Yes, add a dab of lubricant on the rubber seal and it will go on like butter.

Yeh, the only way owing a LR makes sense is to do as much of the work as you can yourself. The community is always willing to help. There are years of posts about the issues that you may encounter. One thing about about Rovers, the issues they have are pretty consistent! Call them design flaws or weak points...also there are lots of used parts on the market since so many of them get junked.
Some parts are ok to go non-OEM and others are not good value.