Problem with LR rims and Timm Cooper disc brakes

I have been chasing a noise since last spring early summer. I could only hear it when I hit 32mph and above, it was roatational and a shusch......shusch.....shusch kind of noise. With my bad hearing I couldn't tell from where it was coming from.
    I pulled apart the driveline to check u-joints, another time took apart the transmission brake to check for rubbing. Jacked up and spun all the wheels by hand. Drove to my neighbors flat drive and jacked up the rear wheels and put on jackstands and put it in gear then ran up to speed.
    I've taken the front wheel hubs apart and checked the bearings and the freewheel hubs. I dropped the rear propshaft and ran the gearbox only, put it in front wheel drive no hubs locked, locked in the front hubs and run it all up to speed each time. Several times I have prodded, shaken, examined by flashlight the whole front axle and suspension.
    Nothing no noise.   I took a non-car person for a ride they told me it sounded like water but not where it might be coming from.
    Yesterday my friend Don came over in his 88 and we went for a ride. He thought it might be the tire tread and was definitely coming from the front. We figured that I could swap the wheel on the front for my spares and see if anything changed.

    So today I spent around 4 hours mucking about with wheels. I got up and when it got semi warm(50°F) I went out and checked tire pressures. All were 35 except RtF it was 30. I had them all at 35 at one time. I checked for loose tread and tire wear, foreign objects. Next I check the toe in, it was fine at 1/8". I set up my dial indicator to check for runout and bent rims, all good.
    Taking off the wheels and putting on the spares was accomplished and I took it for a drive. I got down to the main road OK and went out, the noise was immediate and louder than before so I turned around after on about 50 yards.
    Once home I jacked up one side and spun the wheel by hand, it was hitting something. Both my standard and spare rims are 16"ers. The standard are aftermarket and the spares LR.
    I laid down under the car(again) and saw that the LR rim had one of those LR rim weights and it was contacting the Timm Cooper disc brake caliper(Defender).
    Taking off the wheel revealed the weight was hitting in 2 places on the caliper.

    My standard rims have no weights and clear the calipers just fine so this was not my issue.

The other spare had 1 weight on it and it was hitting too.

Since I didn't want to be without a spare I used a cut-off wheel on my angle grinder and removed about 1/8" of material from the weights. I had already put the standard wheels back on so have not tested clearances yet, but I am pretty confident that I'll be good.

Back to the noise issue. When I put the standard wheel back on I swapped right and left sides. After doing some clean up I went for a drive. Back out on the main drag and I got up to 32mph, 35mph, 40mph, 45mph and no noise! I was so relieved, it has really been holding me back and frustrating and depressing me, worrying that every time I drive it it will break down. I am just guessing that it was the low tyre pressure in the one tire..?

Thanks Don! Nicest Christmas present!

Land Rover 109 LED light bar

I have wanted a LED light bar for years mainly for the better lumen output, but also for the lower energy usage. They were always TOO expensive! Now this Christmas season the price has dropped and I picked up a 50" Combo spot/flood light bar from SuperbrightLEDs for $139.00!
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/off-road-led-light-bars-straight-and-curved/50-inch-off-road-led-light-bar-144w/3673/

  Well it arrived last night, Friday, and I have to ask, HEY UPS! What's up? You tell me it is going to be delivered on Friday. OK, I go online it's out for delivery at 0843. Now the warehouse is just over 13 miles from my house, I can ride my bicycle there  in an hour. Why did it take 10 and half hours to get to me? There is not 100 miles of roads in my valley! What .....grumble,..grumble.....

   It got here at 1830. All packaged nicely.

It comes with stainless hardware and aluminum brackets.

After breakfast this morning, Saturday Dec 15, I went out and took off my Hella 2000's around 9am. It was cold out almost 50°F. Next I had to center the light bar and see how I could mount it. I was hoping it would line up with an existing hole and go quickly. It didn't, it lined up kind of awkwardly on a rack mounting bolt, so I would have drill a hole and mount it to the side.

   With careful measuring I lined the holes up so the bar was in the center. For once I did it right and it bolted on the first time with no changing any of the holes! Without power and dark I just guessed at the light bar angle.

  Then came the wiring. I thought that it came with a fuse and relay but that was extra and I didn't order one. Probably 'cause I had looked at so many online and thought it came with it and a switch. As it was I ordered an extra female connector 'cause I thought it didn't come with one.... it also does not come with wiring diagrams.

I wanted to run it the same as my old wire but the new setup has the power(red) and ground(black) in the same housing and it is thicker cause of it. It wouldn't fit in the slot on top of the door seal.

Until I got out the Dremel tool and widened the slot.

Once the seal was pressed back on the door would still close.

On the inside.

I just ran the wire down the inside of the windscreen next to my other wires for the inside and backup lites. Then looked for a place for the ground and found a handy bolt on the end of my parcel tray. I put on an eye terminal and bolted it on, then hooked up the power with a posi-tap connector.

Then it was test lite time!

These things are FRELLING BRIGHT!

I tidied up the wiring with some zip ties that I intend on replacing with some better p-clips.

Here is with all lights off;

Just the lite bar;

Then at night in the dark;

First with the lightbar off;

Next is the anemic headlights and LED fog lights;

This is when I found the light was aimed too low, see the amount of light on the spare.

A look at all the lights on!

Then I adjusted the aim of the lights and moved out onto the street in front of my house. First the headlights and fog lights;

Then just the LED lightbar;

Again I re-adjusted the aim and went back out on the street, just the headlights and fog lights;

Then the lightbar you can see thee is not as much light in the spare this time;

Almost forgot here is the Hellas output;

I can't wait until LED headlights get cheaper! Headlights and plate/panel lamps are the only incandescent I have left on my 109.

Land Rover 88 trailer top changed

   Always wanting to maximize space I was trying to design and build some sort of lift for my 88 tub trailer. It wasn't coming together.
    The wood that I used for an adapter for the roof was falling apart under the rain and the sun despite it being exterior grade plywood and having clear coat and truck bed liner sprayed on it. I was surprised by how quickly the liner stuff came off.
     The lift/support system I built wasn't steady or easy to use. So I scrapped all of it except the roof.

   In the past I had an 88 tub trailer that I think got towed to Belize after I sold it. It had the roof and roof sides and a rear door. I did not want one that tall again for lots of reasons.
    Now in my shed I had a set of roof sides with the fixed windows and I had not decided if I want to sell them or not so I figured now was the time to use them myself. But I did not want the windows...

   So I cut along the dotted line of the top and bottom of the window opening splitting the side into 3 sections, top, middle and bottom. The middle I discarded into my junk pile. The other 2 I laid out to see what was needed to fit them together. I didn't take any pics of this process.
    Since the roof is narrower than the body the roof sides taper up. Well I forgot this.....and my first attempt of marrying up the 2 parts to the roof failed. Luckily I was only trial fitting things and had not done any serious work or damaged any parts. I wound up with about a 3/4" gap in the rear of the seam tapering up to being a match in about 36" from the back. For me the key was keeping the rear door opening even top and bottom.
    This led me to figure that I needed a 4"W x 58"(?)L 18ga strip on both sides to make the seam weather resistant and strong enough should I put some sort of load on the roof. I got these from a local plumbing A/C house, Geo. H. Wilson, Inc I also ordered 100 3/16" solid dome head rivets from Hansen.

Once the materials were on hand I went to work, clamping and bending, drilling and riveting, bolting the roof on and setting on the strips. I used a light smear of RTV to help with the weather resistance, between the strip and the sides. After the sides were on and done I cleaned them up and sprayed more truckbed liner on them to help weatherize and seal.

I think it is a 9.5" lift. Now I needed to close in the front and back. Deciding that having removable panels so I could fit longer things if necessary. Another issue is that I had to use clamps to pull the front of the sides in to fit to the roof. If I ever removed the roof, the sides would spring apart about .5". I wanted a frame to bolt the front panel and the front of the roof sides to. Next thing is I went down to my local Land Rover dealer and bought one.....No you say? Right I had to make one.

    With some Super strut laying around and some 1/2" square tubing and some little pieces of flat stock I put the strut on the top and the 1/2" along the sides and welded it up bracing the corners.

   Now I could drill and tap at several locations to install bolts and had a flat surface for some weatherstripping. Next I needed a panel to cover the opening.
    Picking up some OSB plywood scrap from my Son-in-law I cut out the shape and allowed for the fitting of a metal skin. The skin I used came from what was left from cutting down the 88 roof to fit the trailer. Problem was I didn't have 1 piece large enough and had to make 2 sections with a seam at the center. This I managed to cover with one of the roof ribs that I had to dismember and reassemble after using it as a hole guide for the rivets.

    Holding it in place I drilled and tapped mounting brackets, installed weather stripping on  the back side and coated it with truckbed liner.

   Then for the back.......my thoughts were for something secure and easy to open/remove so I made another panel out of wood and skinned it with some alli and made some fixed bolts to hold it on.

But I knew that was going to be problematic. For one it restricted the size of things going in and out and made the interior visibility worse. It was also a nightmare looking at trying to weatherize the opening. Might as well have not lifted the roof at all. I needed a liftgate or a door.

     While I could have made a liftgate I opted for a door. After all the hinging was easier.

    First I needed a frame, so out came the last of my 1/2" square stock and I measured and cut and welded and painted and fitted and cut and welded. Until I got this;

The upper corners needed to be filled in. Wrongly I figured I could just make some out of sheet metal n that would be strong enough. So I tried.

     Once I went to welding it on the frame I knew it wouldn't hold up to having a skin put on it. So back into the think tank......cue Jeopardy music......

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   I needed some 1/2" flat strip to make an arc and weld in place! Maybe you noticed though that the opening where the roof line is isn't the same as the roofside door opening. There is a small notch that I would have to take care of.

   It took a trip to the hardware store for some 1/2' strip and a locking hasp. Then more trial and error than I want to admit to get the arcs to fit in the opening and hopefully allow for adding on a skin.

     Along with the arced corners I added some flat strips for hinges and locking hasp. After all that I predrilled the frame for rivets for the skin, and painted it.

    While that was drying I set about attaching the front of the sides to the frame I had made in the front. I drilled some holes and tapped them and now the roof can come off and the sides will stay in place. I used some 1/4 x 20 tapered allen head screws for the job because I fitted the trim on the outside for the "door seal" to make it look more finished.

    After a few days of this thing sitting in my front yard due to tree trimming I decided that it did not look right with the black roof sides. So I picked up a can of almond paint as it matches the Land Rover limestone best and had a go at painting the sides with it. Yes, I like it a lot better.

    Wilson came thru yesterday with the skin for the back door. So late in the after noon I set about drilling and putting in rivets and  trimming.

   Then this morning when it got warm enough I bent the edges and finished off the riveting. That done and a test fit to see it still fit the opening a couple of coats of paint were added. Once dry the lock was bolted on using 10-24 ss machine screws. A pull was added. Lastly it was bolted on to the hinge only to find it is a little tight and I'll have to adjust the holes for the hinge.

   As an experiment of sorts I used RTV to adhere a magnet to the rear roof side. You can see it in some of the pictures. It's purpose is to hold the hasp open and out of the way when accessing the inside.

And finally as luck would have it I was going to make a drip strip much like the ones on the Rover catflap, but, I found during one of my test fits that just leaving the bottom of the door skin hangin it covers that gap nicely and also helps to lock the tailgate.

    The only thing left, and now that I have the front bolted to the frame, is to get some roof to roof side seals and put them in and finish bolting the roof and sides on. As it sits there are only 4 bolts on the top and 4 on the bottom holding it together. Probably good enough to drive around on but I want more for piece of mind.