popotla

I am in Oman and for mounting spots, etc. I’m about to have an A-bar made for my Defender 110 Td5 CSW (air conditioned). I need to know the normal diameter of the tubing usually used for an A-bar and also –if anyone knows this- the thickness of the tubing. The fabricator I’ve discussed it with has suggested not fitting it directly to the bumper. I’d be very glad to see some photos showing exactly how an A-bar has been mounted on an air-con Defender. Thanks.

I have a 12-volt, 100W Coleman halogen lantern, run from vehicle (second) battery, and like it. However, for most purposes the light is too bright. Would it be a simple matter to add into the cable a regulator (this probably isn’t the correct word) – a dimmer, more like- so I can adjust the brightness from very low to full?

From where, exactly, do I get the part number of each item I want?

For camp cooking up to now, we’ve been using a small one-burner stove that runs on 16 cm x 6.5 cm-diameter cylinders of what we call “Korea gas’ since it’s ubiquitous in Korea (and also found in Mongolia (Korean cylinders refilled) and Iran, but by no means everywhere. For the overland trip we’re embarking on, however, we’d like to carry a gas supply which can be more easily replaced (i.e. sold “everywhere”) and are thinking of those largish butane (?) cylinders and a two-burner stove. No gas cylinder can be carried on a ship or ferry, I think, but what is usually used and what can be recommended as a reliable and easily replaceable stove and gas supply set-up? We expect to be in Arabia, Turkey, Europe and the Americas.

By the time we leave on our overland trip, which might be for 40,000 / 50,000 km., our LR Defender 110 Td5 (2.5 litre diesel engine) CSW will have done about 60,000 km. It has been well taken care of and serviced every 10,000 km. I plan to carry a well-stocked supply of spare parts, including what will be needed for routine services. I would like to know “what might be likely to break first” i.e. what are the essential non-routine parts we should take, which parts would be “a very good idea to carry” and which parts “could well be needed”??? I’m assuming, which I think is a realistic assumption, that if and when we break down, this will not be near a Landrover dealership. One thing I’m wondering about is the suspension. We are only two people, but I envisage carrying a fairly heavy load and wonder if the suspension will be OK carrying this day-in, day-out. All advice appreciated.

I understand. However, wonder about if there's space for the bars going down to the floor in front of the dash. Will have a look tomorrow. Also, the bar going above the windscreen would go right where the sun visors go, wouldn't it?

I have a roof rack which comes right to the front. How might the cage fit if done internally? Can I find some photos?

I’ve been keen to buy an A-Bar for my Defender 110 CSW, but am wondering if these bars are mainly just cosmetic and mainly useful for putting extra lights on. I’d thought that an A-bar would offer some protection in the case of a lightish front-end bump, but maybe they’re not very useful. I wonder if a bull bar would be better, but in fact don’t need the headlight protection that these usually offer, as I already have strong “farmer’s gate” –type light protectors. I am overseas where legal issues are not a problem. Any thoughts on this?

Some time ago I had an internal roll cage fitted to my Defender 110 CSW. The front vertical pieces are fitted at the point where the door frame divides front from second-row seats; the rear vertical bars bolt to the body just behind the rear door. Thus, the front cross section runs just behind the heads of the driver and front-seat passenger. Given that in the event of rollover, the windscreen pillars are likely to collapse, I’m wondering if this configuration is in fact useful or whether it sets up the driver and front- seat passenger for something very nasty (second-row passengers appear to be well protected). Should I get the cage modified in order to strengthen the roof over the heads of the driver and front-seat passenger?

I am thinking of buying Wipac spotlights to mount on the bull bar of my defender 110 CSW. Surveying the forums, I read “go for a flood over a spot, obviously”, but all the lights of this kind I see advertised are referred to as “spots”. Nowhere is “flood (light)” mentioned. Is there something I’m failing to understand? Wipac Quodoptics have been quite strongly recommended. Rebel 4x4 offer these for GBP 25, compared with GBP 38 for what they describe simply as “Wipac 4x4 spotlights”. Which lights are better, in your opinion? On their site, Rebel 4x4 give almost no information about the lights they’re offering (such as whether they sell both the S6013 (black bodied) and the S6013S (stainless steel). Also, neither they nor the Wipac site say whether these are halogen lights/sealed beam, etc. I will try asking ebel but have previously found them quite poor at responding. Thus I would be glad to receive via this site any information and comments about these lights.

Noisekiller UK tells me that Lead-lined engine blankets are available for the engine and bell houing areas. They cost £78.26 and £91.30 each, plus carriage. These would be for my Defender 110 CSW Td5. I wonder if any of you have used them, or a similar thing. I've already fitted Noisekiller's standard kit and unless these blankets are super-good, I'm somewhat reluctant to spend more money and have the items shipped overseas at great expense.

In my Defender 110 CSW – as in everyone else’s, I believe, and no doubt in all Defenders – the front seat belts coil up into a kind of “box” which is mounted with one large nut on the bottom panelling behind the seat and near the rear door. I want to loosen off this nut in order to release carpet which is retained by it, but am slightly concerned about getting the “box” properly back in position. The thing is that the bolt just disappears somewhere, above my under-body fuel tank, and if it’s retained by a conventional nut and that nut comes off the bolt, I won’t be able to get it back on. On the other hand, if the bolt screws into a fixed screw-in, as the seat runners do, there’s no problem. Sorry about not using the right terms for these things. Hope my meaning is clear. Please advise.

As part of my sound-dampening procedures for my Defender 110 CSW, I’ve been considering the use of Bituplus Modified Waterproofing membrane to reduce vibration in the floors, side panels and roof. Of course, bitumen (asphalt) contains carcinogens. While there is most danger to (e.g.) roofing workers, Bituplus membrane on the floor of a vehicle would be subject to some (perhaps considerable) temperature change, as would parts of the vehicle exposed to constant, strong sunlight. we spend many hours in the vehicle, including sleeping. The presence of potentially toxic fumes does appear to be an issue. Any thoughts on this from layman or expert? MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET SBS MODIFIED BITUMEN WATERPROOFING MEMBRANE Bitumen membrane. Asphalt odour. Under normal use, this product is not expected to create any health or environmental hazard. Inhalation of dust or of asphalt fumes can cause a respiratory irritation and/or a congestion. WARNING! This product may contain substances known by the State of California that could cause cancer (asphalt, crystalline silica, fibreglass, antimony trioxide).

I am wondering about the usefulness of POLYETHYLENE FOAM SHEET for use as sound dampening material in my Defender. Locally (southern Oman) it is difficult to find the materials I want, but I can buy the above (3/8 inch thick). Would it be suitable/effective/useful? I envisage using it in certain areas of my vehicle (e.g. second-row passenger footwell), in combination with rubber sheet.

In my Defender, there are a number of very stubborn screws that I can't move. Specifically, they're the ones that hold down the three brackets behind the front seats that keep in position the edge of the carpet which lines the second-row passenger footwell. I've used WD 40 two or three times, and while I've been able to shift slightly one or two of these screws, the others won't budge. They are quite small and have cross-heads. How to move stubborn screws like this?

Thanks for these replies. HTH, is all the foil-covered material in your photo sound-dampening stuff?

I’ve just finished fitting to my LR 110 CSW almost all the bits contained in the “Noisekiller” sound-dampening kit. As my expectation wasn’t high, I’m perhaps not too disappointed with the results. Suffice to say that the noise is far from “killed”. My first question: as regards noise-dampening /”soundproofing”, is it a case of “the more the better” in terms of the depth of dampening material on any particular area? In other words, if I add more material on top of the Noisekiller sheets I’ve fitted, can I expect further improvement? Second: most of the stuff Noisekiller supplied is 6-mm foam bounded on both sides by rubber app. 1.5 mm thick (total thickness 9mm). I don’t know whether this is high-, medium- or low-quality stuff in terms of its dampening abilities. (Maybe it’s very ordinary stuff sold at a high mark-up because it’s in “kit form”). To further improve sound-dampening, what kind of material should I look for? Please don’t suggest UK or other brand names or UK or other retail outlets as I’m not in the UK but in southern Oman and need to go hunting around looking at this or that kind of sheeting that building material suppliers or car accessory shops etc. might offer me. IS PLAIN THICK RUBBER SHEETING suitable, and if so what’s the maximum/minimum thickness to look for, or is foam bounded by rubber better (as per the Noisekiller stuff)? Third: The Noisekiller kit contains pieces to be glued to or placed over parts of the seat boxes. Fitting the pieces on the front of the driver’s seat-box, under the vertical carpet covering appears to be not so easy, though possible (e.g. bolts retaining handbrake need undoing in order to release and lift carpeting). Does it make any difference in terms of effectiveness if the material is glued on the inside metal surface, i.e. inside the battery box, or must it be on the outside? Fourth: Having heard that a lot of noise comes from/is reflected by a Defender’s roof, I was surprised to find that the kit contained nothing for the roof. Perhaps this is to keep down its cost. What would be the best stuff to fit to the roof, and can those plastic retaining studs be got out without making a dog’s leg of things? Fifth: The Noisekiller kit contains a piece about 42 x 33 cm, designed to fit to passenger-side bulkhead. In the case of my vehicle, that will entail removing the air-con unit in order to get to the bulkhead wall behind it. I’m thinking that that will be troublesome and not easy, and wonder if I should go to the trouble. Sixth: The NK kit contains some “pads”, thin, rubbery and foil-backed, and approx. 25 x 17 cm in size, to be fixed to the inside of each of the five doors. Are these small pads somehow supposed to reduce vibration/noise passing through the door? I’m sorry this post is so long, but having come this far in terms of effort, time and cost, I feel I must do the job properly. Thus would much appreciate your advice regarding each of my points.

Thanks for replies. Reading what mmgemini posted, that seems to be lower pressures when laden (??). I often have the combined circumstances of heavily laden and moderate or fairly severe off-road. So how about maybe 38 psi rear under those circumstances?

On my Landrover Defender Td5 County Station Wagon 110 (year 2005) I have just fitted new Michelin LTX A/T '2' tyres (LT 235/85R16 120R). (The treads are different from the earlier LTX A/T.) What pressures (front and back) and FULLY LOADED and NOT LOADED should these be run at? The LR handbook says “rear @ 48 psi” but this seems wrong.

I would like some advice, from anyone who’s used it or knows about it, about the Safeway D-101 Lock, which I am considering using for the doors of my Defender 110 County Station Wagon, 2005. Specifically: Why did you choose this lock rather than one of the alternatives? Can it be successfully fitted to all five doors? Would you recommend it?

I need an A-Bar for my air-con Defender 110. Was looking at the one marketed by Rebel 4x4. Are these reliable and trustworthy people, both in terms of the quality of what they sell and delivering what they say they’ll deliver when they say they’ll do that? (I asked them about another item, too, but they aren’t in a big hurry to reply).

I had a look at the Overland Hardware website (their locks and hasps having been recommended on this forum) and contacted them. After a reminder, they got back to me, saying that this product doesn't fit a Defender, something about the gap between the door edge and the opposite edge being too wide, I think it was. Can anyone suggest/recommend a similar product which would fit a Defender 110 CSW? I would probably fit a suitable device to the two rear doors, with other types of lock on the rear-end door and driver's and front-seat pasasenger door. OR can someone suggest another type of (extra) lock that would definitely fit the rear side doors on the above-mentioned vehicle?

And this one.

These pictures might help make the matter clearer (as to how far out the grille is and which type of A-bar to use).

Thanks for comments. I thought the second pic showed that the grille sticks out some way over the bumper, but I can post another picture. From above, perhaps?