Steve_M

5083 grade plate and 6082 grade sections are what would often be specified for aluminium boat structures.

Axles from a Japanese import lj78 might be worth looking at. They aren't leaf sprung originally (radius arms front and rear) but they have disc brakes all round and are about the right width. I have a set which I am planning on fitting to a leaf sprung truck (non-landrover). If you are any where near Guildford you would be welcome to come and have a look and see if the type was going to be suitable, if not I could get you some photos and measurements over the weekend. Steve

It should be relatively easy to swap in a 2.8 Daihatsu engine if you would like in either turbo or NA form, as the 2.8 appears to have the same mounting points as the 2.5 (I am planning on doing this swap although not for a landrover). If you would like to send me a PM with your email address I can send you a scanned copy of the engine manual for the 2.5 litre engine if it is of use?

Not used them but maybe a set of these http://shop.difflock.com/heavy-duty-extra-wide-vehicle-ramps-p-100.html

Nah, becasue he loves fixing stuff he thought he might go for the type that starts the first day with a shock falling off and then has to finish the weekend early in clouds of engine smoke.

Not quite the same, it is a 109, but I had the truck below for a while. It was very basic and very clearly homemade but massively practical. I bought it as it was in the photo and then put it back to standard after a while. All the sides and back hinged down and where totally removable to leave a flat tray made from plywood (with tie down eyes all along its length). This was all supported by a few big bits of timber and a steel frame and all bolted to the chassis. As I say a bit basic but it was just a farm truck and clearly served it purpose. It did have a frame for supporting a canvas top as well.

It may be worth asking on Outerlimits4x4, there was a defender on there built for Tuff Truck called 'lockless' that had a home made traction control system.

When we got down to that part of the site we found the group of Suzukis SJs and the Vitara that were there driving down the waterfall, I can imagine it was quite exciting in something with that short a wheelbase.

Great event enjoyed by every one in our little group. Thanks to Daan, David and Richard for their help in extracting the 110 after our little slide off the track, and to muddyrice and friend who I am pretty sure are the guys who supplied us with a new brake pipe to get us up and running again for the Sunday. Also relating to that if anyone is looking to sell a straight passenger wing and door bottom to suit an early 110 (preferably in a light green colour as in Fridge's last photo for day 1) please could you let me know and I will pass the details on to the owner of the slightly worse for wear 110.

I quite like the arrangement the Suzuki below has for a cage with a hard top, full internal with a couple of external bars running along the roof at gutter level to protect against trees etc. It does mean making some penetrations through the roof though which may be a pain to reseal. I would add some cross braces to the above but try and keep them removable.

Draft sight seems to be a new program, it is much nicer to use than dwg editor was altough it does still have some bugs.

They are also popular for Suzuki's because the rear diff offset is in the right direction and by about the right amount to suit the suzuki transfer case whereas if you use the hilux rear the diff is centred.

Wheel mounting face to wheel mounting face is approximately 1400mm on a 70 series cruiser axle (if I remember correctly) which I am pretty sure is less than a defender. As has been said the rear diff is much smaller than the 80 series but the front is a similar sized high pinion unit. The 70 series also rarely have factory lockers. In general 70 series axles tend to be used as an upgrade on smaller trucks like Suzukis.

Re-reading the arcticle in TOR the engine is a 2.5 litre V6 out of a Grand Vitara, apparantly this is acutally a Mazda engine.

It was built by Off Road Armoury, I think it is a Suzuki Vitara engine and custom axles with toyota internals. There is a big article in Total Off Road magazine this month about it.

Went down to watch this for a couple of hours today, took some of photos which may be of interest.

I had some of these on my last truck, they seemed to be ok although I do seem to remember that the push up window lock needed a bit of adjustment to work properly. The Rocky Mountain door tops are much nicer, a friend of mine bought these at about the same time, but they are a lot more expensive.

In some counties it is, it depends on the county council, Hampshire for example has it all online (as I think does Surrey). However they include the note that you should check these against the hard copies that are available.

I don't think 70 series axles would be the best choice. They are not much, if any wider, than series axles and factory lockers aren't that common (LSDs in the rear are however fairly easy to find). If you want to go for Toyotas then 80 series would be better suited IMO. Steve

The rear axle on a 109 is a salisbury and the front brakes are 11" rather than 10" on the swb (I am pretty sure thats right on the brakes), so you are right on both counts. Steve Edit: Retroanconda types a bit faster than me

Your memory is ok, http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=9229 Steve

The photo below shows a pto unit to suit a series. Steve

The 2.5 petrol in my 109 was installed as Gazzer described above with the none of the extras and it works fine.

Paul (Moose on here) did exactly this on his truck, it does work but the transfer couldnt really be described as rapid.

Dave is correct about the PTO units being different, this thread shows the differences and why Ole ended up with the PTO unit I had originally bought. However I think that the shafts should be the same as I am pretty sure that the output of PTO unit was in the same place. Steve