Prepping a camel trophy defender 110 for around the world...

[1991LRrrc]

any more updates on this very good expedition??

 

[The Rover Shop]

Aww heck yeah... Always something new going on with our Camilla... Been on the road now for 7 months or so and covered about 25000 miles on her, been mostly backroads and off roading throughout the USA Mexico and Baja.. Currently in British Columbia on our way to prudhoe bay Alaska, north of the arctic circle... Been a few modification done on the way but for the most part she has been bulletproof reliable with the exception of some teething problems... Currently looking into putting an exhaust brake system on her to reduce brake fade on very long steep downhill systems.. Poor old girl is slowing down a lot of weight and we seem to do a lot of very steep descents.. Snapped another control arm mounting point 300 miles from anything and had to break out the on board welding system to repair it in the forest.. It's been much easier to upload pics and updates on our trip via Facebook ... Very rarely do we have cell signal let alone wifi.. Check us out at Young Rovers on Facebook.

 

[1991LRrrc]

this is something that i want to do with my wife just load up in our range rover once i get all done and cruise the world hopefully i can do this with my rangie

 

[1991LRrrc]

meant around north america mexico canada and alaska

 

[The Rover Shop]

Yep... There's more to the world than North America Canada and Mexico...lol...

 

[bobDog]

Yep... There's more to the world than North America Canada and Mexico...lol...

Well YEAH! South America too! Geeeez!

 

[tacr2man]

Dont think your exhaust brake idea will add much , other than problems , small diesels dont offer much in that respect, probably cheaper and as or more effective to select a lower downhill gear and put up with being a bit slower . I tried on a 2.25 diesel 109 years back , as it was heavy with drum brakes , not much retardation and destroyed exhaust gaskets . HTSH

 

[repete]

I'm sure I saw you going into anchorage today! Not everyday you see a camel 110 driving the streets of Alaska!

 

[The Rover Shop]

Going down into Skagway is a long 2-3 mile very steep run, that is where the rear brake shoes got hot enough ( on drum/disc systems the rear brakes are the first to apply, so with light application its the rears that are more activated) that the bonding glue came apart and 2 miles later after they had cooled down the linings spun in the drum causing all sorts of noise and bad vibrations when the brakes were applied, thankfully it didn't cause any further damage but did require that I had to pull the rear brakes apart on the side of the road remove the innards and clamp off the rear brakes, drove another 1000 miles into anchorage to order linings in.. I know an exhaust brake won't stop the vehicle but it may be enough to give enough assistance to take some load off on big down hill runs.. I also had serious brake fade going down some very steep curvy hills in Arizona.. And yes, I have brand new high temp. (Ate racing blue fluid) brake fluid ...I found a small exhaust system brake on Craigslist for $50 shipped, I can activate it with a simple electrically operated vacuum switch, coupled in with a nice bright red light on the dash when on.. I believe it will give assistance to the braking on long down hill runs, if it doesn't I am only out $100 at the most with installation but I will have gained more knowledge and thought outside the box from the people who say it won't work...selecting a lower gear on hills like this one only serves to over rev the engine, diesels don't offer sufficient engine braking on their own.... Hence a lot of trucks have exhaust brakes, jake brake, Jacobs brake, engine brakes etc etc, I have to think that there is something to their ability to aid in braking...or is the whole trucking industry under false beliefs..???

 

[The Rover Shop]

And yep... If you saw a camel trophy 110 going into anchorage or surrounding areas... It was probably me..LOL...

 

[The Rover Shop]

So the wife was always wanting an easier way of getting water right where she was cooking, and since she is cooking great foods for me I thought it was in my best interests to rectify that.. So from the 7 gallon water container on the rear left of the roof I took a couple of pieces of the plastic threaded pipe and found it fits perfectly inside the roof rack support bar..




I attach one of those jiggle valve siphon hoses to the brass coupler on the top and into the water tank, give it a couple of shakes and voila, you have water to the bottom of the pipe and its now easily controlled by a simple tap/valve..the last piece easily is removed and stored in the wife's cook box..


When not being used a simple screw cap goes in and keeps dirt out.. The string is there so the cap just hangs and doesn't get lost... Again...

 

[The Rover Shop]

So as us 110 guys know the rear fender is a very delicate area to be destroyed easily, I bought these rear fender protection plates a little while ago.. Well with much modifying to fit around my NAS rear winch bumper we finally got them to fit.. Painted them up and they look factory, now I can brace them to the frame for side impact and they should be very strong..

 

[The Rover Shop]

Had a couple of times where the wife was cooking at the back of the truck and light snow or rain was falling.. I wanted one of the rear awnings but the hi-list etc on the back made it unable to be installed plus I am always climbing onto the roof by the ladder to take pics etc... So I went off to Home Depot and got a couple of those cheap extending painter poles.. Zip tied them into place hidden inside the roof rack area and when wanted a simple twist and extend them and then a simple tarp or cover clamps over them providing shelter.. You can also extend it down the sides acting as a wind shield.., they won't hold a great deal of weight but definitely enough for their intended purposes...

 

[The Rover Shop]

So a while ago I installed the x-deflex rear stabilizer bar system, this thing has worked great to severely reduce body roll, when I purchased it I installed the extended brackets for use with an extended fuel tank, I haven't installed the extended tank yet so I wanted to raise the system to give a bit more clearance, now it tucks up nicely there and looks a lot better..about 2 inches higher..

The removed brackets are on the ground..

 

[The Rover Shop]

I have never been happy with the height of truck as it never was as high as it was supposed to be.. I finally found the problem after many calls back and forth to Australia.. there is a discrepancy with the part numbering for the springs and the ones I installed are not the extreme duty expedition version.. The ones I received have been sagging more and more over the time and its quite a relief to have it "sorted" problem is that the correct springs are not ordinarily stocked here in the USA.. Just waiting for the correct springs etc to arrive at my buddy's place here in Alaska and will install them, then I should have the height I want.. And with the spring spacers also installed It should look as capable as I think it is..lol..