Freelander Mods

well, i guess you could say that "it's begun" but a chunk of the problems are my own fault ...

got the car yard to repair the diff mount, they said that rust on the muffler and road noise from a tyre weren't anything that they could help with ... muffler works fine and road noise is no biggie ...

it's only a coincidence that two weeks after i left my ex, i had a flat tyre, so i threw the spare on, the very next day, while driving home from work, i took a corner at normal speed and my freelander just didn't turn in time ...
turns out the spare had a subtle hole as well, result, two tyres needing repair and a dented rim ... got a repair kit and fixed the two tyres (funnily enough, the one that went flat shortly after the ex thing, had two screws in it) ... down to one dented rim ...

about two weeks later, my central locking ceased unlocking the drivers door, I pulled the servo unit out (who the hell makes the entire handle / central / everything in one servo unit) oiled it up and cleaned it up, put it back in, still wont open the drivers door, but rather than get in throught the passenger seat, the key is sufficient to open the door ...

so, i'm sure it's small in comparison to a lot of you guys, but 12 months down and it's been relatively cheap on repairs (tyre repair kit was 13$ and i haven't replaced the servo yet (anticipating 100-150$ as pure speculation) ... the muffler can wait until i find it @ the right price at a wrecker and the rim can be fixed by a mate who works with tyres (if i dont decide to opt for bigger rim's) ... the only problem is it's time to start thinking about new tyres ... this one's gunna hurt plenty :) i want chunkier

http://steveandchris.netfirms.com/Mi...8-2836_IMG.jpg

I have seen Freelanders with winches on them before but I am a bit perplexed. I have had the whole front of my Freelander off and I cannot see anywhere that is strong enough to bolt up a winch or rated recovery points for that matter.

There is a huge aluminium bar that runs across the car behind the plastic and this is only bolted onto sheet metal and the chassis which is relatively weak ends before the front of the car. Without substantial X bracing of this aluminium bar back to the chassis I do not see how they have done this - under bad conditions I could see this being ripped out of the front.

Also would you use a 3000ib winch on a car that weighs in at 1700kg (fighting weight)

Garry

The winch was fitted professionally and I never saw how it was mounted.

Also my mistake, it was a 6000lb winch, not 3000lb. it was used many times in anger and worked well, especially with a snatch block.

I also had in writing from my Landrover dealer at the time a letter stating that the standard front and rear eyes (one front, one rear and not the tie-downs) were rated for snatching and we never had a problem using the front one many many times for snatching. The rear one was removed for some reason I cannot remember and we used the tow bar (not tow ball) for rear snatches.

We no longer own the Freelander as we could not afford to keep it due to the repair costs - it was totally un-reliable and once the warrenty ran out, it was gone and has replaced by a Rangie which has proved to be cheaper to keep..

Stevesub

As i was going to make mention of armour in another thread, i figure its best to add it here and link it.

Sump armour.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/738/dsc00431sc4.jpg


Sliders.
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4712/dsc00398nc3.jpg


VC Slider.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/591/dsc00296hy2.jpg

I have other pics if you want details...

Cheers!

Do you have any pics of those items bolted on on in place. To me those are probably 2 of the most impostant mods I should be considering.

Also do you have any extra recovery points attached to your frame?

Because the sump armour is welded onto the existing alloy frame, it uses the stock 10 HT bolts holding the original on.

The sliders are a lot more complicated, a fair bit of steel work was done in order to make them fit snugly under the sills.

metal work.
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/826/dsc00392jw6.jpg
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/461/dsc00393ue8.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9430/dsc00394ju7.jpg

mounting positions.
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9...c00397bav8.jpg

If you look under your car you will see the 3 large rails these mount to. I drilled holes right through and bolted them in (blue lines). The red lines are M5x25 and go through the folded steel under the sill. You need to remove the factory plastic cover.

On recovery points, I should add higher rated ones, but LR suggest that the stock ones are ok. I dont consider them very heavy, but static loads and light dynamic loads are probably ok. Don't take my word, if your club doesn't like them, I'd find something bigger. I have never really considered the options, the rear towbar is heaps, and from the front there are very few options for extras. The alloy bar behind the bumper is for compression only, so dont use that.

Cheers!

What are you sacrificing in ground clearance?
Looks like about 20mm.

Do you carry a bottle jack now?

Wondering if it would be worth bonding the sliders to the sills with a decent epoxy. A bit of work, plus difficult to remove, but it would make the whole assembly pretty tough :beer:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SuperMono

What are you sacrificing in ground clearance?
Looks like about 20mm.

Do you carry a bottle jack now?

Wondering if it would be worth bonding the sliders to the sills with a decent epoxy. A bit of work, plus difficult to remove, but it would make the whole assembly pretty tough :beer:

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Yeah i lose an inch, id prefer to slide over something than come within 25mm of damage. Its already so strong its not funny. You can jack from them, pivot on trees, etc. its nice to get them off sometimes for cleaning tho.

The point about the jack is amusing tho, i still carry the stock one.... a high lift is in order...

Cheers!

With your sump armour; would it possible be strong enough to attach a recovery point to? Or are the bolts securing it to the car to weak?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beforethevision

On recovery points, I should add higher rated ones, but LR suggest that the stock ones are ok. I dont consider them very heavy, but static loads and light dynamic loads are probably ok. Don't take my word, if your club doesn't like them, I'd find something bigger. I have never really considered the options, the rear towbar is heaps, and from the front there are very few options for extras. The alloy bar behind the bumper is for compression only, so dont use that.

Cheers!

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