Spare wheel on bonnet.

[MINESAPINT]

I find having my spare wheel mounted on the rear door inconvenient when hitching a trailer and the door is suffering also. I used to have a Land Rover with the wheel on the bonnet but have not seen any around recently. I wonder if it is still allowed.

If so will my standard Defender bonnet take the weight. I don't want to end up with both the rear door and the bonnet cream crackered!

Additionally does anyone know who supply the mounting kits?

Thanks

MINESAPINT

[GBMUD]

It depends rather on the Defender. The Td5 bonnets are not strong enough, largely due to the engine being too high to allow any bracing. Puma engined ones are a non starter too. I would suggest a carrier on the rear - or keep it inside...

Chris

[western]

if your truck is pre-Td5 then the bonnet mount will fit, as Chris said Td5's can't have the mount as the bonnet inner frame is completly different & far to close to the injection parts of the engine.

[Guest diesel_jim]

if your truck is pre-Td5 then the bonnet mount will fit, as Chris said Td5's can't have the mount as the bonnet inner frame is completly different & far to close to the injection parts of the engine.

But, apparently if you remove the plastic rocker cover thing, the 300Tdi type bonnet will fit with enough clearance.

[Eightpot]

You can fit a bonnet mount kit or it's usually easy enough to find a bonnet with the mounting already on and just change the colour.

One thing to watch though is tyre width - anything much wider than a 7.50 or 205 really restricts your view forwards - I tried a 235/85 and I couldn't see over the top sufficiently, especially on a modular which seemed to sit a little higher on the mounts.

Even a 7.50 on a standard 6.5" rim is right on the limit really, best thing is to throw one of your rims on the bonnet with a 10mm spacer underneath and see what you think.

[western]

But, apparently if you remove the plastic rocker cover thing, the 300Tdi type bonnet will fit with enough clearance.

Maybe, but the underside of a Td5 bonnet is different to the preceeding models. it doesn't have the square section frame that the other bonnets have. early bonnet may fit, but would you want to risk the top of your Td5 engine getting damaged.

[MarkL]

Hi MINESAPINT,

check this out for a TD5

http://www.difflock.com/magazine/Wheels_an...eel_mount.shtml

Mark

[western]

Now that is a very tidy solution & someone has put a lot of thought into it.

[Happyoldgit]

Yes I like that too - neat solution.

I've had several vehicles with them but I still don't like wheels on bonnets though, it traps water, obscures vision, messes up the wingtops and bonnet getting them on and off, messes up the windscreen washer jets due to the wind turbulance and hurts like hell when the bonnet stay collapses on your back while you are working on the engine.

[tacr2man]

When they were first fitted Land rovers were better made the ally is so thin now you cant even lean on them , thats why all this checker plate is selling so well

I know LandRover found that they were faster(more aerodynamic) with the wheel on the bonnet

[mmgemini]

You can fit a bonnet mount kit or it's usually easy enough to find a bonnet with the mounting already on and just change the colour.

One thing to watch though is tyre width - anything much wider than a 7.50 or 205 really restricts your view forwards - I tried a 235/85 and I couldn't see over the top sufficiently, especially on a modular which seemed to sit a little higher on the mounts.

Even a 7.50 on a standard 6.5" rim is right on the limit really, best thing is to throw one of your rims on the bonnet with a 10mm spacer underneath and see what you think.

Well I don't think so. I run 235's on Discovery alloy steel rims. Not a problem for me.

Frontrunner make a spare wheel carrier for the TD5. I've seen a few fitted.

mike

[Mo Murphy]

I always found the spare wheel on the bonnet to be a pain when laning as it obscures the vision just where you need to see the ground ahead. On road it's not really a problem as you look well ahead (well, you should).

Mo

[Guest diesel_jim]

Maybe, but the underside of a Td5 bonnet is different to the preceeding models. it doesn't have the square section frame that the other bonnets have. early bonnet may fit, but would you want to risk the top of your Td5 engine getting damaged.

Yeah, thats why i said a 300Tdi bonnet would then fit...

[Scotian]

When I got my 90 the wheel was on the rear but I moved it to the bonnet as soon as I got it becuase the door was falling apart. Having always driven Landrovers in the Army with the wheel on the bonnet I didnt notice any irritation with it there.

Infact when the Army started getting wolfs we kept on moving the wheel to the bonnet since it was such a pain having it on the side. Only thing was the MT would go nuts at us becuase apparently the injector pipes on the 300TDi were too close to the bonnet and even though it had a spare wheel carrier attached it was deemed that the bonnet would flex to much on bumps and damage the injector pipes.