 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Home made lifting roof on a 110 Land Rover |
 
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| jocklandjohn Member Since: 16 Sep 2016 Location: Highlands Posts: 62   
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Thought some of you might be interested in my home-made lifting roof project. It's on my 25 yr old 110 (it's an '89 Hard Top retro-fitted with a 200Tdi) I've posted this on a few sites previously, but as this is a proper Defender site there's more likely to be some folks interested in the design and construction.
 Click image to enlarge I've no particular trips in mind - the van gets used for working out of on locations, (and for holidays) and I have been in various pretty rough (and slightly exotic) places already with the 110 in my more than 15 years of ownership, but will be going to the north of Norway at some point soon to visit family, and then in a year or two maybe down to Morocco as well (been there before a couple of times) so decided now that I have a small boy that it needed to be made a bit more spacious and comfortable for three of us, and be able to contend with cold & snow and also hot climates too. Rationale: pitching tents gets to be a pain. I've done plenty of it in several decades of travel, want to be freed of that chore with wet tents and setups in the dark or chucking it down rain or snow. Roof tents are top-heavy and very expensive, and you're outside, which is nice when its nice, but not so nice when it's sub-zero and a howling gale and you've just climbed out of a nice warm van. So, a lifting roof seemed ideal. Problem: expensive. Very expensive. Very very expensive. As of writing this, about £6k to £10k depending on your wallet. Too much for me. And more than three times as much as my (now 25 year old) Land Rover cost me. I gave it some thought and realized that for the DIY approach there is a major 'construction' hurdle to overcome, and one 'practical' hurdle to consider: The construction hurdle is that doing it on the drive at home with limited fabrication space & equipment means that the curve upwards at the back door, and the curve over the windscreen will require specialist skills to properly fabricate the shaped metal needed to accommodate the curves. And the practical hurdle is that removing the old roof to install a lifting mechanism to raise it will mean having the vehicle off the road for some time, which is a problem for me. You also need to shorten the old roof by a few inches (off the back end) if using this method. And you need the means to easily hoist it too, which I don't have, and as I'll be doing nearly all of this on my own it needed to be manageable...... Gave it some more thought and then realized I should just leave the existing roof intact, and build up out of the existing gutter line. Then bolt the 'new' roof to the curve of the old roof at the sides (where the alpine windows are), and bolt through the alloy front and back, and fabricate a lifting mechanism above that on clean straight lines - ie not having to worry about curves at back door and windscreen. I did a wander around the web and eventually found two easily available alloy extrusions that would allow the roof to work - one a Z section that gives a water-resistent upstand to use for the lower section, and the other a long L section to use as the lifting bit. Crucially the combination of these two sections together leaves enough space between their vertical faces to allow the fabric sides to pull inside when closed. The various early drawing are below - the design 'evolved' considerably as it progressed so things like the roof attachment and roof rack design are different in the final version. Click image to enlarge Alloy extrusions for top and bottom of new roof. Click image to enlarge Above diagram shows section above windscreen to be folded by local alloy fabricators after I've fitted it perfectly (!) to windscreen. And a possible gasket solution (I have several solutions all of which should be fine.) Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Bought some sheets and had it sliced and got the local ally fabricator to fold it for me: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge And exactly 1 year later (virtually to the day - started July 2013, got the fabric on July 2014) I got the thing fabric sided and working: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge There were a few design features that I just HAD to ensure were correct: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge But it all came together and we got out and about in it and it worked better than expected. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge I've still got a load to do - more electrical work, small kitchen details, back door stays, a rear awning to be sewn up, and at least a dozen other things, and I've designed it so that I can install hard sides made from Dibond alloy sheets (bought them recently, scratched so reduced price) and the idea is that they can be clipped in easily in grotty conditions/winter use. There is a full build thread on Expedition Portal (the US-based site) which is http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/thre...-on-a-110, which has 42 pages of it and loads of pictures, but I'm happy to post more stuff here and if anyone has any questions I'm happy to oblige with answers if I can. Build cost thus far - just for the buying and fabrication of the alloy sheet & extrusions, and various bits like gas struts, stainless hinge, seals, roof hatch (yacht fitment) and excluding lights, fridge, etc is about £1200. I did some welding myself on the steel bits but the alloy welding on the corners was done by the local alloy boys (and they did the folding of the front angled piece above the windscreen using a template I supplied) and they got paid. Fabric was cut and sewn by local tentmaker/tarpaulin maker and they got paid, but all the rest was my own labour. I would have done the sewing but wanted to save time. I didn't scrimp on stuff either, so Sikaflex and similar was used, also quality rivets, good stainless fastenings where appropriate etc. SO if you wanted to save money you could buy cheaper fittings, non-stainless hinge, avoid the roof hatch etc and cut the cost. I did struggle in the winter, scraping snow and ice off stuff to be able to work was a real pain, but a friend took pity on me and loaned me some space in an unheated but dry(ish) barn that's used as a workshop, which I kid you not was colder inside than it was out. I was in there until April, with three layers of fleece on and a permanent drip on my nose.I wont kid you - it was bloody hard at times, frustrating, swear-inducing, and almost drove me daft (and if you read the whole thread you'll appreciate the events of November were rather unexpected). Anyway, hope this is of interest and gives some of you the impetus to have a go. This was it on location up an estate track in the West of Scotland in January this year working for a woodland charity, five days on my own and it was dry, warm and comfortable. Click image to enlarge [/img] |
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17th Sep 2016 12:33pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324 
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That's very cool. I love home made well-engineered solutions like this.
One question though - what happens when your boy grows taller?? 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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17th Sep 2016 12:51pm |
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| gilarion Member Since: 05 Dec 2013 Location: Wales Posts: 5111  
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That is one clever piece of design and engineering. Very well done.
 For those who like Welsh Mountains and narrow boats have a look at my videos and photos at..
http://www.youtube.com/user/conwy1 |
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17th Sep 2016 5:05pm |
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| jocklandjohn Member Since: 16 Sep 2016 Location: Highlands Posts: 62
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Thanks! Being Scottish and needing to be thrifty - I had to do it myself!
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17th Sep 2016 5:28pm |
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| Penguin Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: Tienen Posts: 247  
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Very well done! Congrats.
But... not all are that expensive as you mentioned  28/02 - Loss of a good friend...
In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. |
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17th Sep 2016 5:44pm |
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| Barneyboy Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Exmoor Posts: 1626  
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Hi very smart indeed,we've been toying with the idea of making a camper also on a budget and yours is fantastic
Paul Tash n Barney |
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17th Sep 2016 5:44pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971 
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I've seen your build elsewhere and wished I had the skills to do it!
OK so which pop top isn't horrendous? |
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17th Sep 2016 6:26pm |
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| Penguin Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: Tienen Posts: 247
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ex-tec arround 7500 euro:
http://shop.ex-tec.de/index.php?cPath=1_14 http://www.abenteuertechnik.de/epages/6211...D%20110%22 http://www.x-vision-x.de/product_info.php?...pdach.html All use original roof. Although.... Shopping in outside UK is getting expensive for you guy's but many German and Dutch popup roof-tent solutions can be found. Ours was only 500 euro. Used to be sold for 1100 euro's new, but currently not available anymore... 28/02 - Loss of a good friend...
In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. |
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17th Sep 2016 7:22pm |
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| Ellisboy Member Since: 13 Oct 2013 Location: Deep South Posts: 539 
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looks great!
Stephen. |
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17th Sep 2016 7:24pm |
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| jocklandjohn Member Since: 16 Sep 2016 Location: Highlands Posts: 62
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Yes if you shop around you can save! But from looking closely at various of them - the build quality does vary. My figures included the likely travel costs to go across to Europe to have it fitted, or trailer it back. Either way it added a chunk for fuel and incidentals. However since I started making my roof I think there are a couple of UK dealers supplying and installing them. |
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17th Sep 2016 8:25pm |
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| jocklandjohn Member Since: 16 Sep 2016 Location: Highlands Posts: 62
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Thanks Stephen.
Aye, I've posted threads in a few places. If you can draw a straight line and measure accurately you're half way there!
Thanks. To be honest it was not technically that difficult, just time consuming. There's enough advice floating about on forums like this to guide you(I got GREAT help off generous members on a few forums). Careful planning, accurate measuring and a clear idea of the pace you want to work at is the key - the HUGE advantage with this method is that it was easy for me to lift the roof frame off and on when I needed to work on it. I didn't have to commit to the jigsaw-through-the-roof until I was certain it fitted, would seal, and the lifting lid did as expected. That was my saftey net! |
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17th Sep 2016 8:35pm |
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| Penguin Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: Tienen Posts: 247
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If you can DIY, it's much more fun of course, but not all can go to a local metalworker to bend and weld metal
I did see your type of rooftent on Toyota's recently. 28/02 - Loss of a good friend...
In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. |
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17th Sep 2016 8:36pm |
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| jocklandjohn Member Since: 16 Sep 2016 Location: Highlands Posts: 62
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Are metalworking shops not that common in Europe Penguin?
I assumed there would be metal fabricators in most cities and many towns. The local shop here was really interested to help because it was so different from the normal stuff they do (fire escapes and fish farm equipment). Similarly the company who did the roof fabric sewing normally make boat covers, trailer tarpaulin, etc and they were really keen to do something very different and expand their skills base. But yes I guess if there are no sheet benders and ally welders you can call on you'd be struggling. |
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17th Sep 2016 8:43pm |
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| Penguin Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: Tienen Posts: 247
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No, at least not around the corner. If you're lucky you have a neighbor like I have, who has some old machinery in his shed.
If you do find one, chances are they only work for a company, not a private person. 28/02 - Loss of a good friend...
In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. |
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17th Sep 2016 8:50pm |
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