Blog

Stocktake closure

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Now then, it’s that time of year again when we have to close the shop for a couple of days and count what we have on the shelf, put the stock levels right and clear any silly mistakes we’ve made over the last 12 months.

We shall be closed on Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st of March.
This means orders placed after around 2pm on Wednesday the 29th March are unlikely to be processed until the stock take is complete.

Please order your parts in good time! being closed means… being closed!

The webshop will remain open and will continue to take orders but there’s a good chance NOTHING will be sent before Monday the 3rd of April.

VW LT 1976-1996 Parts and model information

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As the first series of the VW LT get older we’re being aproached by more and more customers trying to source parts for these vehicles.

Sourcing parts for the LT is getting difficult, the last vehicles off the production line was well over 26 years ago (correct at time of writing Feb’23) you cannot simply nip to a VW parts department or use your local motor factor anymore to get your spares.

As these vehicles aren’t deemed as cool as some of their more compact bretherin then vehicle parts manufacturers haven’t taken any interest in reproducing parts for them and a lot of the time there simply isn’t the choice available quality wise, a lot of the time it’s take what you can get and live with it!

Luckily in true VW fashion there are a lot of simple parts are shared between vehicles in VW’s range and thankfully vehicles that are more popular but it’s the things like body panels, gearbox parts and such that were only ever used on VW LT models that we’re struggling with.

As you know, we’re known for mainly supplying T3 & T4 parts but we do have a decent range of LT parts and I’d chance saying that we probably have the largest range of LT1 parts in the UK however our LT knowledge is not as deep as it is for T3 and T4.

In an attemp to “get our heads” around all things LT then we’ve produced this little table to help us understand the LT and to help guide customers to products that are on our website as there seems to be a bewhildering array of models, engines, axles, brakes and suspension parts and without a little knowledge then it’s nigh on impossible giving parts advice.

We have a few more tables of information of which we’ll share shortly and hopefully collate into a little tech section but in the meantime this should help some customer understand the vehicle that they own and find some parts on the website.

Model Type M Code PR Code GVW (KG) Front suspension Rear wheels Brakes
>’89 90>
LT28 28x   OWA 2800 Coil Single 250×55
LT31 28x   OWB 3200 Coil Single 250×55
LT35E 29x – OWC 3500 Coil Single* 270×65*
LT35 29x   – 3500 Coil Twin 270×65
LT35Z 29x – OWJ 3500 Coil Twin 270×65
LT40 29x M512 OWD 4000 Leaf Spring Twin 270×65
LT40A 29x M350 OWH 3500 Leaf Spring Twin 270×65
LT45 29x M926 OWE 4600 Leaf Spring Twin 270×65
LT50 29x M908 OWF 5000 Leaf Spring Twin 270×65
LT55 29x M384 OWG 5600 Leaf Spring Twin 270×65
               
LT 35 runs to end of ’89 where it is then split to LT35E (single rear wheels) or LT35Z (twin rear wheels)
* LT35E has it’s own rear brake set up using rear brake drums unique to LT35E. 270X65mm shoes as used on twin wheel vehicles but with a unique drum to utilise the rear axle of the LT28 & LT31

We’ll continue to support the LT and we’re adding new parts all the time but what we are finding is that parts are available, we buy a few then that’s it! All gone and not to be replaced!

If you want it and it’s available then we’ll stock it!

Bellhousing Modifications for 228mm Flywheel

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When installing an alternative engine into the place of a T3 Diesel engine then it’s sometimes neccesary to upgrade the clutch to handle the increased torque from the engine.

It’s quite common practice on VW T3 Diesels to install AAZ engines (1.9l TD with indirect injection), GTI engines (usually 2E or AGG) or indeed TDI (1.9 Direct Injection engines such as 1Z, AFN etc) engines as they are from the same AE827 engine series and are pretty much VW Lego.

The original 215mm clutch and flywheel from the VW T3 D / TD will bolt in and work with these engines but for a GTI and AAZ engines then the original 215mm clutch will be marginal if it will slip or not, a properly installed TDI engine will most definatley slip.

There are a couple of things we can offer to help you get your extra power through to the gearbox without slipping on your engine conversion.

The single mass flywheel and clutch is only really recommended for the AAZ and GTI engines, the Dual mass flywheel is recommended for the TDI.
The 228mm single mass will work with the TDI but the dual mass affords a little more protection for the gearbox and the associated harmonic vibrations that the TDI produces that can manifest in horrible rattles from the nose end of the gearbox. It is well known that gearboxes with TDI conversions will suffer accelerated wear due to extra low end torque and harmonics.

The fitting of either of these clutch systems to a T3 is not straight forward job and other parts and modifications are required.

Please see the following 3 pictures that will show you where to grind the inside of the bellhousing, for this you will need a die grinder with a rotary burr that’s suitable for Aluminium and a small angle grinder such as something that accepts Roloc discs.

VW T3 Diesel Bellhousing Modification
Overview of places to modify

 

VW T3 Diesel Bellhousing mods
Modification to the left hand face.

 

VW T3 Diesel Bellhousing mods
Modification to the right hand face

Failure to grind these places will result in the engine becoming locked when the bellhousing to engine bolts are fully tightened.

Once the bellhousing is modified then the whole set up can be assembled as normal.

Please be aware that the timing marks will now be missing and you’ll have to mark your own, we suggest that you use the “Full Stop Method” (Sometimes called Positive Stop or Dead Stop method) for accuracy, this is well documented on the internet and beyond the scope of this quick guide.

SMF

DMF

Input Shaft

Cover Plates

Clutch Release Bearing

Spigot Shaft Bearing

Starter Motor Adapter

Royal Mail Industrial Action – FEB’23

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Hi.

Royal Mail are on strike again on the 16th and 17th of February 2023.

Clearly if you select Royal Mail at checkout then this is going to impact your shipment, please use FedEx instead.

We’d love to turn Royal Mail off all together so customers can’t select it, to stop them asking where their stuff is after ignoring the massive red banner at the top of every page but the fact is for some customers it’s their only choice so we’ll leave it on this time, it’s a bit of a case of we’re damned if we do and damnded if we don’t!

More Royal Mail issues – UK Exports

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If it’s not one thing, it’s another!

This morning we have come to work to the following email, this will affect our export deliveries with Royal Mail.
We tend to use Royal Mail for smaller packages up to 2kg, obviously we’d say use FedEx.

Dear SJ Baxter LTD

Royal Mail is experiencing severe service disruption to international export services following a cyber incident. We are temporarily unable to despatch items to overseas destinations.

We strongly recommend that you temporarily hold any export mail items while we work to resolve the issue.

Items that have already been despatched may be subject to delays. The following services for parcels and letters are affected:

    • Royal Mail International Tracked
    • Royal Mail International Tracked & Signed
    • Royal Mail International Standard

All export items already received by Royal Mail are being processed through the Royal Mail UK network and held securely for export processing to recommence as soon as the export despatch systems are available again.

We would like to sincerely apologise to impacted customers for any disruption this incident is causing.

Our import operations continue to perform a full service, with some minor delays. Parcelforce Worldwide export services are still operating to all international destinations though customers should expect minor delays.

Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this disruption and we will update you as soon as we have more information. We immediately launched an investigation into the incident, and we are working with external experts to resolve this issue.

For the latest updates please click here

Yours sincerely

Jon Nicholson
UK Sales Director, Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide.

Christmas Closing 2022

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[Noddy Holder Voice] It’s Christmas! [/Noddy Holder Voice]

Yeah, we know… you know.
However there is always someone who thinks that they still have time to get that last minute order in for delivery before Christmas, even at 4pm on Christmas eve so we have to make these posts…
We will close this year around midday on Friday 23rd December, but to all intents and purposes we close when the last Royal Mail collection arrives on Thursday afternoon at around 4:45PM
Ignore Friday. Nothing will be packed or shipped after late afternoon on Thursday. We have stuff to do in the office and some admin tasks on the webshop, but as far as orders… that ship will have sailed mid afternoon.
We have turned off most Royal Mail services now so for most of you that leaves Fedex. Last Fedex collection is around 2:30PM on Thursday. Obviously we have to pick and pack any orders so realistically last orders for shipping before Christmas is Midday Thursday and anything after that very probably won’t be shipped until we return on the 3rd January 2023.

We’ve done this for a couple of reasons… The Royal Mail is snowed under even without the effect of strike action. And we are already past the last posting day for delivery before the holidays anyway, except for the more expensive services such as Special Delivery… which don’t make sense compared to the FedEx option anyway.

Speaking of January, we’ll start processing orders placed over the holidays on Tuesday morning and generally we do them in the order they were placed.
It usually takes a couple of days to catch up on the backlog though, so as ever we appreciate your patience

Got it?
Good.
Now who’s going to be that guy emailing at 5pm on Thursday telling us we’ve ruined Christmas because the thing he ordered 10 minutes before hasn’t shipped?

Have a good ‘un!
Brickwerks

Email outage

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Morning, seems we don’t have any emails, looks like our email provider is having a few issues.

It’s been looked in to and hopefully we’re back online soon.

There’s an temporary alternative email address here if you’re desparate – [email protected]

Simon.

Further Royal Mail Industrial Action

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Latest update on Royal Mail Industrial Action – December 19th 2022

As the Royal Mail strikes continue right up to Christmas and there is a significant backlog of mail at Royal Mail depots we have made the decision to temporarily disable Royal Mail services to most areas, other than large letter rates for small packages and a few remote areas that don’t have realistic courier options.
This will be temporary until after the Christmas period as the last thing we want is a large number of packages sat in depots for prolonged periods over the Christmas/New Year period.
Most areas will see a very competitive Fedex option which at the moment is proving to be the most reliable service.

Royal mail strike days this week are:

Friday 23rd December
Saturday 24th December

Realistically our last shipping day is Thursday 22nd December for all orders.

 

The Communication Workers Union have today announced new strike dates for December so our updated list of strike dates is below
All Royal Mail  services will be affected around these dates with no collections taking place on those days, fewer deliveries being made, and delays with all services outside of these dates as sorting offices try and catch up.

We do not recommend selecting Royal Mail domestic or International services for any order that you need in a hurry.
With backlogs causing delays and the RM prioritising 1st Class and Tracked24 services over cheaper services, there is potential for long delays with mail leading up to the Christmas period.

November

Saturday 12th November
Monday 14th November
Thursday 24th November
Friday 25th November
Wednesday 30th November

December

Thursday 1st December
Friday 9th December
Sunday 11th December
Wednesday 14th December
Thurdsday 15th December
Friday 23rd December
Saturday 24th December

 

We now have a FedEx service in addition to the Royal Mail options for most areas and this is cheaper than Tracked24 and only slighty more expensive than Tracked48. We recommend using this where available as delivery aims for all Royal Mail services will extend over the following weeks.

We will update if anything changes.

 

 

Hi.

As you’ve probably seen in the news, Royal Mail are planning further undustrial action.

  • Friday 30 September 2022 and Saturday 1 October 2022
  • Thursday 13th October 2022
  • Thursday 20th October 2022
  • Tuesday 25th October 2022
  • Monday 28th November 2022

Further dates have also been announced by the CWU for functional strike action which impacts parts of our operation on the following:

  • Processing, Distribution, International, Collections, Admin: 3rd, 9th, 15th, 24th November and 1st December 2022
  • Delivery: 4th, 10th, 16th, 25th November and 2nd December 2022
  • Network: 2nd, 8th, 14th, 23rd, 30th November 2022

Obviously as around 65% of our packages go out with Royal Mail then it’s going to impact our delivery service to you.

We’re working on alternatives at the moment but please be aware that if you select Royal Mail as a delivery option on or around these dates it’s going to impact the speed of your delivery.

As always, we’ll do our bit and get the items picked, packed and into bags for Royal Mail to collect but selecting an alternative courier at checkout may be in your interest.

Please also note that we may swap some orders placed with Royal Mail to other shipping providers to keep parts moving.

Simon.

Upcoming Royal Mail Undustrial Action

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Groan, if it’s not one thing it’s another.

Just a quick note to say that yes, we’re not immune to the Royal Mail industrial action that is planned on the following days.

  • Friday 26th Aug.
  • Weds 31st Aug.
  • Thurs 8 Sept.
  • Friday 9 Sept.

As this affect all Royal Mail staff memebrs that are parts of the CWU then we will not have a collection on those days and it will have a knock on effect for the days surrounding it.

We suggest that customers don’t use Royal Mail for orders shipped on those days (so realistically anything ordered after midday the day before) and not to moan at us if there is a delay in handling your mail, out of our hands!

Please order in good time and be patient, we’ll do our bit and post in our usual timely manner, any Royal Mail orders that are recieved during times of industrial action will be stored until collections resume the next working day.

Heat related Royal Mail Chaos!

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After waiting for half an hour after our usual Royal Mail collection time it was pretty obvious that our driver wasn’t coming.

After a quick call we managed to persuade the sorting office to stay open so we could take the mail there ourselves.

Today’s Royal Mail orders have now been deposited in Huddersfield where we believe the Tracked 24 will be dealt with as usual but there may be delays on the 48 hour and international packages.

We’ve been told that due to the weather that we probably won’t get a collection Tuesday the 19th either so again, we’ve arranged for us to take the mail to the sorting office however there is a much earlier cut off time of 12pm.

Were truly sorry about this and we’ve done what we can to mitigate any delays but please be understanding and appreciate that this is out of our control.

Simon.