Having just looked back through the photos I realise I haven't posted an update on here for a while, so, being as comprehensive as possible, here we go.
First up the steering setup:
I'm a little restricted as to how I can do it as the base vehicle has a galvanised bulkhead and I don't want to get into cutting and welding the thing, so I'm making the best I can of it with the standard Defender column setup, even though it makes things a little tight.
A double UJ will be at the bottom of the column with a block bearing supporting the top end of the shaft that'll run down onto this;
A bevel gearbox out of the front of a Vauxhall (nee Holden) Frontera B which was found on eBay at a very reasonable price.
From there a longer shaft runs backwards to a LHD 4 Bolt box positioned thus;
The box needs to be positioned as shown and the chassis redrilled (which needs doing anyway) to suit. I'm going to have a 3mm plate either side to give it a bit more strength whilst I'm at it.
Positioning the bevel box to keep the angles on the UJ's on the top part of the column sensible also means the leg in front of the steering box won't be in the way.
The extra steering shafts have been made up to the standard Land Rover spline count/size with a pair of custom UJ's for the bevel box with the Vauxhall spline on one end, and Land Rover the other to keep as many standard parts as possible.
No good reason why it won't work.
Up front things now look like this (still to be fully welded obviously) with the old front bumper forming the basis of the support for the front of the cab.
The front bumper is now a galvanised Series item, which completes the front end quite nicely.
There's more bracketry holding the subframe down (including where the old bulkhead supports were) plus some additional bracing at the back where it bolts to the outriggers, with some nice big brackets for the rear of the cab also, sorry it's a fuzzy picture.
If it weren't a galvy chassis I would have likely welded some more attachments on, but as is I'm confident it's strong enough.
The body is going to be a lightweight self supporting structure based on a commercial ambulance body the owner has designed and crash tested as part of his day job, so I just need the base vehicle to be right.
Gear linkage wise I'm planning an up and over rod linkage similar to the IIB setup, but coming up through the hole in the transmission tunnel as with a standard 110. I'm also going to adapt the transfer box lever to work remotely on a cable setup.
I'm hoping the steering components will arrive this week, so I'll be able to crack on and get the thing finished by the end of the month.
What more can you tell us about the 6x6?
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