorry Kerry, not trying to be a Troll, just asking questions that have bugged me since purchasing Lurch. (1973 LWB 700AP)

John

[kerry460]

not a problem mate ,
I have never seen one without a filler plug .
no drain plug though.
I believe a small amount is not enough to lubricate sufficiently .
also through experience , one customers (no money ) with a noisy bearing(s) half full of hypoid and still going strong years later .

how to put oil in without a filler plug . I have no bloody idea without thinking about it .
are you sure the plug isn't hiding ????

Kerry

ps; trolls only live in Scandinavia in my experience .
I met a few whilst there
but only a few , everyone else was lovely .