Land Rover ideas for Jeeps

[jscherb]

The stock radio is one thing that I will upgrade, and incorporate both rear camera and TPS, if available. I have not pursued this yet.

Hey @jscherb Jeff - Have you done any fiberglass voodoo with the old TJ/LJ center binnacle for the stereo?

I need to replace the radios in both of my 06's so I've been thinking about better ways to do the dash. I did a design a few months ago but I haven't started construction yet. I'd like to provide for a double DIN, or two single DINs (radio and CB?), and/or switches or other controls, so I designed an add-on panel:

With two single DIN devices plus some switches:

Or with a single DIN, some switches and a gauge:

It's a fairly simple fiberglass project. The shell will be fiberglass and I haven't decided if the panel will be molded as one piece in fiberglass or if there will be a removable panel that could be either aluminum or plastic (the concept images show aluminum, but plastic might provide a more integrated look with the factory dash).

 

[Jim K in PA]

I like the ideas, but the center chassis will restrict some of the options. I want an OBA pressure gauge, but I don't know if you can move the head units off center much or at all.

 

[jscherb]

As I was installing the quick-install winch mount on my LJ today for an upcoming off-road expedition I was reminded of this photo from one of the Land Rover magazines - a storage box on the front bumper?

No, it's a cover for the winch:

This is the first "winch box" I've seen.

I can't believe how many uncovered winches I see on Jeeps in the U.S., why is that? Are people so proud of their winches that they want to show them off? Do they need to use them so quickly and so frequently that removing a cover would slow down the recovery? I parked next to a really nice JK 2dr the other day at the supermarket - the Jeep was immaculate, except for an uncovered rusty winch with a very rusty fairlead. How could he keep his Jeep so nice but let the winch get to a state that it probably wouldn't even work if he needed it?

A Land Rover with a winch cover:

Why aren't there more covered winches in the U.S.?

 

[wandererr]

Covers are a complicated topic. You could contribute to rust problems with poor ventilation and trapped moisture.

 

[pith helmet]

I have honestly never thought about covering my winches. Not a bad idea. I’ve also had no issues with them all these years except with UV damage of the plastic remote plug covers. Something to consider.

 

[jscherb]

I sewed a cover using fabric from an old soft top...

Actually my winch spends most of its time in a cabinet in the garage. Because I've set up my winch on a receiver mount and because my winch receivers for all of my Jeeps install in 5 minutes or less, the only time a winch is on the Jeep is when I'm on an expedition where I might need it.

BTW if you're wondering why the winch is so high in front of the grille, it's in the stowed position in the photo above - the cradle is sitting in the vertical receiver. Deployed, the cradle goes in the horizontal receiver.

The stowed position keeps the winch out of harm's way when not in use.

I designed the front receiver to install/remove in a few minutes because not only did I not want to carry the winch on the Jeep all the time, I didn't want the front receiver on their either. And, I can use the same receiver on both of my 2006 Wranglers. I've done a similar removable receiver for my JKU, so the one winch can be used as needed on any of my 3 Jeeps, and because it mounts in a receiver it can also be used on the back of any of my Jeeps.

 

[jscherb]

This isn't exactly a Land Rover idea for Jeeps; it's a U.S. idea that made it to the U.K.

Back in 2017 I was given one to test, so I took it on a camping trip to Death Valley.

It was useful as part of the camp setup, but I offered the company two criticisms:

- It's pretty big. That's a good thing as a tabletop, but it makes it awkward to store in a small Jeep. The item in the magazine says that "some American owners strap the table to the spare tyre", which, if you don't have anything else on the spare, sounds like a good idea, and would also lessen my next complaint:

- It rattles when it's stored in the Jeep. The way the leg is designed to stow clipped to the tabletop is fairly loose and rattles, so I removed the leg for travel.

Those are minor complaints for something that is very useful for setting up camp.

One source for the table is Tentrax, the maker of very compact offroad camp trailers: https://www.tentrax.com/store/tailgater-tire-table

 

[bitbckt]

I use my Tailgater a _lot_ - it's a nearly permanent fixture - and keep it stowed inside my (2 door) JK. The rattling occasionally crops up if it isn't stowed "just so", but I don't find the size to be an issue at all. That said, I also never have a back seat installed.

 

[jscherb]

Mounting panels for the side of a Defender hardtop from a company called Delta Bags (https://www.delta-bags.de/en/mounting-systems/outside/outside-panels/).

The company sells a range of adapters and mounts to put various things on them, like with QuickFist clamps. This is their Discovery version:

They've also got a strap system for mounting things like these:

Another company called Powerful UK offers these panels for the new Defender:

Their web site doesn't include any photos of gear attached to the panel, and they do call them Molle Plates but I guess we'll have to imagine things mounted to them - based on the holes in the panel it seems to me their usefulness as general Molle panels might be fairly limited. I wonder what all those other special-shaped holes are for? They do have a 30-minute video showing the installation, but there are no images of gear installed in the video either (I guess they're not marketing geniuses ).


On a similar subject - I mentioned Tentrax trailers in my post yesterday, here's a product I recently designed for them - Molle/gear panels for the side of the Tentrax trailer:

They're not just for Molle, they've got mounting holes for things like HiLift jacks and QuickFist clamps for mounting things like axes:

Also in the photo above, there's a side table that clips onto the panel.

While I was designing these for Tentrax, I was thinking maybe a more generic set of panels could be useful - something you could mount on the side of any trailer, or on the side of a hardtop or wherever. I haven't done anything with the outside panel idea yet other than the panels for Tentrax. Those are now in production and I'm thinking about whether other more generic panels would be worth doing, for the outside of other trailers or Jeeps.

 

[Jurfie]

I’m trying to convince myself that I need one of those Tentrax trailers. I don’t, but I want one anyways.

 

[jscherb]

Exmoor posted this photo on Instagram on Thursday.

Whenever I do a long expedition (from home in upstate NY to western trails for example) I usually carry a second spare. Not because I expect two tire problems, but because if I do have a tire problem I don't have to interrupt my plans to get a tire fixed or to get a new tire.

On the rainy trail yesterday in Colorado:

But every time I see a spare on the bonnet of a Land Rover I think again about building a hood with a recess to carry a spare. I posted this concept image earlier in the thread:

I've got the mold for the hood and I can easily make a hood with a recess in the same mold. All it would take is an insert for the mold which would form the recess for the tire.

I make different versions of parts in molds all the time by using temporary inserts and dams in the mold, this wouldn't be too difficult.

 

[zgfiredude]

You won't truly know how cool it is until you build it.

Hint, hint.

 

[Jim K in PA]

Seems like a cool project, Jeff, but I wonder about the weight of the tire causing fatigue cracking of the gel coat and substrate on the FG hood. Would you incorporate some stiffeners into the layup to transfer load to the hinges and front corners?

I also suspect the loss of forward visibility would kill the deal for me. I'll be mounting my 2nd spare on my roof rack as you have. Upside down and covered, so I can use the hollow to store extra winch cable and/or PV panel cable.

 

[AggieOE]

I think there's definitely the potential of this looking cool! Especially if you can get it recessed enough to not obstruct the view.

 

[jscherb]

Seems like a cool project, Jeff, but I wonder about the weight of the tire causing fatigue cracking of the gel coat and substrate on the FG hood. Would you incorporate some stiffeners into the layup to transfer load to the hinges and front corners?

I also suspect the loss of forward visibility would kill the deal for me.

Jim,
The hood would have some structure molded into it to support the weight of the spare. Land Rover bonnets have "hat channel" reinforcements to support the weight:

The reinforcements would span from the hinges at the back to the core support at the front. The reinforcements would look different than those above; there's no recess in that Series Land Rover hood but there would be a recess in the TJ hood.

BTW if I do this project it wouldn't end up being a commercial product - I'd be doing it for the CJ-style hood of the CJ Grille Kit for the TJ that's on my LJ and since that kit isn't in production there's no reason for this hood to be either.

I'll be mounting my 2nd spare on my roof rack as you have. Upside down and covered, so I can use the hollow to store extra winch cable and/or PV panel cable.

Speaking from experience - if you plan to have a cover on your spare on the roof rack, make sure it's got some sort of strap to hold it in place. If you use a standard spare cover like you might put on a spare on the tailgate, they can blow off at highway speeds when placed horizontally on the roof.