Blue Danube

We took Matilda into the Land Rover place in Namibia. The very same place Mike advised a few weeks ago. The owner, Johan was too busy to do the work but not too busy to take a look (and charge me for it). I got my aux belt tensioner bearing replaced as I suspected it was knackered ( It was ). I got myself some more oil for my gearbox as I’ve not been able to get any since Uganda. So I now have 3 litres of that. I also got my self a new seal for the trans box intermediate shaft. This one is made by JCB and according to Johan Straus (the Land Rover man) these are much better at sealing the hole. A liberal coting of RTV sealent will also be used this time. I will do that in Cape Town. (Des, I’m going to get your drive oily!) He also checked my turbo and although its working fine is not “new” by any means so I will get another in the UK. I will also replace (or refurb) all the injectors. These components all have a limited life and mine have done a lot plus 50,000. Did i mention we pass 50,000km in a day or so! He also had some very nice tyres but I need six if i’m going to swap brands. These were “Michelin 4×4 OR” as they are now called and very hard to get in the UK. They used to be called XZL. They are muchcheaper here than the BFG ones I want. Well, everything is cheaper that the BFG ones in want. I could buy new car for the same price…….Matilda got a thumbs up from Johan as everything I asked them to check was OK for her age and nothing serious. I still have my work cut out for me as I need to drop the transfer box again !!!!! As Johan lives in the middle of his 140 square kilometer farm there was no coverage on the internet and where we are tomorrow might not be great either.