Meatslicer

Nice landy camper! All jealous now.

Ahem, as I said earlier, its not a belly depth issue, its width across the shoulders I have a problem with. I managed to drive my 110 home from bristol where it had been advertised on Ebay. The gears were intermittently not engaging and the brakes were decidedly ropey. I gave myself a serious case of cramp in the attempts to reach the hand brake and I had to leave the window down to steer in -2 degrees C with a wind chill factor of -5. Very chilly elbow. There is a hell of a wobble on the front passenger side wheel hub that I am looking at tomorrow and the rain we had on the weekend is now slowly dripping as a brown solution onto the steering wheel. I am really gonna enjoy chopping this one apart! Buying a sand blaster too in the morning so I can get to work on the panels and chassis. Happy days Eric

will do

Thanks for all the comments guys. I have just bought a 1988 landy 110 hardtop to take home and dismember. Its got a 200 tdi engine and big wheels so I might use it for off roading and take my sankey trailer for a jaunt now and again. Cheers all Eric

There is a youtube video of some landrover 'thusiasts wandering around a chopped down and widened landy at a car-meet somewhere. It looks like it has a truck chassis and standard defender wings, doors and rear panels, but all of the middle bits, rad panels, bonnet, roof and rear door and cross member are at least 8 inches wider. It has a landrover oval on the front but has boxer111 on the bonnet. Not sure if its a concept car or a kit but it looks good, apart from the cut down height of the cabin. All glossy black and clean. Must be a road car rather than for off road!

I wondered if this might produce some wry comments. Its not so much my height as my width, I am pretty broad across the shoulders and sitting in a defender the other day I could drive it fine with the window down or the drivers side door open! I have been used to driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee so I am accustomed to plenty of rattle room to slop around in. My previous Jeep had leather arm chairs at the front! Its just that it is a boring car to drive and any servicing or repairs are so flippin' costly in the UK. I have recently had to have a new starter motor and power flex wheel replaced and it would have cost over £1300 at a Jeep dealership. I did it myself for the cost of parts but that was still £600. And the fact that everything is electric means that there are loads of sensors and potentially expensive electrical things to go wrong. A defender would be more user maintainable and would be more useful for my hobbies of metal detecting on farm land and archaeology digs, not to mention getting me to clients in snow etc. Dismantling it on my drive would go a long way to annoy my neighbours too so it would be an all round bonus! I intend getting a soft top and messing about with a hard top or tythonus roof for it, putting in a decent engine like a merc 3l deisel and kitting it out for overland trailer pulling. After I posted this thread I started to check out other customisers and the comment about extending the outriggers and moving wings and side panels sounds more manageable. Would cutting the chassis mean the steering would have to be adapted too though, I imagine the geometry would be messed up. Any more cpmments/advice gents? Eric

I have been looking at 110's to strip down and rebuild and have found that the standard 110/90 is too narrow for me to sit in comfortably. Being 5'11'' tall and 21 stones (of pure muscle I hasten to add), it is a bit of a squeeze for me to get in. I now realize why some people drive with the drivers window down and an arm out so they can steer properly. I have had an idea on how to rectify this by slicing a chassis up the middle and welding in wider cross members, then using standard defender side panels and wings then constructing wider central panels for the middle sections. This would make the whole vehicle wider for me and make it look a bit hummer-like. I could fabricate the central panels from fibre glass so the vehicle weight would be reduced. Has anyone done anything like this and is it even possible? Am I making more work for myself, given that this is a project I have planned for the winter/spring period so time isnt really an issue? HELP?

Only got one photo of the side of the trailer before I put on the mounting brackets for the water and fuel cans that I can get at for now. It shows the tow bar extension and the roof and roof rack though. I will try to get some more photos of it on here. Eric

I built a one-man caravan cum load carrier last year using a 110 roof for the roof and wood and palstic sheeting for the sides. I built an elevating system out of two builders trestles attached to the front and rear so I can lift the roof from driving height to standing height. (I am 1.8 metres tall so the roof is at least that high when lifted) There is a porta poti and butane powered cooker and heater run from disposable canisters, with water and power from a car battery and inverter with solar charger on board. Having used it for a year, I am now designing a replacement module made from two cut up brownchurch roofracks, one forming the base and one attached to the roof inverted so I dont have to fabricate a frame, just weld up bracing beams between them. I initially inverted the tow ring and damper to drop the height of the trailer hitch and put on 14 inch Land rover pattern wheels to level it out. I toyed with the idea of extending the A-Frame to reduce jack-knifing, but eventually built an extension beam from square profile stainless tubing and bolted it on to the A-Frame. Cut outs allowed the damper assembly to be put on the end of the extension bar inverted so the trailer rides level and balanced. I took off the military swing down jockey wheel mount to reduce weight, and replaced it with a standard jockey wheel mount bracket. I have a 25 litre water tank and 25 litre fuel tank strapped to side steps at the rear and the spare wheel mount is bolted to the centre of the side panel over the wheel to maintain balance. I can move the trailer on a flat track alone and the military pintle I bought from Ebay for £30 is the dogs whatsit. I have a leather sofa and a pop up ambulance trolley for a bed inside so it functions like a caravan, and 12volt lighting inside and out so it is a good base for isolated pitches. I have installed a carbon monoxide alarm for when I use the cooker and heater inside, although the fans and vents I built in to the floor and roof reduce the risk of build-up in use. All together the whole trailer cost £300 including the purchase of the trailer chassis from Witham, the MOD sales people. I bought it without the tub because I would have had to remove it anyway. Having used it for a year for metal detecting rallies and holidays in snowdonia national park, it is time for a revamp and airodynamic styling to cut down on fuel costs when towing. Good luck with your trailer, it looks like a proper job. Eric