D.B's Defender 110

[badnuz]

woot great stuff

[UBZ]

Nice work - must have been all those tools
300km it's road tested ,all good , mission on

[DieselBoy]

I also didn't spend all week just cleaning the motor up

I got http://www.landroverspares.co.nz to order me in a couple of extra's just for good measure

So just to get you in the zone, lets just say I spend way to much time surfing the net looking at all the cool Jungle treks and events around the world

We quiet often head away on a Friday night afterwork, leaving late to take advantage of clear roads. That means we often have to trek into out of the way places to camp for the night. Half an hour off the road in Low Range at 2am in the morning to get to one of our favourite places is not uncommon!!!

So I decided I needed more lights!!!

Roof lights infact

Normally I write roof lights off to posers in Auckland, as anyone knows, if you use your truck for 4 wheeling in NZ, roof lights sitting up on a light bar don't last long!!!

I had seen these cool light bars on sume ofthe comp trucks overseas where the lights hung down below the bar just infront of the windscreen. I NEEDED one of those

A quick trip to Supercheap and I got 4 cheapy driving lights. Cheap so if the get smashed, not a biggy!!!

So what do you do when you have a light bar, a bull bar and do a fair bit of exploreing often on very overgrown NZ bush tracks??

You make yourself some Limb Raisers. The idea is they guide overhanging vegetation up and over the top of the truck

I had some stainless wire and associated hardware I salvaged from a sports shop refit I did a while ago. The wire was part of an indoor golf driving range thingy.

Busting to try them out, it might protect my aerials and snorkel!! . They do have a built in weak point just incase

It looks, well, interesing shall we say. Especially on a pretty standard shiny truck. They unclip easily so can be fitted when required.

At the very least they might be good for drying socks and tea towels at camp









As you can see in this pic, the bar sits well below the highest point of the roof. They should survive up there hopefully


Also made use of the new spare wheel carrier and moved the Axe and Pick from inside the truck to out side, and stashed a 20m winch extension inside spare wheel. Should make them a bit more easily accessible when required which they quite often are.



Better wire the lights up this week, don't want to get labelled a poser!!!!!!

[nzhunter]

dude you wouldn't believe how stoked I was when I found out it was just the sump leaking haha

[muskie]

being a pom i love landies and have had quite a few as they are really cheap to keep on the road in the uk...that is a very cool looking 110, and alot of work time and cash gone into it, you must be happy with it now?? or more to come?? the only thing that i dont like is the wheels but that is just me... superb job mate, you must be in the shed, A LOT!!

there are 4 massive landrover events in the uk, billing aquadrome is one of the biggest, a 4 day event (search youtube) if you ever get chace to go to the uk its a must see for any landy fan, you would love it. trouble is there are so many cheap parts it might cost you a fortune in air freight comming home..

[wjw]

I bought some guide wires for the prado, still sitting in the garage Might have to put them on the cruiser one day...

[DieselBoy]

the only thing that i dont like is the wheels but that is just me...

Those are just the road wheels man, check back through the thread a bit, I have a set of steel rims with 235/85/16 Scorpions on them

[muskie]

the only thing that i dont like is the wheels but that is just me...

Those are just the road wheels man, check back through the thread a bit, I have a set of steel rims with 235/85/16 Scorpions on them

arr yes, that looks meaner, i wasnt being critical it just took the aggresive look away from the truck, i think its awesome..

[Furgus]

Hey Pete looking great.....how did you run the wires back into the cab from the lights - looking to do something similar on the 130

Cheers Gareth

[DieselBoy]

Hey Pete looking great.....how did you run the wires back into the cab from the lights - looking to do something similar on the 130

Cheers Gareth

Hey, I just ran them down behind the snorkel and into the engine bay through the gap between the bonnet and fire wall. Once in the engine bay its easy as you would know. Sure as hell wasn't going to drill holes in the roof for a couple of lights, it leaks enough as it is with out me adding to the problem

[DieselBoy]

The truck as been suffering from a noisey Salisbury diff. A rebuild is pricey. Also the splines on the axles and the drive flanges are badly worn. Its done lots of driving on this gear, so its to be expected.

After talking to poeple and doing my homework, I decided that the best all round solution was to stash the salisbury under the house for safe keeping and fit a 24 spline rear from a Disco.

The pluses are that an axle can be sourced for not much more than a diff shop wanted to just to strip and inspect the Sal's diff, while still being a full floating axle there are no drive flanges to wear and the biggest bonus of all, I will gain 40mm of ground clearance!!!!

40mm is like nearly 3 tyre sizes. (5mm off 3 sizes). Thats a HUGE increase.


Last Friday night I did a road trip to pic up some parts from Ashley. Then some how I ended up at UBZ's place looking at LJ's, dropped in to http://www.landroverspares.co.nz to pick up some parts left out for me at around 2:30am and then before you know it, I was driving down our driveway at something stupid like 3:30am Saturday morning

The stash from Ashley


Spring platform spacers and a flange kit to convert the new diff to fit my drive shaft.


Because there's always other stuff to do at the weekends, like work on LJ's, I got cracking on the jobs that need doing to the The110 after the last trip. The suspension got cycled pretty hard as the tracks were realy washed out and it was slow going with lots of twisting and flexing.

The old bushes in the front end were starting to complain, with the center tubes of a couple of them coming delaminated.

http://www.landroverspares.co.nz supplied me some OEM rubber bushes for the radius arms and the panhard rod.

I pulled it all out last night, got the bushes pressed in today at Speedy Lube and refitted it all tonight before dinner

Its amazing the gear you need to take both radius arms out when you don't have a hoist to do it on!!!


4 axles stands, two trolly jacks, and a bottle jack.


I also got them to have a go at pressing the panhard rod back straight after a rock got in the way:


I also took the opportunity while the front end was all apart to fit the front spring platform spacers. Will get some pic's of that tomorrow in the day light, the one's I took are blurry?? Must have the shakes. Must need a drink

[DieselBoy]

A quick friday night mission!!!

One big heavy Salisbury diff:


Now in the parts collection. Its a big unit when you see out on the floor:




New diff with flange kit fitted and platform spacers


Ready to go under the truck:



A pic of the front because I didn't get one the other day. Can't see the spacers unless you know where your looking which is really good:


And the bad pic of the front before the rear spacers whent in, the difference is noticeable!


And the finished result:


I have 40mm more ground clearence. If every tyre size you go up is equal to 12.5mm of extra ground clearence, I have gone up 3 sizes in tyre

Swapping the pinion flange was easy, don't understand why people make a big deal of it. Will post how to do that later

[Cameron]

looks a bit tight in the shed in that last pic!
this thing is so cool. awesome work mate.

[MNC]

You have a hoist and a forklift in the workshop???

Man, I am green

Nice fast mod again, well done!

[DieselBoy]

Modded drive shaft




Now its mobile and I can actually test the diff. I quietly drove it home from the work shop in front wheel drive last Friday and that's as exciting as its got.

The extra ground clearance is awesome, you can see it straight away when you look at the rear of the truck!!

[Furgus]

On the other hand there was a reason the 110 was given a Salisbury over a standard diff,I know you're not running stupid size tyres or a massive hp motor, but if the back is fully laden with camping gear for the family for a week or so & you give it arseholes (not that you'd ever do that though Pete) then .... well you know the rest. Nice work as always though, sickening quick & tidy

[DieselBoy]

Yeah, I have been through it all while making up my mind.

The new Defenders have the same axle I have fitted and they are still rated to carry a 1,500kg payload in the back.

If I EVER have 1,529kg's of camping junk in the back, then it might not be what you call camping anymore

Also the towing capacity is 3,500kg's of braked trailer, so it will be sweet

It's only slightly less than the ratings with the Salisbury.

It would see maybe a max of 500kg's of camping gear at the absolute MAX and maybe 1500kg's of LJ50 and
trailer.

Besides, have you seen the shit that people tow behind Discoveries?? Boats and horse floats etc etc

It will be sweet, but the Salisbury Is there just incase it's
not

[DieselBoy]

While going over the truck getting it ready for the xmas break trip, I spotted a coolent leak.

All the hose clamps were tight.
Hoses are all new.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pulled the radiator out and found this:


The radiator shares a common mounting assemble with the intercooler so they sit side by side accross the front of the grill. It appears that the radiator and intercooler have been getting a little to cozy and the alloy intercooler has rubbed through the tank on the radiator. Joy

The welded seam on the top right of the intercooler in the pic is what did the damage.:


Long story short while the tank was being repaired they also recored it.

While the radiator was out, and the cooling system empty, I went digging under the xmas tree and took the opportunity to install the Helton heat exchanger.

We have been spending to much time on the Oz forums and ordered one over

The kit is GOOOOOOOOOD, everything you need, hoses, clamps, even cable ties:




The heat exchanger:


Found a nice spot for it under the gaurd:


Bit of shagging round with hoses. The big tap is the heat control, and the two small brass barbs are the cold and and the hot out:


Fits in nice and snug:


Gotta wait until xmas day before I'm allowed the rest of it, then its hot showers owwwwwwwwwn

[niblik]

[xj]

Pete, Ive had the same Helton unti in for a while now, its about to have its third Christmas camping trip. Great little unit (looking at yours, i didnt bother with putting in the tap though) that goes great...... ya cop a bit of stick from the lads until their lasses have a shower and they start working on their partners to get one too.

Actually, come to think of it Pete........

[DieselBoy]

After a wicked trip up north over xmas, I came home with a head full of idea's to smooth out the camping experience and stream line the set up at camp and the pack down each morning before getting on the road.

Posing next to UBZ's Surf hiding up in the dunes away from the quick sand on the Kokota Sand Spit at the northern end of Great Exhibition Bay:


One of the things I hate is having to shuffle gear around the truck, or even out side the truck to set up the bed. I also hate having to go digging in the back of a cubby space and move four other box's to get the one you want sorta thing.

The current set up is not really that bad, but there is room for improvement!!

So I made a start on stage one.

Stage one was to get rid of the two plastic bins that usually contain food and
Alex's "stuff".

Stage one comprised of building a new row of cupboards onto of the existing row, and squeezing a couple of plastic draws in just for fun, and what ever
else I could turn into a storage ompartment while I was at it. The existing cupboards also got a carefully calculated shelf in each.

Worked out good. Pretty rough (like real rough), but not bad for an afternoons effort jammin stuff together. Even put new bigger speaker box's in to let the 6X9's work better

New lay out:



Heaps of space up top


Random cubby box thing. Might be good for bread and packets of chips??


New shelves in the original cupboards. Should make a huge difference to getting at stuff quickly!!


Had to trim down the flip out table.


Little table supports. Slide them out when you use the table:


Slide them back in when your done:


Wipped up a little shelf behind the front seats. Good for camers, jersey's, hats, sunnys, dildo's, what ever..



Needed to make a spot to hide some of Alex's "stuff"and get rid of the box it usually hides in. Best available spot was under here:


So pulled that section out and got funky:



Hasn't impacted on the stowage area much:


Good sized compartment for gear:


Just remember to fit the lid before going to bed


Stage two is relocated the stuff that has lost its place in the stowage area following the creation of the new compartment. Those items are the two burner gas stove, the fold up table and the gas bottle. The Gas bottles gonna be the mongrel to find a new spot for

[UBZ]

Looking good man!!!!
those speaker boxes sound better with the extra volume??

Posing next to UBZ's Surf hiding up in the dunes away from the quick sand on the Kokota Sand Spit at the northern end of Great Exhibition Bay:

must post up some more pictures , was a awesome trip.

Good sized compartment for gear:

Hahahaha you have this much space only

[wjw]

So do you use alloy and screws for all the framing?

[niblik]

just wondering chap... what do you do in regards of chilling foods etc? do you use the old ice in the chilly bin thang or ya looked into goin 3 way fridge stylings at all..?

great wee set up ya got goin awn..

[44jetboat]

hay db

defender is looking sick. your giving me bad ideas for the disco

with the suspenion lift where did you get them and how long did the rear shocks have to be?

cheers garth

[Shane]

One of the guys in chch club(few yrs back)fitted a heat exchange/shower unit to his 80# cruser(not sure of brand)it worked ok but not as warm as he had hoped,so he wraped all the hot side hoses with laging(spell)and that made quite a big differance,just a thought for those winter adventures you go on,be nice to have a hot shower when the snow is falling

Shane

[DieselBoy]

Nibz - Just a little thermo electric chilly bin from Bunnings does the job to keep stuff cool over here.In fact untill recently we just used a little 5L chilly bin

WJW - Alloy angle is usually just a dress piece or to protect the edges, the "guts" is in the ply. Look closely at the pic below and you can see how the ply is joined at the corners with a 20mm square block. Screw through the ply into the block. The Alloy is doing slightly more work on the top cupboards, but they are only taking a minimal amount of loading.



44jetboat - Get hold of landroverspares.co.nz, they should be able to hook you up with a set of platform spacers. They worked out cheaper than a set of lifted springs and you get to keep you super flexy L.R springs!!

Been busy with music stuff recently, but managed to get a couple of nights in on it this week. I think in the last two nights I have replaced the vacum pump, viscous fan hub, oil cooler thermostat, rear shock mounts, rear radius bushes, steering damper and changed the oil in the swivel housings.

Speaking of suspension and shocks and spacers etc, you gotta love the way Land Rover build their shit!!!!

The lower mount on the front shocks bolts through the center of the spring plateform, so as a result moved up with the platform spacers, so these were the correct length still:



For the rears I had had to get on landroverspares.co.nz to get me some shock droppers. You unbolt the upper rear shock mounts:

And bolt on the new mount which lowers the shock mount by 50mm. Simple as that and half the price of new shocks.


So you want to see stock Land Rover flex???







That's with stock springs and shocks and wheels still on the ground, need to find a deeper drain!!

Haven't really done much else to it, other than slap some light duty sliders on it. Mainly wanted these so I can put some bars around the front gaurds to brace the corners of the front bar. These are to come in the nxt week or so::




Super simple to mount:

Front mount needs more support though, its planned, just haven't got there with it yet


Was shopping at FCO and came accross this "Quick Erect" shade awning, and thought "what if..................."

Needless to say one followed me home. That was the easy part

It took some carefull persuading to get my old lady to get her sewing machine out, some design work and lots and lots and lots of measuring and a couple of late nights on the sewing machine later, we had this cool little awning to replace the old one which was falling appart!!

Its only propped up with out pegs for the pic's




Essentially we only added two sides on it, both with zips, tags and ties, loops for pegs etc etc, extended the leg's, extended the rear side just lotsa small alterations.
It takes less than that 2 mins to pop it up, and maybe 3 to put it away. Gotta love it

The stove got stuck up on the back door and the table moved and shortened the other night too. Should make it a bit more convenient to use I hope.





As always, heaps more stuff still on the to do list. Mostly small stuff luckily!!!

[tomsoffroad]

Jeez this truck is flasher than my house.
Nice work

[Overkill]

"Mental note to self"........if the world turns to poo in Dec, find out where this guy lives, go up and pinch this well decked out truck and head to the hills in style ....Looking like an awesome tourer

[NJV6]

Your not finding your rear springs popping out? When Dad did the rear shock mod he needed relocation cones...