Wider mirrors for carrying a camper on D130 CC

[austastar]

Hi,
I'm looking at putting a 2150mm wide camper on the back of a 130 Defender Cab Chassis.
Given the width of the D130 with mirrors is 1992mm, I need to get my mirrors further out.
PaddockSpares are selling this one
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
8<-----------------------------------
Part No. DA4409
Head Dimensions - 204 x 140mm (8 x 5 1/2")
Arm Length - 290mm
Convex with fixing kit and long arm
Optical quality polycarbonate lens - will not shatter like glass or discolour in sunlight
Strong, flexible polypropylene casing - will absorb hard blows without breaking
Universal - can be fitted to either left or right of vehicle
Lightweight - puts less strain on body fixings
Hard lacquer coating on lens - will repel condensation and surface water
Excellent reflectivity - superb daylight and night time vision
8<-------------------
which is longer than the standard arm by about 150mm, which should put the mirrors outside the width of the camper for better rear vision.

Is anybody else carrying a camper with similar width?
Anybody else using wider mirrors?
Any comments on this or another product?

cheers

[weeds]

do the 130 have the same mirror arms as the 110? if so land rover have an extended arm as a spare part and you can retain the mirror

i have no idea what the part number is

[dmdigital]

P/N: RRC8443

[austastar]

Thanks a million, found it by googling the part number from dmdigital - brilliant.
Will follow up with BritPart.co.uk
cheers

[austastar]

Hi,
My mirrors arrived ok, and are now fitted.
I had troubles with the left one, and needed Justin Cooper's help (thanks Justin) to show me how to get the door covers off to recover a dropped nut that was not captive as I thought it would be.
I thought I would write up the second one, in case others may want to do similar.

Ok so this is the right door and mirror fitting.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/06/698.jpg
The arm is about a mirror's width longer, and will go on either left or right door.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/06/699.jpg
BEFORE you undo the hinge, open the door and push in the centre of this retaining clip, not too far, or you will loose the little bit down the inside of the door and have to take the panel off completely.
The clip should now pull out along with the pin hanging out the end a bit.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/01/1403.jpg
Work the door cover away from the metal, gently does it, you don't want to break any of the little plastic fasteners, until you can get to these nuts.
With some blue tack or similar, tack them in place so they wont drop when the screw is removed from them.
I then jammed a towel in there as well as extra holding force, and shut the door so when the hinge is loosened, the door is held firmly by the other hinge and the door lock.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/06/700.jpg
Now you can undo the hinge bolts with care not to disturb the blue tacked nuts.
You can see the towel positioned for extra support holding the nuts.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/06/701.jpg
Now you can get to the screws that hold the mirror arm.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/06/702.jpg
Replace the mirror arm with the new one, the original arm had grease over the locating spring so apply a similar amount of grease, tighten the screws, swing the hinge back and carefully reintroduce the hinge bolts back into the door and feel for the thread of you captive nut.
Then fit the mirror, they are left and right handed, unlike the arms.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/06/703.jpg
All finished.
With the mirror arms back at 45° my rear vision is lined up along the edge of the flat tray.
Both mirrors are too far out for the 1830mm tray at 90°, but should be perfect for the 2150 wide slide on.
I can see both mirrors at 90° now, before the original left mirror would hide behind the door pillar.

cheers

[fraser130]

Austastar, can I ask what the damage was?
I have been wanting the same thing for my 130 and the Trayon camper.
Was going to order Wolf mirror assemblies from the UK, but this sounds like a better option.
Fraser[thumbsupbig]

[austastar]

Hi,
Part no RRC8443 Extra Long Defender Mirror Arm, $170 for the pair, plus $16.50 freight from Rovacraft Ph (02) 9700 8920.

From what I know of the Trayon, this should suit nicely.

cheers

[fraser130]

Well, it would appear that more people are doing this, so the price has changed....they are now $138 each!!!!!!
Oh well!
Have ordered them anyway (2 of the Wolf arms to suit the current mirror heads)

Fraser

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Hi,
I'm looking at putting a 2150mm wide camper on the back of a 130 Defender Cab Chassis.
Given the width of the D130 with mirrors is 1992mm, I need to get my mirrors further out.
PaddockSpares are selling this one
http://www.paddockspares.com/pp/DEFENDER/Mirrors/images/da4409.jpg
http://www.paddockspares.com/pp/DEFENDER/Mirrors/Unbreakable_Convex_Glass_Mirror_-_with_290mm_Arm.html
8<-----------------------------------
Part No. DA4409
Head Dimensions - 204 x 140mm (8 x 5 1/2")
Arm Length - 290mm
Convex with fixing kit and long arm
Optical quality polycarbonate lens - will not shatter like glass or discolour in sunlight
Strong, flexible polypropylene casing - will absorb hard blows without breaking
Universal - can be fitted to either left or right of vehicle
Lightweight - puts less strain on body fixings
Hard lacquer coating on lens - will repel condensation and surface water
Excellent reflectivity - superb daylight and night time vision
8<-------------------
which is longer than the standard arm by about 150mm, which should put the mirrors outside the width of the camper for better rear vision.

Is anybody else carrying a camper with similar width?
Anybody else using wider mirrors?
Any comments on this or another product?

cheersThe (unbreakable) mirror unit in this image is centre mounted. I'd still prefer the OEM Australian Spec (left and right hand) 110 mirrors on the extended arms. It positions your mirrors about 25mm further out than any of the Britpart or unbreakable mirrors.

You can buy the Britpart/Wolf extended arms without the mirrors.

It's what I have for my Gog.

[vnx205]

I have just fitted extended mirrors on the Defender to improve rear vision when the Trayon is fitted.

With the benefit of Austastar's excellent instructions in this thread, it was quite straightforward.

The mirrors were Masai extended mirrors.
Wing Mirrors (http://www.masai-land-rover.com/defender/wing-mirrors/)

However mine were supplied by Modern Motors Dungog.
Modern Motors Dungog (http://www.modernmotors.com.au/)

They were the item that I selected to redeem the Modern Motors voucher which I earned by driving further than anyone else to get to the AULRO 10th Anniversary NSW gathering. (only about 10km further than Tank, but enough to claim the prize. :))

As others have mentioned, these mirrors are mounted on the arms at the centre of the mirror rather than offset like the originals. So the increase in width is slightly less than the extra length in the arms.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror1.jpg


I removed the plastic pin holding the door trim in place, although on one side, I could have fitted my patented nut holders in place with out removing the pin.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror2.JPG

Having been forewarned that those nuts on the hinge bolts were not as captive as they might be, I came up with a different solution from the one used by Austastar.
He used blue tack. I used a couple of pieces of carefully trimmed :p pieces of cardboard with duct tape, sticky side out wrapped around the end. I jambed then in between the nuts and the door trim, folded the cardboard over and shut the door. The nuts stayed in place while I removed and replaced the screws.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror3.JPG

One minor hiccup was that the screw holes in the new mirror mount were slightly smaller than the screws used on the original mirror, so I bought four bolts to fit.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror4.JPG

Like the original mirrors when set at 90 degrees, they just touch the recess moulded into the Safari snorkel. (The snorkel hasn't faded to grey. I had to fiddle with the image to get the black components to show up.)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror5.JPG

The reason for fitting the mirrors would have been more obvious if I had the camper on, but I think you will get an idea of the improvement.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, the original passenger mirror tends to be obscured when set at 90 degrees. The extended mirror can be set at 90 without being blocked by the pillar.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror6.JPG http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/16/2005444/Mirror7.JPG

[austastar]

Hi,
Yep it is an old post, but the story continues.....

While the wider mirror arms are really good, it comes with greater leverage on the spring loaded hinge, which blows the mirrors back against the door in head winds or with passing trucks.

It drove me nuts on a recent trip on the mainland, and I could get some peace with cable ties to add a bit more tension.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1185.jpg

Not exactly elegant, and it does fail occasionally.

I'm trying a new fix.

Remove the bottom cover.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1186.jpg


Knock the top cover out with a Philips screw driver.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1187.jpg

Drill a hole in the bottom cover and put a bolt, nylock and a wing nut and a washer into the hinge assembly as below.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1188.jpg

It ends up like this..

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1189.jpg

This seems to stop the swing back problem.

1.The idea was to have the nylock nut to stop the wing nut unwinding and getting lost.

2. I was only going to tighten it up when doing highway stuff.

Have yet to use it, but I'm thinking already that a small length of fuel hose between the washer and the bottom cover may be a useful safety spring in case I do hit some thing with the mirror.

Time will tell.

On a slightly different note, but same subject; I did notice the Defender mirror pivots on a 1" ball - same size as a 'B' Ram Mount.

It occurred to me that a handy extension to the Defender mirrors could be achieved with the following items.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1190.jpg and https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/1191.jpg

It would give another 100mm or so to the mirrors, and there is a longer arm available if wanted.

I'm tempted to try it for a bit of extra rear vision.

cheers

[Don 130]

I cheated by spacing the original mirrors out on extruded aluminium square hollow section about 80 x 40. They aren't out as far as the wolf arms, but it suits my needs and they're firm 'at speed' ( a little 300tdi joke)
Don.

[dero]

I did the same with galv SHS & longer screws , works a treat .

[iClick]

Wondering if anyone has 1st hand experience with this particular aftermarket mirror?


Paddock PM009 Regular Defender Mirror Head with Extended Wolf Type Arm. Fixing Bolts Included.
Defender Mirror with Extended Wolf Type Arm (http://www.paddockspares.com/defender-mirror-with-extended-wolf-type-arm.html)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/05/1108.jpg

[POD]

I think that's the same mirror I have fitted to my 130, the original owner had fitted horrible truck mirrors. I've had no problems with these, only once can i recall having them blown back by a passing truck, and that was in very windy conditions.

[Ranga]

Just fitted a pair of RRC8443 from LR Direct (https://www.lrdirect.com/RRC8443-supplied-by-BEARMACH-branded-BM.html). This installation was straight forward enough, but it wasn;t until they were fitted that I noticed the arm has a fair bit of up/down play in it. I haven't driven it yet, but fear they'll shake around a bit in the wind. Anyone else have this play in theirs?

[Ranga]

Drove the Defender today for the first time over 90km/h. Very disappointed to find that the mirrors get blown back enough to eliminate useful rear vision. They don't fold back to the next stage, but enough so I can only see the side of my vehicle.

Not sure whether to return them (to the UK!) or try and modify them. I think the lack of tension like AusTasTar encountered is the problem.

[austastar]

Hi Ranga,
Mine only fold back with the wind blast of trucks at highway speed. Even then, if the cross or tail wind is favourable, sometimes they stay put.
The tensioner nut/bolt that I posted about solves the problem.
I don't have any of the up/down ,ovement that you mention.
Cheers

Sent from my GT-N5110 using AULRO mobile app

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Hi Ranga,
Mine only fold back with the wind blast of trucks at highway speed. Even then, if the cross or tail wind is favourable, sometimes they stay put.
The tensioner nut/bolt that I posted about solves the problem.
I don't have any of the up/down, movement that you mention.
CheersI have today identified an issue that may be the cause of some vibration in the longer mirror arms.

I was modifying the mounts to use in an alternate position, this required me to disassemble the arm from the hinge bracket by cutting the bottom end off the internal post. This action released the spring and allowed the assembly to dismantle. What I found was that the post is a tube riveted over at each end, unfortunately the top end of the arm was loose on the tube because of inadequate riveting at the top. (This malfunction would be hidden in most arms by the spring tension.)

What I did to resolve the problem was to use two mandrels: a 1/2" bolt up from the bottom (in my case 2 3/4" long) and then two nuts 12mm across the flats with an 8mm x 30mm bolt in the top to locate the nuts in the top of the tube/post. My partial assembly with the mandrels were placed into a press and the riveting process completed. The result is an arm firm on the post.

You could do the same process on the complete assembly by removing the top plug, push off the bottom cap with a long screwdriver and then with the process above, but using a 1/2" x 3" bolt in place of my 2 3/4".

Worth a try if you are suffering vibration on your external mirrors. It would also increase the tension on the spring which may fix the problem of fold back, or at least reduce the frequency of fold back happening.

Probably also work with standard length Defender mirror arms.

[Ranga]

Thanks - I did wonder whether pressing the 'rivet' more would help, but wondered about the correct process.

Incidentally, since fitting slightly smaller mirrors (that came off a new Puma I believe), the problem has mostly disappeared. I've only had them fold back once, after a truck came past in the opposite direction.

[juddy]

Had this time and time again, buy Britpart and you will get play in the arms, only way to avoid this is buy genuine. No need to mess about trying to fix a issues then. Cheap is not always better.

[Ranga]

Had this time and time again, buy Britpart and you will get play in the arms, only way to avoid this is buy genuine. No need to mess about trying to fix a issues then. Cheap is not always better.

I bought Bearmach, and still have the same problem. Thought they would be better than Britpart...

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Not always possible to receive genuine, especially with online purchases from overseas. Even when you click genuine or OEM what arrives is not always what you ordered. With one purchase I specified Timken bearings and received Britpart.

The cost of returning the item and receiving the replacement is often not cost effective and some less scrupulous vendors know it.

Bearmack and Britpart are many times made in the same factory.

BTW: on this occasion I went aftermarket because I was cutting the assembly up to modify it onto a different hinge assembly and couldn't see the sense in paying genuine if the final result turns out less than satisfactory

[Tassie Bob]

I ordered 2 of the longer arms recently. When they arrived (in the one order from the one supplier) one was a genuine part and had grease on the spring. The other was not and the spring was completely unlubricated. The genuine part was firm, the other has up and down play. I have put the genuine part on the driver's side and the other on the passenger's side away from the passing trucks.

Fingers crossed.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I ordered 2 of the longer arms recently. When they arrived (in the one order from the one supplier) one was a genuine part and had grease on the spring. The other was not and the spring was completely unlubricated. The genuine part was firm, the other has up and down play. I have put the genuine part on the driver's side and the other on the passenger's side away from the passing trucks.

Fingers crossed.If I were you I would be taking the one from the passenger's side and tighten up the riveting of the tube (as above).

[Ranga]

Well, the problem returned recently after folding the mirrors in when driving offroad. I suspect that the innards have become stuck, but even after lubrication and gentle persuasion, they're not re-adjusting. I'll try adjusting the rivet and see how I go.

[Ranga]

Had this time and time again, buy Britpart and you will get play in the arms, only way to avoid this is buy genuine. No need to mess about trying to fix a issues then. Cheap is not always better.

Hi Juddy,
What brand do you recommend, and how much are they?