Trolley Jacks and service intervals

Forum: 

Just a quick couple of questions.

I've got a P reg Fourtrak Fieldman and I have seen in the forums two service interval times 3000 miles for 'older' engines and 6000 for the 'newer'. My question is which service interval is required. At the moment it does about 400-800 miles a month, motorway driving at around 60-70mph speeds so what type of usage is that? Medium?

The second question is what load capacity trolley jack should I get? 2 tonne or 3 tonne?

Thanks
Matt

here's what I did.

Same degree of confusion. Some people on this forum religiously stick to the 3000 mile service interval, but I believe this is for moderately rough service. Real rough service is driving around in jungles or deserts !

All I know is that I used to change oil and filter every 5000 miles from new (it's easy to remember on the mileometer). I was doing quite a lot of motorway work interspersed with some off-road stuff getting radiofrequency field measuring kit to odd locations. At 84000 miles the MOT man broke it with the barsteward emissions test, so I had to have a piston out to replace the ring which broke (real oddball !). The bores were all in nearly new condition, still with the honing marks visible at the top of the bores. BTW, I only ever used quality mineral oil (Duckhams 15W-40). There's no point in wasting money on buying the modern synthetic oils for this relatively low output engine.

#2 .... the bigger the jack, the better. Even so, all I use is a 2 ton trolley jack which I have found to be perfectly OK.

1.5 tonn should be enough.

Are you in America? Or is it just your server throwing up the Stars and Bars?
1.5 Metric Tonn should be enough (not sure what that equates to in American Tonnes, as I belive your on Imperial? ans it's diffrent again to our Imperial?). Though I would go for 2 to be safe. You are only lifting one axle at most after all. The whole car is only 2 Tonn, with about 60% or so (1.2Tonn? .3?) of the waight on the front axle.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

Service Intervals

Service intervals for your vehicle are as follows:
service every 6000 miles for normal driving such as yours, this consists of engine oil and filter, blow out air filter with an air line, and numerous checks. Check all drive belts, brake fluid level, brakes, steering joints, clutch free play, prop shaft joints, power steering fluids and any leaks.

In addition to this at 12,000 miles, as above with grease prop shaft and steering joints, check wheel bearing play, valve clearances, transmission fluid levels, handbrake travel, front brake discs, shockabsorbers, battery electrolyte levels, and manifold gaskets for leaks.

At 24,000 miles, all above, and replace fuel and air filters, replace brake fluid, cooling system fluid and anti freeze, and replace all wheel bearing grease. Check all fuel lines for security and wear, and brake cables for wear.

At 48,000 miles, as above but replace all axle and transmission oils, and power steering fluid.

At 60,000 miles, as above but replace cam belt and idlers.

Do not use synthetic engine oil, these are old engines and the internal clearances are too great for synthetic oils, use a good quality mineral engine oil, although all transmission oils are now synthetic, and usable in your vehicles transmission.

In addition to this, i would recommend greasing every service, this is cheap insurance and extends the life of components considerably, mu old F20 is over 30 years old, and still on its original uj's, and steering joints.

If the vehicle is used for more than 30% of its time off road, or works in severely dusty conditions, reduce the service intervals by half. If itis used as a site vehicle, working flat out in harsh environments, then service every 1500 miles.

If used for large proportions of time in wet conditions, or predominantly wet mud, increase the greasing to once every 1500 or 3000 miles to prevent ingress of water to components.

Axle stands.

Buy maximum capacity of trolley jack - you might need it in later years. Another essential is to buy two axle stands .... 2 ton each capacity. Might be worth buying 4 axle stands if intending to service brakes so all wheels can be lifted/removed.