BogMonster Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Has anybody got one of the detachable towing pack/tank guard thingys from Southdown, fitted to a Td5 age Defender 110? In particular I am interested in how (or rather if) the thing bolts on at the front of the fuel tank and how far forward it goes (to protect the front of the tank) - according to the fitting instructions it appears that the front half of the guard is entirely unsupported which doesn't seem like a good idea and also if it is bolted on in lots of places it should make it stronger for towing - we all know how strong the Td5 crossmember isn't Some photos would be great if anybody has one fitted. I have seen the ones at http://www.southdown4x4.com/DetachableTowing.htm but am more interested in the front end and the other mounting points onto the chassis. I emailed Southdown for prices the other day (no reply as yet...) and to find out more about what attachments (or should that be "detachments") you can buy to bolt on to it as I would like to get one for a NATO (4 x M12) and one for a normal (2 x M16) ball/jaw hitch so I can swap them easily. Also it would be nice to get one that doesn't drop down quite so far but I suppose once the thing is on there it wouldn't be too hard to make up a "high level" attachment for a tow jaw. I could buy one and start "Bennifying" it to my specifications but it would bugger up the galvanising and I can't get it re-galved locally so I would rather not do that... but it looks like the best solution. Ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Neale Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Has anybody got one of the detachable towing pack/tank guard thingys from Southdown, fitted to a Td5 age Defender 110?In particular I am interested in how (or rather if) the thing bolts on at the front of the fuel tank and how far forward it goes (to protect the front of the tank) - according to the fitting instructions it appears that the front half of the guard is entirely unsupported which doesn't seem like a good idea and also if it is bolted on in lots of places it should make it stronger for towing - we all know how strong the Td5 crossmember isn't Some photos would be great if anybody has one fitted. I have seen the ones at http://www.southdown4x4.com/DetachableTowing.htm but am more interested in the front end and the other mounting points onto the chassis. I emailed Southdown for prices the other day (no reply as yet...) and to find out more about what attachments (or should that be "detachments") you can buy to bolt on to it as I would like to get one for a NATO (4 x M12) and one for a normal (2 x M16) ball/jaw hitch so I can swap them easily. Also it would be nice to get one that doesn't drop down quite so far but I suppose once the thing is on there it wouldn't be too hard to make up a "high level" attachment for a tow jaw. I could buy one and start "Bennifying" it to my specifications but it would bugger up the galvanising and I can't get it re-galved locally so I would rather not do that... but it looks like the best solution. Ta Stephen, I don't know if this will help you in any way, but I have a 1989 110 with the tank guard and detachable towing unit fitted. The tank guard picks up on the rear x-member and bolts through the lower holes using standard towball bolts; it's also bolted through the side rails using the existing holes for the tie down loops, and finally bolts vertically through the anti-roll bar brackets - 8 bolts in total. There are no attachments at the front of the guard which extends to about the midline of the rear axle. I appreciate that the Td5 has a deeper plastic tank - I assume it's similar to that fitted in the late classic RR and Discovery? That being the case, the guard will be lower at the front to clear, but I guess would have much the same mountings as above. I do know that Dave Wilkinson likes to "over-engineer" his guards somewhat anyway, so I can't see that you'd have too many issues.... I've hung nearly 3.5 tonnes off the back of mine with no problems whatsoever. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthdicky Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Have you seen the diagram on the website Stephen? http://www.southdown4x4.com/Fitting/FitTD5110DTP.jpg Might show it a bit better? Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 Have you seen the diagram on the website Stephen?http://www.southdown4x4.com/Fitting/FitTD5110DTP.jpg Might show it a bit better? Richard Yes I have but it only seems to bolt through the chassis with 2 wee bolts (M10s? if it is via the tiedown rings) and two M10s isn't going to help a lot... but if it also bolts to the anti roll bar mountings then that will certainly help - IF the Td5 one does of course. Thinking about it I'd actually also like it to extend across all the holes on the back crossmember so I can put a NATO on the crossmember in the position I have it fitted now, and then have the detachable one below it either with another NATO or a combi ball/jaw hitch at the right height for a trailer, but take it off when not in use. It would also strengthen it a bit more - for some reason the standard one only fits into the two lowest holes, and the three on the bottom of the cross-member, which seems like an odd idea for the sake of not using another small bit of steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 BogMonster --------but if it also bolts to the anti roll bar mountings then that will certainly help - IF the Td5 one does of course. well it does say Td5 at the top of the link that DD left you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted April 14, 2007 Share Posted April 14, 2007 a 90 td5 guard uses the two mounting holes on the vertical face of the crossmember, and 3 holes on the under side of the cross member and then a further 8 bolts (4 each side) of the existing 90 tank guard mounts. mine goes to the fwd edge of the tank where there is a lip upwards to stop the mud etc going in. from my 110 tdi one, it again used two horizontal and 3 vertical mounting bolts into the cross member then used two further holes drilled to suite on the sides to attach to the chassis rail supports. again it went right to the end of the tank with a lip at the fwd edge. from my 90 tdi, same cross member mounting and same chassis rail supports, again drilled to suit. not that any of this helps but it does show that the bulk of the tdi ones seem to use the rear crossmember mountings as the main anchoring point. i have never had any problems with all 3 of my guards over the various times they were owned. With a nato hitch on the cross member and something on the drop plate wouldn't the NATO be in the way when trying to hitch up? or restrict movement anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDDave Posted April 14, 2007 Share Posted April 14, 2007 Stephen, The guard is attached by the anti roll bar bolts as well, making 11 bolts. Please cosider a 10mm 8.8 bolt has a shear strength of some 6 tonnes + (Not Set Screw where the root of the thread would need to be considered). I have sent you an email regarding the commercial side, wouldn't be appreciated here, been out of the office half term. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 14, 2007 Author Share Posted April 14, 2007 Stephen,The guard is attached by the anti roll bar bolts as well, making 11 bolts. Please cosider a 10mm 8.8 bolt has a shear strength of some 6 tonnes + (Not Set Screw where the root of the thread would need to be considered). I have sent you an email regarding the commercial side, wouldn't be appreciated here, been out of the office half term. Dave Thanks Dave, got your email and I will be sending you an order in the next week or so once I have looked at a couple of different possibilities for shipping and decided which is the most cost effective. I guess the cumulative strength of all the fittings adds up to quite a lot. I would like (if possible) one slight change in the design but I will email that to you once I have sketched it - basically what I described above i.e. the rear crossmember end where it folds round the crossmember, extended up to cover all the crossmember bolt holes instead of just the bottom 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted June 29, 2007 Author Share Posted June 29, 2007 Well I have just got my modified Southdown guard (takes a while to get stuff here!) and I have to say, first impressions, beautiful bit of work, the laser cutting (or whatever it is) is really nice, absolutely perfect welding and the whole thing is built like a brick <ahem>house, initial impressions are that it may not be cheap but you definitely gets what you pays for Only thing is, having seen the quality of the work I now wish I had asked Dave to make up the other special drop plate bracket I wanted at the same time... Just gotta persuade the other half that fitting it is more important than the wooden flooring for the entire house which also arrives today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest diesel_jim Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDDave Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Stephen, Glad to hear it got there in one piece, hopefully, the extra long bit you wanted didnt get bent! Be nice to see some pics of it fitted. Cheers Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted June 29, 2007 Author Share Posted June 29, 2007 Yeah yeah yeah gimme a blddy chance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted June 29, 2007 Author Share Posted June 29, 2007 Stephen,Glad to hear it got there in one piece, hopefully, the extra long bit you wanted didnt get bent! Be nice to see some pics of it fitted. Cheers Dave No, but it just about went out through the back window of my Discovery when the box fell over in the back, bit too much right foot I don't think it will bend in a hurry, being about 10mm steel I could hardly lift it Pics will follow when fitted - you might find others wanting the modded version too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Southdown gear is up there with the very best IMHO. would recommend them to anyone any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 go on then what was the mod? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted June 29, 2007 Author Share Posted June 29, 2007 As you will know the rear face of the Defender crossmember has six holes in it, four for the M12 bolts used for a NATO hitch and 2 x M16s under that which most ball type hitches use. On the standard SD guard the guard only covers the two M16s on the rear face, but I wanted maximum strength and I also wanted to keep the option of having a NATO hitch mounted straight on to the crossmember, so it benefited from the extra strength of the guard. So Dave made up one with an extended "tongue" that goes right up over all six holes, meaning that instead of 11 bolts holding the standard guard on, mine has 15. It's only a little mod but I figured worth the extra. I believe in overkill and short of cutting off the rear crossmember and starting again from scratch, this is about as strong as you can make a Td5 chassis for towing purposes as it uses all 6 holes on the rear of the crossmember, plus the three underneath the crossmember, the four anti roll bar bolts and two through the chassis where the tiedown rings attach. Basically if I manage to rip this off it should take with it most of the vehicle behind the second row seats and if that happens I reckon I will probably have been trying a bit hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2hotdog Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Southdown gear is up there with the very best IMHO.would recommend them to anyone any day. I agree top bloke and good quality fabrication - I know - I have only spoken to him at the old sodbury sort out that was enought Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted July 1, 2007 Author Share Posted July 1, 2007 Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr http://www.southdown4x4.com/Fitting/FitTD5110DTP.jpg sounds easy when you say it like that doesn't it ... 2 hours later after jacking, swearing, beating the F*** out of it with a 14lb sledge hammer (just as well I didn't bother with the paint then), I have 1 bolt in 1 of the towing eye holes... and I have 30 min to fit it before I have to be somewhere else... I think it will be going under the bench before the day is out I hate Land Rovers - I had exactly the same problems with the Bearmach tank guard I fitted to the 90, absolutely nothing lined up, I don't know why in this day and age they can't build Defender chassis all the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted July 1, 2007 Author Share Posted July 1, 2007 Duly filed in my "heap of expensive things that require too much temper to fit" might look at it again some time nearer Christmas... think the only hope is going to be to drill all the holes about 10mm oversize and buy a workshop pack of heavy duty repair washers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 Fitted ... albeit with a bit more work than expected! Firstly drilled out all the holes to 3/4"... Then to cover the oversized hole I'd just made in the guard I re-used the old lashing eyes which being 6mm steel make very nice strong M10 washers As anybody who has tried it will know, you can't fit a NATO on the crossmember and use the M16 holes below it. Unless you make a spacer plate to move the NATO out to clear the bolt heads... The NATO is permanently fitted for the Sankey and I have the new Southdown recovery point beneath it: Detachable drop plate for a ball hitch trailer - and in due course for my boat trailer so it sits level (twin axle trailer): and with it all removed (2 pins/30 sec job) there is nothing much to hang up for off road use as well as getting a bombproof tank guard: It doesn't make the NATO hitch significantly stronger than the standard Land Rover "crossmember reinforcing kit" but overall I am fairly happy with the strength of the lower recovery points - its got 15 bolts holding it on so should take a bit more to remove than the std setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Nice job Stephen, bet your glad it's finally bolted on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest diesel_jim Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 hmmm.. nice.... me likey lots..... that'll be on the shopping list for my 110... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I am looking forward to fitting one too in the not too distant future... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JST Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Glad you got it on in the end, i thought you were waiting until Christmas? very tidy job - well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West4x4 Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 That looks so good!!! so the big question is how much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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