Reply To: Alter LWB Restoration

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#1456
mrmosky
Participant

After the holiday period, it’s time to update progress on my UMM restoration. Work on it has almost stopped during the Winter, but I have been starting it up every week or two.  Each time I started it, I found I needed to top up the antifreeze in the radiator. After replacing a couple of hose clips, there was still some leakage, and I was beginning to suspect the head gasket.

last time, though, I notices some wetness round the back of the radiator, and traced this to a leak on the seam of the top tank. So this will need to be sent off for repair at some point. At least it is not the head gasket!

The other job was to check the steering universal joints. I noticed that the steering felt notchy when turning. I removed the steering link shaft and found that one of the lower joints had partially siezed up. I managed to free it up, but the joint was obviously damaged by rust. Another result of leaving the vehicle stationary so long.  So I ordered a new UMM part from Portugal as  a replacement, which arrived this morning.

 I will be fitting the shaft back on the vehicle, when the weather is drier.

I also got Jorge at UMMonline4x4 to send me both differential covers for the front and rear axles. These are the heavy duty ones, and so are not available as a new part. I therefore bought used covers, which will clean up nicely.  The old cover on the UMM has rust holes around the sealing flange, and would not be easy to repair.  This is in preparation for removing the axles for de-rusting and cleaning up, which will be done this year.