Post by valhalla on Mar 27, 2024 23:27:30 GMT 1
I was correct about that dodgy tyre; as soon as it had a good run, it slowed the leak-rate down to almost nothing. Only once I had really put the tyre back through its paces on those switchbacks, did the pressure drop down slightly again - possibly flexing the sidewalls enough to give a little leakage.
I added about 1.5psi at Tebay services into that tyre, and it seems to have been OK for the rest of the journey - I'm reckoning that I will need to get the tyre off the rim and have a look in the next few weeks.
The biggest trouble I had all weekend was with the towball; by the time I had got down to Sussex, I could feel/hear that something was wrong, and when I looked at the back of the Disco at the destination, the towball was ready to drop off ! Basically, the roads are so rough down through Hampshire and into West Sussex, the shaking of the trailer on the ball had caused the washers under the heads of the bolts to creep, even though it was all checked before and during the journey down. It's all genuine Landrover equipment, so I ought to be used to this sort of failure...... 
What I did to improve matters was to lift the towball up an inch, so that the trailer (3-axle) was less inclined to pitch and shake the ball, i.e. put the whole lot on an even-keel, rather than being ever so slightly nose-down. That seems to have done the job, and I'll leave the ball at that height for the next journey this Summer. I'll also get rid of all the Landrover fixings and specify my own high-tensile cap-screws and hardened washers - also some Nyloc locknuts over the top of the (new) main securing nuts.
Loading the Volvo was easier than I anticipated, as the Disco has air-suspension on the rear axle, so is able to lift the front of the trailer by approx 4-inches, and hence drop the back by the same, for a temporary period whilst the engine is running. It makes the breakover angles so much better between the ramps and the loadbed.
