Cam Belt Plus Chain ?

[Shoppinit]

Yeah, I must admit that I like my Halfords Professional socket set. Definitely good value considering the quality of the tools. Had to buy a few extra 1/2" drive sockets for heavier work because the set is a bit 3/8" heavy. 17/18/19mm sockets added (Facom natch).

[Mɐʇʇ]

Most of my sockets are the older halfords pro stuff and it's lasted well enough. And I really like their ratchet spanners.
Got some Bergen stuff that seems mostly good too - for the triple square bolts on the drive & prop shafts, which have a good bit of torque on them.
Odd bit of Elora for big spanners.

But particularly the hex bit sockets - tried various brands and they all seem to be a bit soft, either rounding off quite quickly, or even in some cases, twisting the bit! 6mm is the worst because it's big enough bolts to need some torque to undo when they've been in a few years, but small enough to still be a bit fragile. I will try a Facom set. I don't want the warranty, just the quality to not need the warranty.

Much as I dislike Laser, this set has turned out to be decent value, had a few of them now : https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1007759131
Being interchangeable, you can just use the bit and a ratchet spanner without the socket adaptor for tight jobs and the bits are "medium" for the longevity.

[Shoppinit]

I really like their ratchet spanners.

Yeah, me too. I'm annoyed because I lost my 10mm one (I really, really hate losing tools) and I am struggling to find one to replace it. They are nice and thin and take a surprising amount of torque.

I really like their ratchet spanners.
But particularly the hex bit sockets - tried various brands and they all seem to be a bit soft, either rounding off, or even in some cases, twisting the bit! 6mm is the worst because it's big enough bolts to need some torque to undo when they've been in a few years, but small enough to still be a bit fragile. I will try a Facom set. I don't want the warranty, just the quality to not need the warranty.

I really like my Facom sockets. The reason I initally went Facom is because I needed sockets I could trust for big torque.

[Mɐʇʇ]

It's always the 10mm that walks. Sometimes I have bought the odd single off ebay when someone splits a set - fortunately don't lose them too often.

This is an excellent set for taking heavy abuse : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131124121666
I've had 2 sets (the first being in the late 90's when I was building the Ultima). I have never broken or worn out any of them.
Particularly a good set because it is a combo of imperial, metric, deep & normal - so when you're dealing with a rusty nut of bolt, you can usually hammer the next "inbetween" size on and get the thing undone. Especially useful on the landrover that's now 32 years old and still on the original chassis.

Sorry @Mark-RS for ruining your thread.

[Shoppinit]

Might have to get some. I've just realised that my "new" tractor is likely to be all imperial being 1968 and probably has a few stubborn bolts. The rangey is bad enough being a horrible mix of Imperial, metric and Whitworth and whatever else was lying around at the time it was built.

[Mɐʇʇ]

@Mark-RS : wondered if you had an update?

[Mark-RS]

@Mark-RS : wondered if you had an update?

Yep, everything is pretty much ready for tomorrow. I had a sticky caliper on the rear that they tried to free up, but after a few brake tests it started to bind again, so that has been replaced.

There is also a small clip for the cambelt cover that is missing, he said it wasn't there when they took it all apart and he wanted to get it sorted 100% before it left, which meant waiting for this clip which they forgot to order. He said worst case, the cover could foul the belt and for the sake of a clip he'd rather not skip small things, which I guess is a good thing. I'd rather it done right, even if it takes longer.

Maxton front and rear is done, service is done, diff and trans box is done, but he did say that they needed to check the level again, I forget on which one, but it could only really be done once the car was warm and had been running ?

He said he was hopeful for tomorrow and I'll get an update around lunchtime tomorrow.

[steve2003rs6]

Fingers crossed for you mark that all is ok.
I certainly would not be using them again.

[Mark-RS]

Now I'm being told they are having an issue with the coolant pipes to the side of the Cambelt cover and are having to replace gaskets or something ?

Will be interesting to see my bill and if I'm charged for this as I'm almost certain that would have been caused by the whole front end hanging on them ? Any other damage I should try and check for ?

Really not a happy camper.....

[steve2003rs6]

If it’s driveable I would get it out of there.
If it’s not I would be seriously considering collecting it and trailering it to to another garage ( unit 20 )
If you need any help I have some time to spare.
Feel for you mate.
As I said before. Been there and done that.
Ps I wouldn’t be surprised if they charge you for all the “extra work”

[steve2003rs6]

Hey mark. Any update

[Mark-RS]

Yes !

I got the car back finally, but only collection the price had escalated from the 1500-1600 I was quoted to 2.5k !

So I kicked off. They had done work to the car without even letting me know or asking ! Not one phone call !

When I first bought the car and had the health check from MRC, they did mention that the car was leaking oil slightly from the rocker covers. Well they have now been replaced, without me even knowing about it. At a cost of just over £100 for the gaskets and the 2 hours labour to fit, there was nearly £250 there.

The rest of the difference may have come from needing a new rear caliper. £200 for the part and 1.20 to fit.

They also said they didn't do the Xfer box or the diffs as the oil looked perfect, apparently they did an oil test on it ? And it was fine ? Never heard of this before, but again my original quote was including this, so again, why was to cost a grand more if this wasn't even done ?

Anyway, I eventually got the cost down to just under £2,200 which I actually thought was ok given the work that was done, even though I wasn't consulted before it was done.

Did 200 Mile round trip yesterday to London and back without issue, so pretty happy !

I'll get some shots of the receipts up so I can get some opinions and thoughts from others

[Shoppinit]

When I first bought the car and had the health check from MRC, they did mention that the car was leaking oil slightly from the rocker covers. Well they have now been replaced, without me even knowing about it. At a cost of just over £100 for the gaskets and the 2 hours labour to fit, there was nearly £250 there.

Bargain.

They also said they didn't do the Xfer box or the diffs as the oil looked perfect, apparently they did an oil test on it ? And it was fine ?

Pure bollox.

I wouldn't bother going back there.

[Mɐʇʇ]

Before the quality of the work even comes into consideration, it's the comms that makes or breaks your faith in a garage.

[Mark-RS]

Any idea how to spin these ? They were fine on the phone haha. (they come up fine when clicking on them)

Anyway, like you say, the lack of comms has very much put me off going back. A phone call takes 2 minutes, if that and the fact that I didn't get a single call at any point, other than the one time he was out on a test drive is just crazy.

On the plus die, I guess I got a bit of work done for free, as you can see from the pics, they pulled a few bits from the invoice, including fitting of the Calipe, reduced the pug fitting time, fitting of the Maxton kit etc.....