K110

[uninformed]

Not sure if the K stands for Kustom, Kettle or Kursed lol

1998 300Tdi Defender 110 Cab Chassis. Bought in 2000 with 28k on it, stock other than a ARB bull bar. It was my daily driver, work truck , only vehicle for 17 years until I parked it up because of yet another head gasket failure...

The 300Tdi got changed out for a HS 2.8 Tgv at ~270k due to eating the crank (big ends bearings went, apparently bad batch from factory in a 3 month period of 98') It had done a HG about 12 months earlier, requiring a new head. The HS 2.8 has had its fair share of problems, some my fault, some who bloody knows!

On park up it had, F&R MaxiDrive lockers, MD Hyd PTO, MileMaker winch, MD 40% lower low range. Home made sliders and tube bar. Mach 5 rims.

 

[uninformed]

Vent cut in left guard for better cooling.

 

[uninformed]

SO it sat for a couple of years while I took care of other things. When the dust had cleared I figured I could get into the modifications I had always wanted to do....

Starting with longer Radius arms. Chassis work first. 3mm fish plate, tying in with crossmember bolts. New RA mount and bracing.

 

 

[uninformed]

Then the rear fish plate, and new trailing arm mounts including strengthening, plus some little tie ins/bracings.

[uninformed]

Then some longer traiing arms, A frame arms and modified/strengthend body outriggers.

[uninformed]

New A frame cross member with end plates incorporating link mounts. Cross member and body outriggers welded in. Some where along the line I sold the MD locked Sals, and built a custom rear Rover housing....madness right! 🤣

[uninformed]

End caps/transitions and some bits for the radius arms

 

 

[uninformed]

Custom laminated and widened front housing. This is the original 98' housing so has the 7 bolt swivels, TRB top and bottom, but ill be using early stub axles and hubs for the wider bearing spacing. 75mm wider each side. Bolts will be replaced with ARP studs.

 

[uninformed]

I had to remove the spring mounts to have good access to the weld at flanges. Back on they went. 

[Arjan]

You've been busy !!

Impressive welding.

[uninformed]

11 minutes ago, Arjan said:

You've been busy !!

Impressive welding.

Thanks. Slow going and lots left to do. Just have to keep chipping away at it. Next will be finishing radius arms and start on shorten rear overhang and new rear cross member. 

[daveturnbull]

Clearly not your first go with the hot metal glue gun. What are you doing about extending the half shafts?

[uninformed]

Just now, daveturnbull said:

Clearly not your first go with the hot metal glue gun. What are you doing about extending the half shafts?

Funny story about that, I had a guy start, great welder but unreliable and terrible communication so I taught myself on this build.  
 

Getting new shafts made by MaxiDrive out of Hytuf. They know all the dimensions for the locking spline etc and make excellent shafts. They will be 24/23 spline. Running Genuine GKN RRC cvs with custom stub shafts out of Hytuf and anti burst rings out of 4140. They are the same length as the AEU2522 early 110 cv

[bishbosh]

What's the square access panel on the axle casing? Locker actuator?

[Blanco]

Interesting thread!. You've obviously got the knack of the welder. 

Often see people anxious to lift their trucks here (and crank the arms), but seldom see anyone go the longer arm route.  Are those new mounts available down under or is all that stuff fabbed for the job?

[uninformed]

7 hours ago, bishbosh said:

What's the square access panel on the axle casing? Locker actuator?

Yes it’s the weld on block for actuator. Billet aluminium cylinder bolts to it, and has a vacuum operated piston that has a selector fork attached. That slides a locking collar along splines on the axle shaft and will engage/disengage dogs on the end of the carrier/hemisphere.

[uninformed]

1 hour ago, Blanco said:

Interesting thread!. You've obviously got the knack of the welder. 

Often see people anxious to lift their trucks here (and crank the arms), but seldom see anyone go the longer arm route.  Are those new mounts available down under or is all that stuff fabbed for the job?

The trailing arm and radius arm mounts are LR chassis replacement parts. But all the fish plates, overlapping tie ins , braces and everything else are hand cut and fabricated. 

[steve200TDi]

Very nice work!

Keep the updates coming!

Steve

[Anderzander]

49 minutes ago, steve200TDi said:

Very nice work!

Keep the updates coming!

Steve

Agreed !  Welding looks incredible 

[uninformed]

15 hours ago, steve200TDi said:

Very nice work!

Keep the updates coming!

Steve

 

14 hours ago, Anderzander said:

Agreed !  Welding looks incredible 

Thanks. Its been quite an interesting and challenging learning curve. Welds on Suspension links needed to be X Ray tested and we did some destructive tests as well. These sorts of modifications need to be approved by a certifying engineer registered with Dept Of Transport. 

[rusty_wingnut]

Wow that is cracking, excellent work!

[FridgeFreezer]

3 hours ago, uninformed said:

Thanks. Its been quite an interesting and challenging learning curve. Welds on Suspension links needed to be X Ray tested and we did some destructive tests as well. These sorts of modifications need to be approved by a certifying engineer registered with Dept Of Transport. 

And people here complain about our rules on mods

Very tidy work.

[daveturnbull]

Regarding the front radius arms, something I've seen before on a comp safari car that I thought was pretty cool, was to use Disco 2 type chassis mounts, and an extension piece that screwed onto the standard defender arms, lengthening them by about 12" or so.

This gives the obvious advantage of longer arms whilst being able to keep the stock (strong) cast ones, and the better design of the Disco 2 chassis bushings. I think it was on a Tomcat type thing, might well have been a custom job tho.

[dangerous doug]

Nice work, I think @landroversforever may want a look at the spacers

[uninformed]

5 minutes ago, daveturnbull said:

Regarding the front radius arms, something I've seen before on a comp safari car that I thought was pretty cool, was to use Disco 2 type chassis mounts, and an extension piece that screwed onto the standard defender arms, lengthening them by about 12" or so.

This gives the obvious advantage of longer arms whilst being able to keep the stock (strong) cast ones, and the better design of the Disco 2 chassis bushings. I think it was on a Tomcat type thing, might well have been a custom job tho.

Yes the D2 axle bushes are quite good. I’m using Nissan Patrol bushes at axle end. The pin style isn’t so bad as it allows for the rotation during articulation. It will be a bit more limited in travel compared to a D2 style chassis bush, but being longer the angle of bush deflation is reduced. I’m only running 12” shocks so shouldn’t be a problem.
 

BTw, I’m pretty sure the LR radius arms are forged not cast, and yes they are strong and ductile which is good. I’ve heard some evidence that they mostly fail (bend/buckle) sideways. I’m hoping to do some bend tests on a factory arm and a test one of mine to compare.