Land Rover ideas for Jeeps

[Dan Grec]

If a Gladiator frame has significant flex, a rack like this should work - check out how much distance is between the drip rail mounts on the cab and the mounts at the back of the bed - nothing in between so lots of opportunity for rack flex.

Remember though at the front of a Gladiator it would only be attached to the fibreglass roof... which might tear or crack.

I think we need someone with a Gladiator to put a gopro with a visible tape measure in the gap between the cab and the bed so we can see how far they move independently.

-Dan

 

[jscherb]

Remember though at the front of a Gladiator it would only be attached to the fibreglass roof... which might tear or crack.

Agreed, the freedom panels aren't engineered to support the loads and stresses a roof rack would put on them so for a Gladiator version I'd probably design it to attach to the roll bar through the freedom panels. Yes you'd have to drill holes in the freedom panels, but unless the rack had an exocage design you probably couldn't remove the panels with most racks anyway.

 

[Dan Grec]

Agreed, the freedom panels aren't engineered to support the loads and stresses a roof rack would put on them so for a Gladiator version I'd probably design it to attach to the roll bar through the freedom panels. Yes you'd have to drill holes in the freedom panels, but unless the rack had an exocage design you probably couldn't remove the panels with most racks anyway.

So then you'd be connecting the front roll cage to the rear of the bed with your roof rack.

Surely it needs more flex and independent movement than that.

-Dan

 

[jscherb]

So then you'd be connecting the front roll cage to the rear of the bed with your roof rack.

Surely it needs more flex and independent movement than that.

-Dan

Let's look at this one again:

Here's why it works:

Longitudinal flex (front to back, as in the frame bending vertically in the middle), is handled by the vertical posts in the rear flexing forward or back. Notice there's no longitudinal triangulation on those posts so they're free to flex front to back.

Lateral flex (side-to-side) is handled by the vertical posts in the back flexing side to side, as well as the rack itself flexing side to side. The front of the rack is rigidly attached to the cab (6 points) and there's at least 6 feet between the rearmost cab attachment and the back, so there's plenty of distance for a properly designed rack to flex. And with no lateral triangulation on the posts, they're free to flex side to side.

Radial flex is handled in a similar way to lateral flex, the rear posts flex and the rack twists.

Designing the proper amount of rigidity vs. flex into the rack is a solvable engineering problem and in any case the rack will be more flexible than the heavy and well reinforced frame. Especially since this rack appears to be aluminum, which in general flexes more than steel.

A similar design could work on the Gladiator but as I said I'd tie the front of the rack to the roll bars instead of using drip rail mounts on the fiberglass drip rails.

 

[Vinman]

Let's look at this one again:

Here's why it works:

Longitudinal flex (front to back, as in the frame bending vertically in the middle), is handled by the vertical posts in the rear flexing forward or back. Notice there's no longitudinal triangulation on those posts so they're free to flex front to back.

Lateral flex (side-to-side) is handled by the vertical posts in the back flexing side to side, as well as the rack itself flexing side to side. The front of the rack is rigidly attached to the cab (6 points) and there's at least 6 feet between the rearmost cab attachment and the back, so there's plenty of distance for a properly designed rack to flex. And with no lateral triangulation on the posts, they're free to flex side to side.

Radial flex is handled in a similar way to lateral flex, the rear posts flex and the rack twists.

Designing the proper amount of rigidity vs. flex into the rack is a solvable engineering problem and in any case the rack will be more flexible than the heavy and well reinforced frame. Especially since this rack appears to be aluminum, which in general flexes more than steel.

A similar design could work on the Gladiator but as I said I'd tie the front of the rack to the roll bars instead of using drip rail mounts on the fiberglass drip rails.

Could one not incorporate rubber or urethane bushings between the rack and the mounting brackets to absorb the flex?

 

[jscherb]

Could one not incorporate rubber or urethane bushings between the rack and the mounting brackets to absorb the flex?

If the question is about using flexible bushings to attach the rack to the hardtop drip rail, that's not an approach I would take - I am not a fan of the racks on the market that attach to the drip rails of fiberglass hardtops.

But using bushings in other locations could end up being part of the design - the engineering exercise for the rack design would be the interplay of the rack flexibility with the frame flexibility vs. the need for rigidity in the rack itself to do it's job properly and not flex so much that metal mounts for the rack would be stressed to the point of cracking over time; bushings could end up being part of the design if the Gladiator flex turned out to be significant. One place I wouldn't use bushings is in attaching the front half of the rack to the roll bars through the hardtop - that attachment would be rigid and the back half of the rack would be designed to flex as necessary.

 

[Vinman]

If the question is about using flexible bushings to attach the rack to the hardtop drip rail, that's not an approach I would take - I am not a fan of the racks on the market that attach to the drip rails of fiberglass hardtops.

But using bushings in other locations could end up being part of the design - the engineering exercise for the rack design would be the interplay of the rack flexibility with the frame flexibility vs. the need for rigidity in the rack itself to do it's job properly and not flex so much that metal mounts for the rack would be stressed to the point of cracking over time; bushings could end up being part of the design if the Gladiator flex turned out to be significant. One place I wouldn't use bushings is in attaching the front half of the rack to the roll bars through the hardtop - that attachment would be rigid and the back half of the rack would be designed to flex as necessary.

I agree with not mounting the rack to the drip rails. Either a bracket through the hardtop to the cage like you said or possibly off the windshield hinges like the Garvin TJ rack but the centre section would still require some support. That being said, brackets from the cage through the hard top could still incorporate bushings above the roof where it connects to the rack itself.

 

[jscherb]

Fridge Power Outlet

I posted what follows below a few months ago in my JK thread, but the Land Rover magazine item above is what started me with it so I'll repeat the info here:

Seeing this item solved a problem for me. On rare occasions I've had a power connectivity problem with my fridge - the power plug stops making good contact with the socket. Since the fridge is a fairly high current device, a good connection is key to reliable operation.

The fridges I've got are Dometic 35's, and they come with a two-piece power plug. The "cigarette lighter" tip can be unscrewed, revealing a two-prong plug that resembles a 120v AC plug:

ARB fridges have the same plug, and they sell matching two-prong sockets: https://www.quadratec.com/products/96010_1012.htm. What's nice about these is that the prongs make better contact than the other style, and the plug can be secured in the socket by screwing the outer sleeve of the plug into the socket.

The sockets are an easy swap - they fit in the same holes and the connections are via spade lugs just like the cigarette lighter style outlets.

I installed one in the Trail Kitchen power panel (it's the bottom socket):

And I installed one in my alternate power panel (the panel I use when I'm carrying only the fridge and not the full Trail Kitchen). On the right the plug is inserted and the sleeve is screwed in:

If you've ever had a problem with your "cigarette lighter" style fridge plug not making good contact, this is a great solution.

 

[jscherb]

Campfire Tent

I like how this tent has an awning that you can drive up to, making for access from the tent to the vehicle out of the weather. The Land Rover is pulled up sideways to the tent but you could also back up to it for rear access.

 

[wildorange]

Being aware its a great jeep thread, a late subscriber & credit the OP.

Always looking for different ideas for our D4 as the most recent purchase is a rear tyre carrier, awaiting to be installed.

Will continue to monitor..



Sent from my SM-T555 using Tapatalk

 

[jscherb]

These Defenders belong to the Polish Military Police. I wonder if there would be interest in a Wrangler hardtop with this much headroom...

Instead of a full hardtop like this, it would also be possible to do just a separate roof that could be added as a mod to a factory hardtop, it wouldn't be too difficult for a DIY-er to integrate a new roof panel with an existing factory hardtop if it were designed well.

A quick and rough photo-edit...

Add-on raised roofs are very common on vans so it's not a new idea...

Seems like a roof like this on a Wrangler could be useful for a camper configuration? An add-on roof could be designed so that in the front it replaces the Freedom panels and in the back it bolts to the factory hardtop so a DIY conversion would be very easy - remove the Freedom panels, set the new roof on top and latch it in place instead of the Freedom panels, bolt the back half of the add-on roof to the factory hardtop, cut out the center of the factory hardtop roof, done.

 

[jscherb]

One other thing to notice about the Polish MP Land Rovers in the last post - check the NATO cans mounted to the side of the tub on the rear side of the bodies - they're very small, definitely not 20L, could be 10L but might even be smaller.

Sometimes I carry a 5L NATO can if I know I won't be that far from fuel on an expedition but want just a little bit of reserve. 5L is about 1.5 gallons, not much of a burden to carry and provides a little margin to stretch to the next fuel stop if necessary.

In Echo Canyon, Death Valley, the rock feature known as "Eye of the Needle" is just above the Jeep and carrying 5L of extra fuel on the spare mount:

 

[rnArmy]

I get my 20L Jerry cans from Deutsche Optik. They also have 10L and 5L cans.

They also have a 20L Jerry can in stainless steel (not cheap though).

Search Results (deutscheoptik.com)

 

[krick3tt]

I have a 5L Nato can that I keep petrol in for the snow blower. 5L put into a LR would not get me far.
The SS can would look good if I had a Hummer.
I managed to get a bunch of 20L Nato cans ($10 ea) from a guy that was buying them by the pallet load a few years ago, OD with very little in the way of scratches and dings, only from storage. A little OD paint from Walmart and they look like new.
Deutsche Optik items are quite expensive but many of them are fabulous finds.

 

[rgallant]

I followed a D130 for along way about a month back. The P/U box did not move in relation to cab as far as I could tell, unlike a lot of traditional NA P/U. Not sure why unless it is tied to the frame more "securely"