Soren Frimodt Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Yeah too bad really.. Still pondering what to do about it, one idea is cutting some of the steel out and replace it with sheets of 1mm Ali (which I have) but not sure whether it'll just look hacked up and plain ugly! So far my 'trimming' has only made it better looking because it looks 'cleaner' and simpler IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 drill the radius arms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 There seems to be a superfluous bit of tube going over that fuel tank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Ah, here we go, plasticify the roof, either plexiglass or maybe even a vinyl roof held on with half a dozen buttons. What's the bulkhead behind the seats made of? How much more you got to lose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hehe it just comes pouring out doesn't it mates! Well you can never loose too much weight really, but was aiming for 80 kilos, but this can be on both vehicles so the plan is to bring the Merc in the shop the day after tomorrow to strip it of unnecessities. Have quite a few things on it I don't need. So think I'll put the Rangie on a hold till I know how much I can remove from the Merc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Idris Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 If you cut the RHD brackets off the axel it saves more in mud than metal, which saves the journey home weight Is there a spare/redundant steering arm on the LH swivel to cut off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Not sure what RHD brackets your referring to mate? No its an old RRC 10 spline axle (well the housing and swivels atleast) so no redundant steering arms.. Did get a bit more removed today, 3,5kgs worth, had never gotten around to removing the factory handbrake lever, so did that along with some other things. Don't think I'll be removing anymore on this now. Did however take off a wheel and weigh it, 45kgs! Actually a little less than I anticipated with a 35" krawler, 15" inch LR steel wheel and a HD tube. Would've thought about 50kgs. Anyway, I mounted some 7.50s on my wolfrace alloys and with these fitted I'll save a whopping 80kgs in total! So was contemplating pulling along a trailer if I have to go on roads where the police are likely to be encountered. Shoved the Merc into the shop today, and have removed no less than 84,5kgs on the thing too! So doing great. With the rangie on the wolfraces it'll be a combined weight loss of 206,5kgs. So not bad when you consider I set out to get 80kgs off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Room to put some diesel in it then, and top up the windscreen washers!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Haha good one Blanco Well today 'swung both ways' as Mr. Williams would've said. Got the wolfraces fitted to the Rangie, and it now looks almost like a Rally car Now the bad part of the day is that when I tried to drive it onto the bed again (now without an extra layer of checker plate on top of the wooden bed) it fell right through! Of course I knew the checker plate would've been added because the wood was in a bad condition, however it didn't look that bad, except for the fact that some fungi? was living in it, and this eventually made it absolutely worthless! Anyway not all bad, now I can easily get access to service the prop, lubricate the brake-load-level thing and change the oil in the diff. And it'll sport a new bed-floor, just picked up the pieces, tomorrow will be a busy day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Re second hand ropes - personally I wouldn't touch with a barge pole as you have no idea how abused they are. Re ali bonnet - I think LR started out trying to make them in ali but the front corners kept on splitting in the press so they gave up and made them out of steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Been a busy day. as predicted, and now I'm tired! Started by ripping off all the old wood on the bed, was an extremely tough job, good exercise for me 'guns' though Then all the old bolts and various forms of crut was removed: Then came time to lay the new floor! have only fastened the first five boards to the bed. as my brother had the obvious though quite brilliant idea of making the center section removable, thus saving weight when I'm only running around with a car on the back. Furthermore it eases driveline/exhaust/brake service, like tenfold! Complete bed: So tomorrow is loading up the Rangie and going to the weighing station! For now I just want to have a rest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hey that chassis and subframe don't look bad though, on a UK truck you would have had another day welding and rust killing! are you thinking of putting the wheel-arches back to save the lovely new timber or is that now part of the 'diet' ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hehe trust me mate, we Danes are in a no better position than you when it comes to rust! The only reason why this thing is in such a relatively good nick, is because a previous owner spent about 2000£ on rust repair! You see we have the weirdest of arrangements when it comes to road-salting.. The amount you spend the previous year determines the amount you get this year. So last year when both our countries and all of Europe was blistering cold for ages they spend tons and tons of salt. This year however, where there is only rain and even more rain, they don't use any salt! So by Monday when its supposed to turn into freezing temps again I bet you they will be pouring salt on the road like there was no tomorrow! Otherwise they will get none next year and who knows how the weathers gonna be then? And the wheelarches are fitted again, they really don't weigh enough to be worth discarding, and they keep the guys in uniforms happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Good news, good news! Just been at the scales with the whole thing and all in all I have removed 60kgs MORE than I had estimated, for a total of 260kgs. So this is way nice and I'm a happy chappy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Just to check on the obvious... it is now underweight?? I presume that would be 3t5 or 3500kg?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Nah mate not exactly underweight, still heavier than it ought to be. But I was able to remove more than I had hoped. You see the first 7% of overweight you don't get fined for, and that's 7% of the totalweight or 'laden weight' if you want. That comes to 3745kg and I'm at 3720kg, but would of course much prefer to be within the law, am an abiding citizen of my country after all But am afraid I'll never get there with the Rangie body still on this thing and seeing its history I'll hate to have it any other way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 A bit of news on this thing, as I'm going to use it for a bit of fun on Saturday I dug it out of its hibernation. Started by bleeding the clutch which had mysteriously gotten some air in the system by standing still? Probably a sign of something rubber letting go, oh how I hate hydraulic clutches maybe I should convert it to mechanical like on the 80" Anyways after this was done I changed the starter motor for a, not perfect, but less defect unit Then I removed another 40 kilos from it, ditched the doors again and aiming on doing some tube thing for the door hole instead. And stripped the bonnet from no less than 8kgs! I know it looks a bit 'boyracer' with the Ali mesh, but it really is light compared to the steel it replaces. And it'll only help the cooling on the hot summerdays (if they ever come ) And since my fleet was gathered again (bar the Bike) I took a picture just for the heck of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 When you managed to break something you know its been a good weekend! had a very 'interesting' situation with the front end halfway down into a great big washed out hole. The Rangie was dangling just on the ragged edge so had to use the front locker which I generally never do with all the weight on the front axle. Well just as I got out of the situation I blew one of the 10 spline short shafts that goes from the driveflange to the CV. A point I had hoped to be the weakppoint before blowing the stock CV's and at least this time it proved to be just that But it happened just as we were done driving so I decided to fix it when I got home, and on the bed of the Merc it's the perfect height for axle repairs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanco Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 And after all EP90 is just what the new deck needed as a weather proof coating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Pulled the Rangie back in to do some more stripping today, if I continue this way I might just have the lightest RRC on the planet Removed 14kgs today, and as always nothing essential was removed, in fact I think looks much better now tbh. Removed the rear bulkhead, giving it a more simple and "racey" look: And along with that a nice Ali box that contained some spare parts and some special tools for field repairs. All of these were or course relocated to elsewhere on the vehicle as they are nice to have along. There was just a huge amount of unused realestate in that box: Also, in the engine compartment I removed the two battery trays from inside the fenders, they weren't to any use no more, boy was that an annoying job to cut out with an anglegrinder! Next I have been considering changing the quite heavy chequer plate in the bed for some mesh. Not only for the weight, but all the bed seem to do is collect heaps of mud, my thought was that most of that would fall through the mesh instead, but not sure about doing it, anybody have any experience with a mesh bed floor? Is it just too annoying that small stuff might fall through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 You could always lie a light canvass screen over the mesh if you wanted to hold smaller items? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Plastic PAS bottle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 You could always lie a light canvass screen over the mesh if you wanted to hold smaller items? Yeah that might be a good idea, should I get tired of the holes I could always roll some canvas over it. However there might not be much weight to be gained with all this compared to the Ali chequer plate, hmm.. Plastic PAS bottle? Have thought about that, but I don't have a plastic bottle so not able to check how much weight difference there is, the tin one is awfully thin, so there might not be much to gain. But anyways the plastic bottles are so much nicer, so a worthy upgrade regardless. So might just do that if I stumble upon a cheap one In fact I would love to have a PAS pump with build in reservoir, would save me much more weight because I could get rid of some of all those hoses and brackets. However I would have to fab up a new mount somewhere else on the engine to fit such a pump. Blimey I haven't been this focused on weight saving since I build a Classic Race Bike 8 years ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Chop the rear arches out and re-make with thin ali, they do weigh a bit. Is there any underseal left on the body? This SOON adds up.... same for the stuck on sound proofing in the footwells and bulkhead etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 A great idea changing all the innards of the rear arches with thin Ali, actually they are quite rusty and not really big enough for my tyres, so they're not really in that great condition anyways. However thin Ali isn't all that great for the arches themselves as it isn't very strong, but my brother has a various plastic arches from trucks floating about, might be able to find some suitable ones there and fit them with Ali surrounding them, cutting out most of the steel. I'm just afraid it might weaken the body sides quite a lot rendering them prone to bending in. Anyways will have to do something about the rusty arches sometime, so probably an upgrade then. Today I've finished off the job from yesterday, moved the compressor further inboard so it sits better protected and within my reach. As you can see on the picture I use a gauge for filling the tyres to feed the solenoid for the locker, this way I can just screw it off with my fingers and onto a wheel when they need air, of course I won't be able to use my locker then, but you sort'a can't both drive an air up your tyres at once anyhow As you can also see on the picture I've bend up a piece of 5mm round stock to hold the brakefluid container for the handbrake, previously this was bolted to the Ali box. And of course there are certain commodities that you need to have within your reach, so the homemade container for my beverages was moved from the Ali box to the gearbox tunnel. need a place to store my nice cold Monster when out crawling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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