Ulysses

Bit wet around Cumbria today, so picked a nice lane with a firm base for the way home. Some decent puddles tho...





M18 is running in well. Had a trip up the M6 briefly and its perfectly happy at motorway speeds now, maybe revving a bit higher than I would like at 70, but its ok. Lots more poke! managed to loose grip setting off a few times on the wet roads :huh: Maybe should put the rear locker on and go round some roundabouts :laugh:

Just spent the afternoon reading this thread from start to finish, what a totally amazing job, you must be well chuffed with the outcome.

So hope you make it to the meet up so we get to this beast in the flesh.

Thanks, yes pleased with it but its a lot of work. It certainly gets the attention when your out and about.

Sadly the meet is 1) a 6hr+ drive for me at sub 20mpg and 2) on the same day as an annual outing with friends around the lakes, so its a no from me i'm afraid. Maybe a Northern meet is in order to rebalance it in my favor? :laugh:

Before that I have an outing to Drumclog off-road park this weekend, near Glasgow with a load of Geordies from GLASS Northumberland which i'm looking forwards to and some new bits to fit onto Ulysses beforehand,

Trip to Drumclog pay-and-play site yesterday with the NE4x4 Laners group.

Superb time had bashing around the 1600 acre site. The only rule is 'dont die. If you do you were never here'. The briefing showed us where the boundaries are and which bits are steep, boggy, etc. Then they turn you loose. Lots of MX bikes and quads flying about and a few other 4x4 groups to watch out for.

Ulysses excelled and as it was one of only two vehicles in our group with a winch, it dragged out a Ford ranger, Defender 90, Jeep Commander and LR Discovery, as well as itself after I got it stuck. Thats a Winchmax winch with synthetic rope and a standard battery :ohmy:

Did suffer a flat tyre by rolling it off the bead as I was pulling out the discovery, should cleanup and refit, though the balance will be terrible!

Pics and vids (Some pics courtesy of Darren Clark):

Way to go, international rescue! Looks like a fun place though it could take a while to learn where everything is on 1600 acre!

Great videos - great place. Thank you very much for sharing! One day I want to go there, but it is very far away from me.

I have a question: In Drumclog3 you tow out a car with the belt and you do it in reverse. Why in reverse? I would be afraid to damage the front axels, especially with the diff locker engaged and therefore I would try to get the load on the rear axel.

Thank you again!

Great videos, I bet it was a good feeling pulling the big'ns out of the mud.

Its not bad to navigate around Lambert. They give you a map and there are clear boundaries. Its sort of split into 3 by big hills and rivers. Butty van and toilets in the middle of it all. The guys there give you plenty of info about what conditions are like in different places.

Theres a few reasons why I do recoveries in reverse. This Jimny has 26 spline HD front shafts, but still standard rear ones (so in my case the front axle is stronger than the rear). I can see where the towed vehicle is easier. I had a strop already there and ready to go as well. I think its slightly higher geared in reverse low as well than 1st gear, which also helps. Finally it has beefier tow points on the winch bumper than at the back.

Drumclog3 was a light tug only, the more serious one I forgot to video. That was the discovery. I had to be pulled from the rear by another car whilst winching at the front. Thought I was going to get a stretched Jimny :laugh: The Jeep also took a fair bit of snatching to get it out. With Hindsight I wouldnt try pulling out such heavy vehicles again, but its good to know I can

Soeley wrote: Great videos, I bet it was a good feeling pulling the big'ns out of the mud.

Epic

Though I did feel a little 'over dressed' for the group. Only one with twin lockers and a winch, decent tyres, etc. They seemed to be having just as much fun, without all the expensive toys (until they got stuck!)

Cracking stuff Riccy, you've built a proper piece of kit there.... Pulling twice your weight and succeeding....

sniper

I had booked this friday off as a prep day for going lanin' to Strata Florida in Wales, but that trip got cancelled. Still decided to have a good going over Ulysses to check for the source of annoying rattles.

Top of the list was clunks from the front axle on dips in the road. Source was loose bolts on the radius arms and front shocks. All tightened up well.

Another noise issue identified was that the rear engine mount (on the back of the gearbox) was 1) missing the bolt, 2) bolts onto gearbox loose, 3) bush broken on stick linkage and 4) too low so the prop was hitting the stick linkage.

So tightened up and replaced bolt & bush. Used spare spacer rubber to lift gearbox up on its mount. One of the gearbox to bracket bolts has sheared off A problem for another day perhaps.

test drive and it works much better now. Quiet and no knocks or rattles.

The only picture I remembered to take was just after washing it however...

Oh yes... another annoying noise was the clutch pedal. It was stiff and made a groan noise every time pushed. I had wondered if this has been brought on by the excedy HD clutch, but no...

I had a spare clutch cable that had come out of J999MNY when chasing problems, so stuffed it full of as much of Martin's blue waterproof grease as I could and swapped them over.

Side by side when out of the car they both moved easily. If I replicated the bend radius 'as fitted' the used one fitted is miles better than the old one.

Result is a nice light, sharp clutch and no noise