1995 land rover discovery repair

project documentation of some of the repairs that i've made to my land rover.

window lift roller repair

the window lift rollers are made of plastic or nylon and after awhile, they break.

when that happens they stop holding the window lift arm in the lift channel.

in the rear window of the vehicle there is only one roller as opposed to the front window where there are three, so it's possible that some of the front window rollers have failed as well but they are helping to better distribute the lateral pressure on the rollers.

in addition, there are two backup rollers so presumably the window would still lift with a broken roller.

anyway, the only way to get this roller is to buy the entire window lift arm assembly which is about 150 bucks.

so, i found this land rover dealership that makes some specialty land rover parts called falconworks that builds aluminium replacement rollers.

They send instructions for making the repair which involve punching out the stem which is permanantly riveted to the lift arm and then reusing it by drilling out the rivet, punching it through the hole (which in theory maintains a sleeve) and then putting it back through the hole to flatten.

if you can get it to work, more power to you but i think you'd have to get really lucky.

i tried their method but damaged the rivet part of the rod in a way that made it unusable.

instead, i used a bolt of the type that is normally retained by a cotter pin, cut it off with a hacksaw, ground down the tip and used some nylon washers to correctly account for the spacing of the holes in the bolt.

then i used some painters tape to hold the window in the correct location and replaced the window lift arm, liberally applying lithium grease to the roller.

to reinstall the roller, you have to uncrimp the ends of the window lift channel with some pliers taking care not to tweak and break the window.

and voila, works like a charm.

the fix in pics

(click on the pics for a closer view)

seat hammock repair

the hammock that supports your seat when you're in the seat is made of a material that looks like plastic drywall tape.

for comfort, i assume, land rover decided to throw in a couple pieces of pliable rubber so that you get a bit of a spring effect.

after 16 years, the rubber gets dried out and cracks till one day you hop in the seat and sink about three inches towards the floor when it breaks.

since the land rover discovery feels about exactly opposite of a low rider, this is not the best position in the truck to get the best view.

also, without this support, the leather seams would begin to tear quickly due to the stress that was placed on them.

i was unable to find a genuine or oem replacement for this seat hammock, so it was on to manufacturing one myself.

so, i sewed a new cloth hammock that is four pieces of cloth thick, reusing the metal rods that clip into the seat frame.

i clipped it into place with some effort (since it does not have quite the pliability of the original rubber) and reclipped the leather in place to the sides of the seat frame.

problem solved.