Land Rover Ideas for Grenadiers

[jscherb]

While we're on the subject of heating water, how about where the water is stored? For the Defender there are several custom-fit water tanks on the market, here's one from Safari Equip Co. (https://www.safari-equip.co.uk/shop...ater-tank-1/defender-110-lhs-rear-water-tank/).

Front Runner makes a "footwell" water tank plastic, I wonder if it would fit behind the Grenadier's front seats?

Front Runner 10.57 Gallon Overlanding Footwell Water Tank (WTAN022)

The Front Runner Outfitters 10.57 Gallon Overlanding Footwell Water Tank (WTAN022) from Nomadic Supply Company® is extremely strong and is shaped to sit on the floor right behind behind the front seats of your overlanding vehicle. There is one outlet on each side of the water tank to attach a...

nomadicsupply.com

I'm not aware of any custom-fit water tanks for the Grenadier.

 

[jscherb]

Most hinge-mounted steps for Grenadiers (and Jeeps) look like these, which bolt to both hinges:



They're plenty strong and work very well.

But I'm not really a fan of something that large on the side of the vehicle so I've done something different on my Jeeps - this isn't a Land Rover idea for a Grenadier, it's a Jeep idea for a Grenadier... I use foldable steps to access my roof rack. I bolt them to one door hinge. I find these more than adequate to gain height for accessing the rack and deploying the tent. The steps flip down for use and lay flat against the door when not in use. I only have them mounted to the lower door hinges because that gives me the height I need, but I could put them on the upper hinges as well if I needed more height. The same idea could be applied to the Grenadier's hinges.

They're not very large, but large enough to be usable/comfortable in flimsy flip-flops.

I plan to implement these for my Grenadier, it makes deploying the roof top tent much easier.

Another idea using the same folding steps: Fourby, a Land Rover accessories company I mentioned a few posts ago, offers similar steps for Land Rovers, but they mount them to the body:

I wouldn't want to body mount steps to my Grenadier but it could be done.

The steps I used are available from many sources. I got mine at Iowa 80, the big truck stop on Interstate 80 in Iowa that I sometimes pass on my way west; they sell both black ones ($16.99) and stainless ($40.99):

Stainless: https://www.iowa80.com/pd/stainless-steel-folding-step/12800/

Black: https://www.iowa80.com/pd/black-folding-step/00977/

I made the brackets to mount the steps to the Jeep's hinges; brackets for monting these hinges to the Grenadier's hinges will be a different design but fairly easy to make.

 

[jscherb]

From UK Land Rover accessories company Exmoor, bags attached to the bar behind the front seats of a Series Land Rover:

From US Jeep accessories company Quadratec, bags attached to the back of the seats:

That's the Quadratec 30th Anniversary "YJL" Jeep build, intended to pay tribute to the early 90's YJ Sahara Wrangler owned by the founder of Quadratec 30 years ago.

The YJ Sahara seats had map pockets on the back, and Quadratec wanted to do a modern version of those. They asked me to design those bags specifically for their YJL build, and asked Overland Outfitters to make them, so I did my part, Overland Outfitters did their part, and that is the result.

The same bag in the center of the rear seat in my Grenadier:



These bags are available for the Grenadier in black or tan from Overland Outfitters:

Zip & Go Bag

Your one-stop shop for high quality, innovative & space saving Overlanding storage solutions

www.overland-outfitters.com

The other two bags in the photo of in my Grenadier are OO's First Aid/First Responder Bag and Tactical Tool Bag.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I see a lot of Grenadiers (and Jeeps) in the US with something on the passenger window but nothing on the driver side and I don't understand it - the driver can't see out of the driver side rear window so why not put it there? But the Tacmolle box in the earlier post is on the passenger side where it should be.

It wouldn't hang out into oncoming traffic and you wouldn't have to stand in the road to use it if you are parked on the side of the road?

Some things wouldn't matter but like tire compressor and repair stuff... I wouldn't want it on the outside DS of the truck.

 

[jscherb]

Land Rover Owner published this item is in their "Stuff: Latest Products for your Land Rover" section:

These are manufactured in China (no surprise) and a number of retailers offer them. In the U.S., Auxbeam is one such retailer.

Auxbeam often sends me things to test and review, and I've done reviews of a number of their switch panel products in various places:

8-gang switch panel: https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...ch-accessory-power-panel.206225/#post-2640852 (continues for a few posts)

Another 8-gang review, this one offers Bluetooth control: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/review-auxbeam-bluetooth-enabled-8-circuit-switch-panel.58281/

6-gang version: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...factory-hardtops.127687/page-322#post-2942757

12-gang version: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-switch-panel-with-remote.74713/#post-1445360

I know many Grenadiers have the extra switch option, and hopefully those are all the switches people might need, but Auxbeam's slim line switch panels are a nice fit in several places in the Grenadier...







My review of the slim-line panels: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/review-auxbeam-slim-switch-panel-systems.82463/

 

[jscherb]

Recently I did a few posts about various cargo nets and their uses. At SEMA the other day I ran across a company that sells a range of high quality cargo nets. If you're looking for a net for your roof rack or to hang inside on the ceiling, check these out.

View attachment 900963

In case anyone is considering these nets, I just got an email from them with a discount code of SEMA25; the code is valid until November 23.

 

[jscherb]

An interesting awning, although it's on a soft top Land Rover:

I thought that was an interesting idea so I built one, shown here a few years ago on my JKU Wrangler:

I'll have to get it out and try it with the Grenadier.

 

[jscherb]

I'll leave it to you guys to comment on this idea from Land Rover Owner and whether it has any applicability to Grenadiers (or to any practical vehicle):

A little searching turned up more images of the concept:

Another idea from the same designers... if you don't have your back seat in, would a tool panel installed behind the door be useful?

Not sure any of the above are practical but they are interesting to think about.

 

[jscherb]

A product from Norway featured in Land Rover Monthly, shown on a new Defender:

This anim image is from the company's web site (https://www.dropracks.com/):

I don't think it's made it to the U.S. but the company says they have plans to come here. Probably could adapt it to the Grenadier.

 

[jscherb]

UK Land Rover accessories company Exmoor did an Instagram post about a line of Land Rover clothing and bags. I checked the Exmoor site and found nothing but with a little more searching I found out that what they posted about was offered by Exmoor partner Red Canoe Brands: https://redcanoebrands.com/product-category/landrover/. This caught my eye:

I wondered what would be in a Field Service Kit but it turns out it's only an ordinary backpack with some Land Rover graphics on it.

What about a Grenadier "Field Service Kit"?



Logo gear isn't hard to make... I made this Grenadier shirt shortly after I got my Grenadier - there was a defective plug on the turbo wiring harness and it had to go in the shop for a week so I did this shirt while I was waiting:







Also did pouches to hold my Grenadier owner's manual and other Grenadier documentation:



Nobody's really doing Grenadier-branded clothing or bags yet, seems like they'd be popular.

All of the above items that I made use iron-on graphics that I made on my Cricut Joy vinyl cutter.



Not something I can make on the Cricut, I also designed a Grenadier patch. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to send the design out for embroidery...

 

[jscherb]

In an issue of Land Rover Owner there's an article about Australia's National Military Vehicle Museum. The article features some photos of some Australian Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment Defenders.

They carry lots of extra fuel. Because this is a 2-door, there's more room on the side than a Grenadier has, but something a little smaller than this could be possible on a Grenadier.

Even more fuel on the back. Probably not space on the back of a Grenadier like this, the sides are narrow and have the tail lights.

Putting tools on the hood is fairly common on Land Rovers but I haven't seen this yet on a Grenadier:

 

[jscherb]

Anyone up for some bulletproof "grillage" (that's their word, see the ad below) on their Grenadier? These were advertised in one of the Land Rover Magazines...

No thank you, not for my Grenadier. Anyway I believe the company is no longer in business (no surprise).

 

[jscherb]

A cover story from Land Rover Monthly is this Defender 90:

An interesting thing about this Land Rover is the woodwork.

It's got L-track for securing loads:

A drawer under the wooden floor:

The irregularly shaped Grenadier inner fenders would complicate a tub interior like that but it would be possible to do something similar with some creative woodworking. Or at the very least a really nice floor panel with airline tracks like the photo above - making plywood floor panels for Grenadiers and painting them black is pretty common, how about someone doing a really nicely woodworked and finished floor panel like the one in this Land Rover?

Wood interiors for Land Rovers might be becoming a trend, here's one I saw at SEMA a while back: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/land-rover-ideas-for-jeeps.218029/page-66#post-2971525

Not sure wood interiors are practical for an overland vehicle, but they do look nice.

One more idea from the article - real leather wraps for things like the grab bar:

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

UK Land Rover accessories company Exmoor did an Instagram post about a line of Land Rover clothing and bags. I checked the Exmoor site and found nothing but with a little more searching I found out that what they posted about was offered by Exmoor partner Red Canoe Brands: https://redcanoebrands.com/product-category/landrover/. This caught my eye:

I wondered what would be in a Field Service Kit but it turns out it's only an ordinary backpack with some Land Rover graphics on it.

What about a Grenadier "Field Service Kit"?

View attachment 901991

Logo gear isn't hard to make... I made this Grenadier shirt shortly after I got my Grenadier - there was a defective plug on the turbo wiring harness and it had to go in the shop for a week so I did this shirt while I was waiting:

View attachment 901992

View attachment 901993

View attachment 901994

Also did pouches to hold my Grenadier owner's manual and other Grenadier documentation:

View attachment 901995

Nobody's really doing Grenadier-branded clothing or bags yet, seems like they'd be popular.

All of the above items that I made use iron-on graphics that I made on my Cricut Joy vinyl cutter.

View attachment 901996

Not something I can make on the Cricut, I also designed a Grenadier patch. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to send the design out for embroidery...

View attachment 901998

That place does have some neat stuff.

In an off road group I am in we made tan shirts with patches kind of like what they had for the Camel Trophy guys back in the day.

The day I wore my shirt was mistaken for a park ranger 3 times. We stopped to camp for the night at a campground and the lady at the counter asked me who I need to talk to about getting more state park passes for their visitors.

 

[jscherb]

My last post reminded me that I wrapped a Jeep CJ grab bar as an experiment a few years ago. The stock bar:



I grabbed a few materials from Hobby Lobby - some leather and some padding:



I cut a rectangle of leather and hemmed it on all fours sides on the sewing machine so that it would just wrap around the bar without the two sides touching (they would be pulled together by the final stitching), this is a photo of the back side:



I added some 1/4"-thick foam to the back for padding. I attached it with 3M 77 Spray Adhesive:



While had the adhesive out, I sprayed a little on the top side of the foam to provide some grip on the bar to prevent it from slipping around the bar in use.

As I said I sized it so the edges would not quite meet when wrapped around the bar so they could be pulled together tightly with hand stitching. I started at one end by stitching the ends together and pulling tight so they met, then I went along the bar putting a stitch under the thread of each stitch of the hems. Using the hem stitching as a guide provides for even and consistent hand stitching, the stitching to close and secure the wrap goes through each of the stitches in the hem. Normally I'd use black thread to close the wrap, but for this first try I used tan so I could easily spot any imperfections and learn from them.



Back when I was doing this I found this video online that shows how to wrap a steering wheel, but at about 6:44 minutes into the video how to do the closure stitching is shown:



Finished:



A custom leather wrap for the Grenadier grab bar might be nice, does anyone know how to remove the Grenadier's grab bar? It would be a lot easier to do the final stitching at the sewing table rather than with the grab bar in place in the vehicle.