Land Rover Tex Magna indicator bulb replacement---LED

 17 Jun 2023

    A bout a week ago I noticed my Tex Magna indicator lamp was out. I checked it out and it was indeed the bulb had given its everything to help me safely motor about. I didn't have a spare at hand so I put it back together and commenced a Worldwide search!

   Looking on the usual suspects websites I couldn't find one. So I went to the Series 2 forum that most excellent resource! A search there turned up thread which called for a BA7 lamp. When I looked online for one I saw that it was different than the one I had. A query to the forum showed mine was a BA9. The difference being the 7 had locating lumps and the 9 has locating pins.

  Deciding to go with LED's I searched the Superbright led website; https://www.superbrightleds.com/  my go to for LED's. I didn't find the 12v 2.2w that the TexMagna takes so I asked and was pointed to the BA9 they have.  https://www.superbrightleds.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=BA9

I bought a couple since I didn't know the height of the bulb and thought the diffused bulb might be too tall. I got a green and clear in 2 styles.

They came in the post today so I carefully removed the indicator switch from the steering column.

Here's a look at the top where the bulb shines thru, until it doesn't.

The top on mine comes off with 3 slotted screws. You can see the bulb towards the top of the triangle shape.

Speaking of bulbs, here's a look at the 3 types; diffused led, incandescent factory, clear led.

Simple to replace, really. MUCH HARDER to get a picture of them flashing............

In the end I went with the clear green one and I'll see if I notice it enough to change at some other time.

Thanks for watching, like and subscribe! ;^)

Land Rover tie rod end, How is it made?

 10 June 2023

   No I didn't go to the factory. I've been doing inventory and cleaning parts. I found a couple of frozen tie rod ends and got to wondering how they were made and if I could free them up.

    The short answer is no.

  I tried to free 1 up and it was pretty solid. I tried a BFH and it wouldn't budge so out came the angle grinder and a cutoff wheel. I was a lot more complicated than I thought.

   It reminds me of the human hip, a ball and socket joint.

I had no idea there was a spring in the bottom, you can see what's left of this one after the rust in the smaller cut away portion. Notice there is no grease at all. Above the spring sits a cup shaped plate to cradle the ball on the threaded bit.

   

also in the ball end is a conical steel piece that holds the rubber boot in place and appears to be a press fit. I had to cut this off to separate the ball from the cups.

   There was no boot on this end and no grease fitting. So it rusted up. I shows the importance of the boots and the newer greaseable style of ends. I wasn't until I cleaned up the spring side cup that I saw it has a hole in it for the grease to migrate through.  These ends must be assembled and then powerfully crimped to stay together. Amazing!

Now we know!