Land Rover ideas for Jeeps

NorthwestDriver

Active member
RainGoat,
I removed the spare, it is now located on a swing away carrier by T4x4. I fabricated a drop down carrier that holds two Nato cans in its place. Basically the same weight but low for a better COG. I have made several for my LR friends and they really like the idea as well as the functional aspect. Used the tire lowering winch of the LR. No drilling or change to the LR itself. Used 3/16 steel plate.View attachment 650621

This rocks! I’ve been thinking about doing this exact thing to my LR3. Nice to see it’s been done (well being the first may have been cooler!) and working well.
 

Jurfie

Adventurer
Designed and made properly, why would it be any worse as a daily driver than a Wrangler with a soft top?

Your first four words of that statement is the answer. Most people who hack the roof off of a unibody vehicle are...how should I say this...perhaps not 100% concerned about engineering a custom header bar and have your sewing skills.:LOL:

I have zero doubt that you could design and make a perfectly fitted top for that conversion.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Pneumatic Tire Carrier

This was from an article about a Defender restored by an 18 year old. He did this pneumatic tire carrier as a school project:

PneumaticTireCarrier.jpg


It uses his on-board air compressor to activate the lift. My 32's aren't that much of a challenge to lift onto the spare carrier (or onto the roof rack when I carry an extra spare), but this idea could be very useful for those who have huge and heavy tires.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
DIY tailgate table

Another reason to subscribe - each issue has tech articles, many of which apply just as well to Jeeps as they do to Land Rovers. For example:

DIYTailgateTableLRO1014.jpg


I won't post the entire step-by-step article, I'm just posting this as an example of one more reason I believe these magazines are very worth Jeep people subscribing to.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
About 3 weeks ago I posted some items from the magazines about storage on the sun visors: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/land-rover-ideas-for-jeeps.218029/page-44#post-2901876 and there was some discussion following about the idea. I said I was thinking of sewing a prototype so I made a pattern and sewed a quick "proof of pattern" prototype. I didn't put any pockets or other details on it yet, and the sewing is a bit rough. I installed it to see how it fits and so I can think about whether to go further with the idea.

VisorTest1.jpg


It's constructed as a sleeve that slides over the visor and there's a zipper on the front edge that closes the sleeve and secures it in place.

There's more room up there than you might think, especially because the visor goes up at an angle due to the roll bar:

VisorTest1a(1).jpg


This isn't necessarily the fabric or color I would use, it's just a test of the pattern and fit for now. Probably I'd make it in black. But now that the pattern is tested, it's very easy to make them and add pockets, elastic loops or other attachments for various things.

I'm open to ideas about taking this idea further.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Been there, done that part 13: Nepal

A photo from an article about a Land Rover road trip around Nepal:

Nepal2.jpg


I've got photos of villages like that but I won't post them because they bring back memories of unbelievable traffic jams.

The first jam was about 3 hours, it was because a truck struck and killed a pedestrian. It became more of an incident because, if I recall correctly, the driver of the truck was a muslim and the pedestrian was a Hindu and the Hindu crowd wouldn't let the driver go until retribution was paid. Somehow the police calmed the situation but it was very tense for a while and for a long time it looked like violence would be unavoidable.

In the second jam we were stuck in a town exactly like the one above for 8 hours. We were on the way back to Kathmandu, heading for a pass in the mountains that surround the city. A landslide had occurred at the top of the pass and it took 8 hours for them to get earthmoving equipment up there and clear the slide. Like pretty much all routes in Nepal, there was no alternate way, we just had to wait.

This is the map from the article showing the route of the expedition. I've done about half of that route, plus an equal amount not shown on the map.

Nepal1.jpg


One thing the article didn't have were photos of any native Land Rovers, so here is one I took. This one has quite a history - it's an original Series Land Rover and was owned by the king - it was used by the king to go between India and Nepal, back in the days when there was only one unpaved trail from India to Kathmandu. It's still kept in the palace, although I don't think it sees much use anymore. The palace was undergoing some renovations while we were there, which explains the look of the Land Rover's surroundings.

PalaceSeriesLR.jpg


I won't post any other photos of this trip except the next one, which was a highlight of the trip. In this photo I'm receiving the blessings of the Kumari. The Kumari is a prepubescent girl who is regarded as a living goddess and an incarnation of devi, which is the female divinity in the Hindu and Buddhist religions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari_(goddess)

KumariBlessings.jpg


There are five Kumaris in Nepal, the one I had an audience with was the Kumari of Lalitpur.


I've got more magazines to go through and more Land Rover ideas to post but I'll think I'll take a break from scanning and posting stuff in this thread for a while.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
A Discovery option was rear jump seats.

DiscoJumpSeats.jpg


Some people would like to have jump seats in the back of their Wranglers; while the inner fenders and space available in a Wrangler aren't ideal for jump seats, it may be possible to install at least one in the back. Disco jump seats can often be found on eBay. LRM ran an article showing how to adapt Disco jump seats to a Defender, perhaps a similar installation could be done in a Wrangler:

Jumpseats.jpg


When I had a CJ-8 with a World Cab I put Toyota FJ-40 jump seats in the back. There's plenty of room in a Scrambler behind the inner fenders for them:

DSCN4287_zpsg8hsokn6.jpg


DSCN2486.JPG


DSCN2488(1).JPG
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Was that rear bumper stock on the CJ-8?
No. I updated the look of the Scrambler with TJ bumpers and mirrors.

Scrambler1.jpg


The Scrambler, with its factory World Cab hardtop, became the inspiration for my LJ Safari Cab and CJ Grille Kit for the TJ/LJ:

RiverCrossing3.jpg


Many people think the Defender was the inspiration for my Safari Cab hardtop but it wasn't; the inspiration was all Jeep factory World Cab from the Scrambler, including the barn door...

BarnDoor1.jpg
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
I think the container on the rack of this Defender is a cargo box but on first glance I thought it might be a water tank. The article doesn't say what it is.

RoofTopTank.jpg


But it made me think - there are many sizes and shapes of water tanks available in the RV and marine market. Within reasonable weight limits, one of these tanks on a roof rack might be a good place to store water for cooking, showers, etc. One source: https://www.tank-mart.com/rv-marine-tanks/rv-water-tanks/
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Once you put a roof top tent on most roof racks, there's not much room left in the rack for other cargo. How about mounting the tent over the windshield on a rack extension? That leaves lots of cargo room on the rack:

RTTonFrontRack.jpg
 

pith helmet

Well-known member
Once you put a roof top tent on most roof racks, there's not much room left in the rack for other cargo. How about mounting the tent over the windshield on a rack extension? That leaves lots of cargo room on the rack:

RTTonFrontRack.jpg
Great insulation and sun block on the trail.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Another idea for RTT mounting - roof rack chop

The rack basket on this Land Rover has been chopped in the back so the roof top tent can be mounted on the bottom bars of the rack rather than on top of the basket rails. Nice way to reduce the overall height of the vehicle.

RoofRackChop.jpg


On the other hand, the space under the tent can be useful - I mount my sand ladders there; they slide out of the side of the basket when I need them.

SandLadderStorage.jpg
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
From an article about a Discovery2 outfitted for overlanding/camping... check out her shelving/storage setup:

D2Overland1.jpg


One thing she has that you don't see too often is a 10-liter NATO can for spare fuel:

D2Overland2.jpg


I don't know why we don't see more of the smaller 10-liter and even 5-liter NATO cans in use in the U.S. Five gallons/20 liters is a lot of fuel (and a lot of weight) to carry around.

Sometimes I carry a 5-liter NATO can so I can have a bit of spare fuel just in case.

ChlorideCliffs_zpsx0mibbry.jpg


I built a mount for the 5-liter that has the same bolt pattern as a Rotopax mount so it can install pretty much anywhere a Rotopax can.

TailgateRotopaxMount_zpsizvl7bdd.jpg
 
Many Defenders and Series Land Rovers have the spare on the hood, which leaves room on the tailgate for mounting other things.

TailgateJerryCans.jpg


I can understand carrying 4 jerry cans for an African safari perhaps, but the one above has California plates so these jerry cans must be fashion accessories - I can't think of anywhere they could possibly go in the U.S. where that much extra fuel could be required so the cans must be a California fashion accessory :).

I'm not even sure jerry cans are legal in the Great State of California.
If its a 4 cyl gas rover then 20 gal. of fuel might be mandatory to get anywhere!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
188,158
Messages
2,902,805
Members
229,582
Latest member
JSKepler
Top