Defender Imports

Thanks to Uncle Paul's Garage for the heavy assist with the paint and body work on this excellent Defender 110.

Seized trailing arm bushing: 1
Hand: 0

Got five stitches after a rusty trailing arm slipped in our 20 ton press while removing the old bushing, and then grenaded. I was holding the trailing arm and the sheer force of the "pop" punctured my hand 😬. Got an x-ray and no broken bones, so hey, back to work.

Fortunately, Matt, our engine builder, is a former Army medic and patched me up before a trip to the urgent care.

Remember this truck? This Italian 90 came through our shop in 2023 after a service member brought it back from an overseas assignment. The vehicle was damaged during its overseas shipment to the US, but after further investigation, we determined that the damage was more than cosmetic, and several issues with the truck existed before it shipped.

The drive line was dangerously out of spec, with a bent trailing arm and a bent upper a-arm in the rear, both rear wheel hubs were leaking and one of the rear drum brakes was seized because of a bad wheel cylinder. The bushings in the pan hard rod were blown and the lower swivel pin in the front passenger swivel ball was sheared off! Resulting in dangerous lateral movement and vibration in the drive line. The front passenger brake caliper had a blown piston seal and the front axle was leaking badly. The speedo cable and the hood latch assembly were also inop.

We sorted out the issues and the truck is now safe to drive 🫡