Ed Poore

Wot he said. Still got 10mm+ on all my KM2s but the sidewalls are slashed to the point replacements are unfortunately imminent.

Sod the insulating tape, blood normally suffices for me 😁

One other thing I like about the cap head is nothing sharp sticking out.

It's probably OK. If I remember correctly my diy roof rack I inherited with my Series 3 was a similar design. But that never went fast enough to find out how handled high(er) speeds. I think provided your leg that goes under the gutter doesn't hit the side panels you're probably OK. As you do up yours it should clamp against the vertical lip of the gutter. I'd definitely put some lock washers or Nylocs to prevent vibrations shaking it free. Benefit of diy is if it doesn't work then you can always cut them off and start again, as I'm currently doing with my doors . So it'll probably work but I think I prefer the design I posted as if the angles are right it clamps in both important directions and is nice and simple. I suspect yours will need either three hands or a helper to ensure its all tight whilst doing it up.

This is the neat idea I saw

I think what Ross was referring to was how are you going to ensure the vertical clamping force. My suspicion brute force and ignorance. I've seen quite a nifty idea on Pinterest where the bottom is fixed into a threaded holder so as you do it up it clamps vertically on the gutter.

Unless you need access whilst the vehicle is moving I'd be inclined to go in from the side. Easier to do and easier to see what's in there I'd have thought. I have heard some people mention it substantially weakens it which is why they tend to have reinforcement added. No first had experience but it is on my list of things to look at because I've got L322 seats in mine and they're a pain, especially if you need to get to the battery and they're not working because they're battery operated... I might go comeplete custom to drop the front edge down level and that way I have the old one as backup and I can build what I want.

LCD but configurable brightness which is nice because I turn it right down but it can be set on a timer to automatically adjust.

Two years ago I replaced the original tape head unit in my 110 with (I've just looked) a Panasonic DEH4800BT. If I remember correctly was about £80 from Halfrauds when I got it and I've been mightily impressed. Even with the windows open and original speakers I can still hear it reasonably well. Has CD, Bluetooth for both music and phone, aux and USB. Would recommend it even though it's a bit more than what you suggested.

The chap who taught me to shoot, rest his soul, would always go to the local vet to get stitched up rather than the doctor. Less chance of catching something and they usually did a better job.

A downside against the Jeeps is parts can be horrendously expensive if you need to import them.

I would have thought it's got a good chance of being hardened being critical to the towing capability. Certainly other Dixon Bate pins for different style towbars are hardened. My suspicion is that mild steel with repeated shock loading from towing would dent the outer surface over time.

Petrol and lighter...

Ever tried polycarbide discs John? Friend put me onto them and although not cheap boy are they good at getting rid of paint and rust. Was really struggling with wire discs to get the paint of a pair of 88" sides and flap discs were too aggressive. Three polycarbides got all the paint off both sides.

That makes much more sense. One thing that's been badgering me is whether there should be a gusset or bracing on the inside of the brackets. Part of me thinks it's strong enough as it is but part of me is thinking if you hit it laterally you might shift the entire rack sideways. A small triangular gusset underneath would be hidden away and provide considerable strength to that bend.

Something like this for the feet? Are you going to round off the corners of those bent up tabs? They look a bit lethal to me, yes they're on the roof but the whole point of a roof rack is to put stuff on it, looks like if you'd caught yourself on one it'd be a bit painful.

@reb78 Just go and drive one, or come up and take mine for a spin. Your mind will be made up then, its just a matter of which one you want then.

It is, I'm lucky enough to have a local company who considers 6ft box sections (from 2" to 18" profile) as scrap offcuts. Got really annoyed they didn't have any thin stuff but times like this it works well. Mainly lucky to have some C channel and big angle that fitted nicely together. Ironically the angle doesn't quite touch the bottom but that doesn't seem to matter it turns out... It's basically similar in style to the Swag one but just carp lying around. Might make a shorter (in height) blade at some point as provided you space another piece of scrap the other side of the ram you can bend it over itself. Given I can put close to 5ft in height in the press would just need to build an extension for the ram (i.e. Capped off box section) to do silly deep bends.

On a serious note about the speed. The 322 gathers it so quietly you don't often realise how much you've gathered until you wonder why it's struggling to stop for the corner. You glance down and doing 60 not 30 as you thought... A friend drove mine to the Highlands and commented on how it was a bit wallowly in the corners, I admitted it was but they're designed for comfort. Then suggested he look at the speedo, turns out he was attempting the corner about 20mph more than he thought...

I'm actually pretty chuffed with how that radius turned out, much better than the 5mm ones . Hmm, wondering if a certain Mr Barker is going to be wanting some new heavy duty light brackets or some such built now. @Hybrid_From_Hell

And just for giggles, 10mm plate. This did actually register on the gauge, no idea if it's calibrated though

And it in action That's 6" width worth of 5mm steel. Need I say this press is awesome, it hardly registered on the pressure gauge whilst bending all that. Although the tight inner curve did mean I had to finish it a little in the vice. Still not too bad for an afternoons work and no cost. Only the third time I'm building these bloody brackets for the rock sliders. Still now the plasma is back and with the press brake built it's down from several evenings worth to under an hour all told to make 3.

This was built this afternoon out of mostly free scrap from raiding a friendly neighbourhood skip. The only bits that weren't free were the two rounds for the uprights (bought 3m of the stuff to have as stock) and the two bits of angle for the guides but they were actually part of an offcut from another project. Still I did pay some pennies for them.

If you're ever Farnham direction you're more than welcome to pop in, have a brew or beer (very very close to Hogs Back Brewery) and go out for a spin on mine. To be fair it's not that bad on fuel, I rarely see below mid 20s and motorways is usually mid 30s. Lowest journey I had was towing 2 tonnes of milling machine on a 1.5tonne trailer across the Welsh mountains and that was 19. Apparently even the 5l supercharged can see 30 on the motorway with the 8 speed ZF. That's naturally very difficult with a 5l V8 and most peoples right foot. I doubt I'd ever see that

Different but on my 300Tdi 110 I found the easiest was to lie on my back and support the tank on my knees to help position it all in place. Easier than using the jack I found.