2014 defender rear door fail in the Simpson

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Originally Posted by David Hawes

It's certainly covered by warranty although that doesn't compensate for the inconvenience you would have experienced. My back door started to bend within two months of buying my 2012 110 and I installed an after market wheel carrier. The original hinges were only ever designed to carry a 6.00 x16 road track major, they won't cope with the weight of modern tyres.
Dave

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That's a pretty long bow to draw.

• When the original of the current station wagon door was designed (1958), both the 88 and 109 variants had the same door. The 109 wagon was using 7.00 16 and had 7.50 16 tyres as an option even then.
• The current Defender has three hinges where the originals right up into series 3 only had two hinges.

One would hesitate that the doors were actually engineered at all. They merely used the available hinge design and created a door to fit the hole using the metal extrusions being used to frame the side doors.

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Originally Posted by 90@

I'm pretty sure that I can see that he's written that the lock on the rear door has failed.....

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Opps.....you are correct, my bad

Pretty sure the inference was the sagging hinges caused a lock malfunction.

No one has done a HD hinge kit ?

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Originally Posted by FeatherWeightDriver

How on earth have you managed to get a 2014 Defender in to the Simpson already? I tip my hat to you...

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My car had 30 kilometres on the clock when it first went offroad.. tell your wife that the car cries from embarrassment if it's kept on the tar seal because all the other Defenders laugh at it.. :p

And my rear lock failed on my last trip.. but when I finally got it open it turned out that one of the screws on the lock was loose.. a quick tighten with the screwdriver and all was good again. Having said that I have had intermittent trouble recently with the lock which I feel is from the weight of the rear tyre making the door sag, I complained to LR and they replaced the lock but I'm thinking that will not have fixed the problem in the long term.

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Originally Posted by Sue

My car had 30 kilometres on the clock when it first went offroad.. tell your wife that the car cries from embarrassment if it's kept on the tar seal because all the other Defenders laugh at it.. :p

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I certainly have been telling her that, and the point is reinforced whenever we see a suitably mudded up and scruffy Defender driving around the city - never mind the brochure, that's what they are supposed to look like. :D

Our rear lock failed halfway down the Oodnadatta on our maiden voyage last year, luckily the key still worked ... eventually anyway after much cursing. LR replaced it but I'm still not sure if it is mechanical or electric as it has happened again twice since but various combos of pressing and holding the fob, leaving it for a couple of hours and using the key all seem to work and get it open.

For the record we have a Rijidij dual rear bar so I'm pretty sure it isn't the weight of the spare that is the problem, in our case anyway.

I've had rear door lock probs and Barbagallo replaced it during warranty. But when fitting the Rijidij wheel carrier it stuck so hard no way could I open it even when levering the handle.
Luckily I'd left the door cover off and was able to get inside and loosen the bolts holding the rear plate on the door and "click" the damn door was free again.
I'd obviously tried to make it (the wheel carrier) a too tight fit and a gentle readjustment solved the problem. But I'm still a bit wary of closing the door too hard just in case it does it when we're fully loaded.:o
AlanH.

It is not the door hinges that fail, although they might with time, the door frame is too flimsy.

Monty's rear door is also struggling after the recent trip to the Simpson and beyond.

All manner of squeaks when opening and closing so I suspect the bushes are stuffed from all the grit and dirt, but the door itself is much heavier top open too. Mantec wheel carrier LOOKS to be ok - doesn't seem to be putting pressure on the door but I'll have to take it off to check it.

The lock did decide to operate itself a couple of times when travelling but most of the time the issues with it were simply SWMNOBOBAFAR not giving it enough welly when opening.

I've cleaned out the hinges and the lock with silicone spray, which seems to have helped, but the door is still too hard to open.

Bobby

Thank you all for your all of your great advice, I have figured out that there is a screw missing from the lock and a sag in the door,
I can't get the door open at all which is a shame as my drawers are double story which means I can't get to the snib in the back and most importantly I can't get it cleaned, there is an inch of dust in the back......does every defender let in dust like that as well?
Is there away to seal it?

I am of to lance Dixon to get the warranty stuff done.