The big red pig transporter...

[Stonehead]

We went and collected our new livestock trailer today...



It was a 280-mile round-trip from Insch down to Kincardine and back, with the Land Rover ticking over at 65mph on the way down and 55mph on the way back. Amazingly, we only used half a tank of fuel, so about 30mpg!!

The trailer's a Bateson 30LT, with the previous owner spraying it bright red and using it to carry his motocross bikes to competitions.

Rather to our amazement, things went our way this time and we got it on ebay for just £420! That's only £25 more than we'd budgeted for fixing our old, scabrous trailer.

We had a lovely picnic on the way back. but are now waiting for the Stonehead curse to bite us....

Mind you, we're already getting the jokes about our red livestock haulage outfit. We reckon we'll have to get stickers made saying "Stonehead Croft - Home of the Red Devils Flying Pig Display Team".

[Shirley]

Glad it all went well!!!! Looks great

[Martin]

nice trailer! - no probs finding you in a snowdrift! 8)

[Martin]

must ask, I had a really old Landie some years ago - petrol and dreadfully thirsty - I seem to recollect it had the most awful "wandery" steering, because it was still the old fashioned "recirculating ball" sytem - has yours got rack and pinion, or are you forever "taking up the slack"?

[Stonehead]

And here's the first load!

As for the Defender's steering, it's power assisted recirculating ball. Steering and handling on ours is very good (for a utility 4x4) because we replaced the springs, dampers, bushes and steering damper. It's gone from a wandering old cow to a reasonably taut long-distance hauler while still being good off-road.

The main problem with old Landies is that people don't really do the maintenance because they generally keep on going and going - until something really terminal happens!

Ours may be 16 years old, but as well as the steering and suspension overhaul, it also has a new water pump, electric fan (it was overcooling with the standard fan), new high-backed rear seats, new seat belts in the front, a new heater core (twice as efficient as the old rubbish one), new front discs, new front tyres, new galvanised front bumper and so on.

It has cost quite a bit of our savings (although I've done a lot of the work myself), but it's our main family transport, truck, harrow puller, stone carrier, trailer tower, fencing vehicle and mobile workshop. It also cost less than buying a much newer vehicle while enabling us to have a vehicle tailored to our needs.

The OH's car, on the other hand, has had just enough done to keep it roadworthy and safe, plus services every 6000 miles. As a result, it probably won't pass its MoT so we're just working out whether it's better to do the work and keep it, sell it or scrap it.

[Millymollymandy]

That's very smart - but - now you need to spray your Landie to match. The colours just don't go!

[Stonehead]

That's very smart - but - now you need to spray your Landie to match. The colours just don't go!

Actually, one of the inner sills does match! I didn't have a can of Land Rover red when I was cutting back some rust so just used a can of bright red I happened to have to hand.

So you could say the Defender has tasteful, matching highlights!

[glenniedragon]

Great looking trailer, good price too. I was quite struck by your eldest-he certainly looks like a chip off the stoney block! he has the same haircut as my lads- I can't do fringes with clippers!

kind thoughts
Deb

[shiney]

A very nice piggy trailer indeed. Very posh. It'll have a multitude of purposeful uses other than transporting porkers I reckon.

Glennie, I do the one and only haircut you can do with the clippers for the boys. The 'same all over look!'

[Martin]

must be catching! - just heard tonight there's a strong chance I'm going to be getting an H-plate disco?! - ghastly colour - sort of poo mushroomy hue - will hide well in mud! Mechanically, I'd guess it's pretty much the same as yours.
I'm getting ready for a lot of leg-pulling at having bought a "totty tank", but I will plead that I NEED 4wd, and that the turbo diesel is actually more economical than my Astra 1.4 estate! (which once returned 16mpg on a run to Glastonbury in a hefty wind towing a caravan)

[Stonehead]

must be catching! - just heard tonight there's a strong chance I'm going to be getting an H-plate disco?! - ghastly colour - sort of poo mushroomy hue - will hide well in mud! Mechanically, I'd guess it's pretty much the same as yours.
I'm getting ready for a lot of leg-pulling at having bought a "totty tank", but I will plead that I NEED 4wd, and that the turbo diesel is actually more economical than my Astra 1.4 estate! (which once returned 16mpg on a run to Glastonbury in a hefty wind towing a caravan)

The OH has an N-reg Disco 300TDi. The engine and drivetrain in the Disco are pretty good (and return 30mpg), but the body is a rust trap. The OH's is only held together by dirt and blind faith!

H-reg should be a 200TDi, so a bit more clatter and rattle than the 300TDi but at 16 years old you'd do well do to make sure it's not too rusty. Check the body to chassis mounts, the rear floor pan (fold the seats and lift the carpet), the rear seat belt mounts on the wheel arches, and the sills. There will inevitably be rust along the bottom of all the doors and on the edges of the wings, but this is not terminal and unless it's really bad don't worry too much.

I spent today getting the driver's door latch working on the OH's Disco (a fiddly job), removing the old spare wheel carrier (rust had eaten about 50% of it away) and sanding out rust patches, then brush painting them. Just sorting out MoT fails, really, as her car doesn't get the attention that mine does.

[Martin]

luckily, it's been owned by a bit of an enthusiast - he's had everything done that needed it - remarkably rust free, doesn't burn any oil, and he has apparently religiously changed the oil every 5,000 miles! - I nearly fell over when the bonnet was lifted - like a new pin! It's the one that we recently went to Leominster in, towing a 12' caravan - hardly know it's there!

[Boots]

Wow Stoney - only just catching up on posts now - that is a heaps cool rig!

I love it and am so envious! I would love a set up like that, and it really looks like its just waiting for a rainbow on the side!

We are still running our pigs to the abbys in the back of a VW Kombi ... which is always quite an adventure

Well done mate. Looks heaps good.

[Stonehead]

We filled the tank on the Defender again today - it took 57.91 litres after doing 390 miles. That's 30.62 mpg or 9.23 litres per 100 km!

That's amazing for an old Landie with a roofrack, travelling four up most of the time, and including 140 miles towing a heavy livestock trailer. Okay, I don't push it hard and am fairly good at keeping a good driving rhythm going, but that's still a great result.

Now I just have to convert it to run on vegetable oil.

[Stonehead]

We are still running our pigs to the abbys in the back of a VW Kombi ... which is always quite an adventure

We carry smaller weaners in the back of Landie as we have a heavy duty dog cage and I can lift them in and out. The pigs add an extra aroma to our already rather whiffy Defender (it was used as a dog kennel for some years and we just can't get rid of the wet dog smell).

As for VW Kombis - an ex-GF and I had a 2-litre fuel injected (old shape) camper and cruised around Oz in it some years back. It was very much a des res in comparison with the SWB Toyota Landcruiser and ancient tent we'd had before. The camper had a double bed, fridge, freezer, gas cooker, eight speaker sound system, pop top, solar shower, and more cupboards than many a house!

The then GF insisted we get a camper after an "interesting" experience in the Snowy Mountains in winter. We just managed to get down a very snowy mountain track thanks to 4WD but then had to camp. A very, very heavy snowfall that night saw the ageing tent collapse on us - I thought it funny but she didn't. Nor did she appreciate having to "sleep" in the back of the Landcruiser...

As it turned out, most of our travels after that seemed to involve some sort of hilarious disaster and so she became the ex-GF! The OH is made of rather sterner stuff - just as well really given the goings on here.