 | Home > My Defender > An Anorak's Utility Station Wagon |
 
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| VVS210 Member Since: 12 Nov 2016 Location: Hampshire Posts: 953  
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Photoshop
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28th May 2020 6:20am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Ouch!
 Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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28th May 2020 7:02am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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When I fitted my receiver hitch I had to remove the folding step that I'd fitted some time earlier, as the hitch clashed with one of the step mounting points. Not having a step has been a real nuisance though and I've been considering all sorts of cunning plans to resolve it. This has included butchering a standard step to make it fit and fabricating something from scratch that could utilise some of the hitch mounting bolts. In the end though, I've gone for the really simple solution of bolting a step to the drop plate that came with the hitch
 Click image to enlarge Because the drop plate sticks out quite a long way, I've mounted the step on its' rear, which necessitated hacking around a couple of tow ball spacers to clear a vertical brace on the rear face. It makes for a much better position for the step, though: Click image to enlarge The whole lot is secured to the hitch with a lockable pin like this one from eBay: Click image to enlarge I'm not sure that I'd want to tow anything with this pin given it's dubious provenance, but it's perfectly adequate as a means to stop casual theft. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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11th Jun 2020 9:08pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Something that I’ve been working on for a few weeks is a shelf or deck to span between the rear wheel boxes. What started out as a simple idea turned into quite a complicated task, though!
I wanted to take advantage of the stepped wheel boxes in the rear of my USW to create a full width flat floor and avoid permanently fixing anything to the vehicle. I also wanted it to be easy to remove and incorporate some cargo rails to provide fixing points. In simple terms, it’s a sheet of 18mm thick plywood. After some careful measuring, I established that two layers of 18mm ply would make up the level between the lower part of the wheel boxes and the upper, so I cut the main sheet to size and then glued and screwed two strips to the underside, spaced to match the width of the floor (910mm). Then came the tricky part. I worked out that my circular saw set on its’ most acute mitre angle would just about match the slope of the wheel box sections between the lower and upper levels. After much measuring and several test cuts on some scraps, I cut a mitre along the full length of both edges such that the deck would drop into place on the wheel box cut outs. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge As I wanted to secure the deck in place to prevent it bouncing upwards, at the front I cut the centre section short so that the two thickened edges just fit under the sides of the recently fitted dog guard: Click image to enlarge The underside of the leading ends were then chamfered to help with sliding it into position: Click image to enlarge In the top face of the board above the thickened edges, I routered two slots to inset two lengths of cargo rail that I bought from MudUK. These rails are 9.5mm thick and I set them approx. 6.5mm into the ply. The protruding 3mm was chosen to match the thickness of rubber matting that I wanted to use on the top to give a completely flush surface. The ply was then primed and painted on all surfaces before final assembly of the various hardware. Whilst 18mm ply is pretty strong, I wanted to reinforce the front and rear edges and so I bought two lengths of 25 x 40 x 4mm unequal steel angle and fixed them to the underside of each. 25mm was chosen as, again, it would project up above the upper surface of the deck by 3mm, forming a lip to contain the rubber mat. They are fixed with a variety of No.8 stainless self-tapping screws, which have all been countersunk into the steel to provide a flush finish. That bit took ages to complete! Click image to enlarge The matting is 3mm thick wide rib rubber. I bought a 3m length, which allowed enough to cover the main floor, the centre section of the deck and two strips to cover both the edges of the deck and the tops of the wheel boxes. The matting is secured to the deck with carpet tape, which is sticky enough to keep it in place but not so much that it can’t be removed if necessary. Whilst the front was secured by its’ shape and the finished deck is quite heavy, I still wanted to secure the rear to prevent it bouncing upwards. To that end, I used two adjustable over-centre catches to attach to the standard tie-down rings. As I couldn’t find any catches with hooks at both ends, I ended up fabricating some out of 10mm wide strip steel and bolting them to the catches: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge I’m really pleased with the finished result. It’s strong enough for me to climb on without deflecting and I now have a completely flush floor with flexible inset lashing points. Underneath, there is enough space to accommodate the usual mix of tools, trolley jack and various work-related equipment that’s easy to reach without being buried by other things. Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 25th Jun 2020 6:04pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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24th Jun 2020 9:41pm |
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| mk1collector Member Since: 17 Sep 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 6769  
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Excellent tidy job
 looks great Ray
My build thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic17615.html |
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24th Jun 2020 10:05pm |
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| Co1 Member Since: 19 Aug 2018 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 3671 
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Yep, very tidy indeed.
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25th Jun 2020 5:06am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Thank you, chaps
 Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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25th Jun 2020 7:12am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17353 
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Top class work, that is very neatly done.
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25th Jun 2020 7:51am |
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| Rosco Member Since: 03 Dec 2010 Location: Burntwood Posts: 1833 
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Thats a cracking bit of workmanship. Puts my piece of ply board dropped over the wheel arches to shame
 perhaps I'll have to borrow some of your ideas and give mine a refesh  2007 - Stornoway Grey 90 XS SW - Gone
2002 - Black Discovery II - Gone 2014 - Montalcino Red 110 XS SW |
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25th Jun 2020 7:53am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Heh, heh, by all means borrow away
 Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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25th Jun 2020 8:36am |
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| ak615 Member Since: 22 Aug 2018 Location: essex Posts: 177 |
very nice job, well done!
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25th Jun 2020 4:35pm |
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| Green Machine Member Since: 19 Nov 2010 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 1226 
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As always, very neat indeed! Great job Darren - a 'simple' and very effective solution, very nicely executed. 2005 Td5 | 90 Station Wagon | Tonga Green
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25th Jun 2020 5:15pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Thank you, both
 Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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25th Jun 2020 6:07pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018 
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That looks an excellent solution & very well executed.
Nice to see it shared with enough details for anyone else to copy. 👏 |
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27th Jun 2020 4:51pm |
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