They should approve them, they are only another metric 33", just more uncommon at this time, are you after better road cornering?

Nah they are actually a metric 35"
Road cornering in my thing?
Ideal setup woul;d be to airbag it. Then I could drop it as low as possible for on road work and then lift the s**t out of it for offroad. Will buy a GU and shove a Chev TD V8 in it before investing that type of coin in the old girl.

Something else somewhat interesting is also planned to be done tomorrow..................

Nah they are actually smaller than 285/75R16 by a couple of mm, even in 17" they are about 33.8, to get 35 using 305mm you need 305/75R17 (Which I don't think exists).
Closest just under 35 is 315/75R16 which is available and is approx 34.6. (Will need to rob a bank if you want a big brand name)
http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

Whats going on here?

I was thinking it was the ratchet, you just can't trust the drill, it would let you down at just the wrong moment.

You fitting a new winch to pull out Cruisers?

Today consisted of fitting the tube bar I picked up off a mate that was selling his troll and fitting the new winch.
Doing stuff now to the old body achieves a couple of things.
1. I can make sure its all going to fit and work properly before fitting it to the new body when the swap is done. Yes twice as much work but I will know what has to be cut on the new body BEFORE it is all painted up and looking pretty.
2. I dont have so many frigging parts kicking around under my feet getting in the way and the house less resembles a workshop. Keeps the lady happy.
3. I can go and play with the new toys while waiting to do the changeover.

Didnt come out looking too bad I reckon.



Tomorrows job. The brake upgrade.

need a 2nd periscope to see over the eyes

Looks beasty, good enough to push those stuck Landbruisers out without damage to the Mav, especially when their handbrake fails (normal, if it never fails they have never been in any real mud) and they forget park it in gear.

I cant poke too much stick there Macca. The Mav has been hanging off the back of Yobbos Cruiser on a couple of occasions now as it was somewhat stuck or broken.
Our camp trailer has actually come back from Mittagong on the back of the cruiser seeing as though the Mav only had half a clutch left at the time.
Reminds me I still owe Rob a "Maverick Tow Point" sticker.

Anyway today led to a wonderous day of fun.
I can confirm 2 things once again.
I f**k HATE packing wheel bearings and setting them but not as much as I f**k despise gear oil.
Front brakes all done and fitted up.


Mavericks and Patrols that are given a hard time in 4x4 are known for splitting the freewheeling hubs. Whilst poking through egay I found these reinforcing rings.

Basically they take the place of the factory load spreading tags that only go between 2 bolts and are about 2mm thick and dont do a hell of a lot.
The idea behind them is to spread the torsional force across the entire hub instead of it concentrating at a weak point causing a failure. I have no idea if they will actually work , I can see the merit of the idea and why it would work but who knows in the real world. At $30 delivered for the two its worth putting them on anyway.

The wash up from the brake upgrade. Massive improvement. The new pads and rotors are still bedding in but so far it pulls up much much better. I have gained a spongy pedal which I dont like. The brakes have been bled a few times but there still seems to be some air in the system. dc_todd is lending me his vacuum brake bleeder so I will have another crack at it tomorrow using the good gear instead of the old pump method with an assistant.
The wheel bearing setting seem ok so far , maybe a little tight. Will drive it to Liverpool tonight so if they dont seize or be making huge amounts of smoke when I pull up Ill call them good enough.

Figured while I was already dirty I would change the gearbox oil. I hate the stinky s**t. Seems to be shifting a bit nicer. The oil that come out of it was fairly nasty.

Fingers crossed Ill get back to cutting and welding after we come back from camping.

If those callipers have more overall piston volume and the master cylinder has not been up sized to suit it can give a longer travel making it feel spongy.

Anyone into serious off road in Cruisers or Patrols (other brands too, I just have years of mines repairs on those two) are best to remove the shims from the back of the pads, after a while dirt ends up getting behind the shims giving a false feeling of air in the brake system (not Matt's problem).

As a rule I don't normally run the anti rattle shims myself but read many times of people not running them and running into all sorts of issues. Plus they come with the pad retaining clips so might as well have chucked them in.
I did think about the master cylinder not being big enough but by the looks of it the single and twin piston brakes run the same master cylinder.
Will bleed it again tomorrow and see how it goes.
Definately stops 1000x better then it did but.

Well I borrowed dc_todds Mityvac and listened to his instructions instead of reading them.
Bad mistake. Putting a piece of hose in the receiver made a massive difference and I have to say a MityVac is now on the tools requirement list. They are great.
Saturday myself and toolie spent the day stuffing around with mine and doing a running repair on the vajero and I can now report the brakes are f**k awesome!
As we were bleeding them up we found the left rear caliper had sprung a leak so as a quick fix the parts car out the back was raided and the caliper switched. We then unseized the right rear caliper. So a job for the future is to rebuild both rear calipers and do pads. Will most likely wait and get some slotted rotors and do it all in one hit.
I now have a nice hard brake pedal and the big old girl pulls up on a dime.

Very happy I is now.

Told you it would be worth it......guess I was real lucky when mine came up.
Be careful, as it will be easy to lock up a wheel or 2....