New 110 owner

[gconran]

Folks,

New owner of a 110 Xtreme Defender (2000, Td5)

Pretty stock at the moment other than the fact he has slightly bigger tyres on at the moment.

What can you recommend as the bare minimum that I should be looking at getting done to him in the near future? I am open to spending money to a certain extent but want to make sure I can prolong the life of him, and have as much fun with him as possible!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

[rockyroad]

What are the chances of 2 almost identical posts at exactly the same time? Hopefully the answers will be twice as good.

[gconran]

Yeh that is pretty bizarre! Whats the chances?!

[LandyAndy]

Nanocom.
6 visits to a dealer with any electronic issue and its paid for!!!!
Allows you to pry into the electronic brains:cool::cool::cool::cool:
Will save you a fortune if you ever break down in the never never.
You can send a smoke signal up with the faults and the trusty AULRO system can help you out where there are no dealers to do so!!!!
Andrew

[mark2]

Protection wise: - a front diff guard, steering guard and HD steering rods would be at the top of my list if you intend to do anything more than moderate off-roading.

A headlight relay upgrade it it hasnt already been done would also be one of the first things I'd do. Also there are some TD5 specific checks which will come up if you do a search.

[gconran]

So Ive been looking at a couple of sump guard,some of which fit over the stock (at least I believe it's stock) steering guard bar. On mine this bar is horribly bent out of shape,from a small incident with a large rock that a previous owner had.
If I can find a sump guard which equally acts as a steering guard I'm keen to take it off!I understand the guard is reasonably way to fit anyway so shouldn't be an issue for me to
Do myself. As far as I'm aware,but correct me if I'm
Wrong,the diff guard should be easy to
Fit myself as well?

Getting to headlight relay....not quite sure I have a clue what your talking about!could you enlighten me please!! :)

Actually heading off to some muddy and rocky spots this weekend so some things might make them selves more apparent anyway....

Cheers

[Allan]

Try RovaCraft for your under body protection. Bad place to shop, you'll keep going back.

Allan

[mark2]

So Ive been looking at a couple of sump guard,some of which fit over the stock (at least I believe it's stock) steering guard bar. On mine this bar is horribly bent out of shape,from a small incident with a large rock that a previous owner had.
If I can find a sump guard which equally acts as a steering guard I'm keen to take it off!I understand the guard is reasonably way to fit anyway so shouldn't be an issue for me to
Do myself. As far as I'm aware,but correct me if I'm
Wrong,the diff guard should be easy to
Fit myself as well?

Getting to headlight relay....not quite sure I have a clue what your talking about!could you enlighten me please!! :)

Actually heading off to some muddy and rocky spots this weekend so some things might make them selves more apparent anyway....

Cheers

The standard tube steering guard is made from fairly thin section - I built another one of similar design but with much thicker steel for about $30 and its taken some big hits and saved a lot of grief. The other types also work well, but are more $$$. Searching the forum will bring up some pics of the options and you can decide what you like. I'm not 100% sure with the TD5's but I know on my model that hitting the sump is very unlikely - steering components and the front diff housing is far more likely to be damaged by rocks, stumps etc.

The standard steering rods are thin and can bend easily, particularly with bigger tyres. The rod behind the diff which links the wheels is the priority - M.R. Automotive sell a Maxidrive product which wont let you down.

A commonly available type of front diff guard is designed to clamp on and takes about 5 mins to fit. A couple of tack welds is good insurance against it falling off, particularly if you drag it backwards over a rock. They cost about $90-$100. Well worth having because it can only take a moderate contact with a rock or stump for the housing to contact the gears.

Defenders werent fitted with headlight relays and will sooner or later burn out the contacts in the switch, leaving you with no lights when you need them. The relay kits solve this problem and also give you brighter lights due to less voltage drop. They are availlable in the shop section on this forum.

There are countless other upgrades you can make depending on your preferences and usage of the vehicle, but these are where I consider starting.