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Guy

Member Since: 11 Feb 2013
Location: St Eval, Cornwall
Posts: 250

Can a vehicle's MAM be increased?

Hi everyone

I have a technical question, which I hope someone with suitable experience or profiessional qualifications may be able to answer.

In the UK, is it possible, and legal, to increase a vehicle's MAM (GVW / GVM)? If it is, does anyone know what changes are required to the vehicle and how to go about having the changes checked, registered and approved?

The reason I ask is because I am considering paying to have my Discovery 2 extended into an Australian style double cab touring vehicle. The Disco would be used for family camping road trips and touring - 'overlanding' if you will.

Why not just buy a 130 I hear you ask?!

Well, 2 reasons - the first is that as yet I have not had any real interest for my Disco which is for sale, and I need to get reasonable money for it to supplement the cost of buying a 130, so I can't afford to let it go for pennies on Ebay. The second, is that I love my Disco and already have a lot of time and money invested in it, and I love driving something a bit different (mine is already rare as the V8 was swapped for a 300Tdi), so the notion of a 130" double cab Disco 2 really appeals!

If it is possible, what I have in mind is:

- Increase the MAM from 2825kg to 3495kg
- Extend the wheelbase from 100" to 130" by adding 30 inches to the chassis
- Cut the back body behind the rear doors and enclose the cab - a bit like a bob-tailed 4-door body
- Fit a flat tray back, and add to that a canopy with large lifting side doors
- Plus: long range fuel tanks, on board water, on board air (compressor), small tool chest in the recesses beneath the tray either side of the wheel, full length sliding draw under the canopy, twin spare wheels either on the back of the canopy or in between the back of the cab and the front of the canopy, 4-person roof tent, large side awning or 270* awning
- Replace the rear seats with 2 individual seats with enough room behind to recline chairs or provide some storage, e.g. for a water tank or personal kit

If it is legal, I imagine the Disco would require:

- uprated suspension
- uprated brakes
- possibly stronger axles (Defender HD axles could be fitted I guess...)
- possibly some plating to the chassis to increase strength

So - I open the question to the floor, any ideas folks?

Thank you in advance.

(Polite request - I love Defenders, and I know this is a Defender forum, but if you don't like my idea please don't give me a load of grief, I have asked the question as I know there are lots of very knowledgeable people here, most of whom respect everyone having their own ideas and, ultimately, wanting to get out there and enjoy using Land Rovers!)

Thank you!

DINGO - '99 Discovery 2 V8 with 300Tdi transplant, chawton white. Repatriated from Australia and expedition prepped. **FOR SALE**
SHARKY - '06 Discovery 3 HSE Auto, bonatti grey. SOLD.
GEORGE - '99 Discovery 1 300Tdi Auto, willow green. Daily driver, travel companion, part of the family! SOLD.
PINGU - '96 Defender 110 300Tdi station wagon. SOLD.

Dream LR - 130 pop top station wagon camper.

Last edited by Guy on 25th Sep 2018 1:52pm. Edited 1 time in total

25th Sep 2018 1:40pm

LandRoverAnorak

Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey

Increasing the MAM is quite a common thing in the camper van world, so I don't imagine it would be problem for a Land Rover. My folks had theirs' uprated for a bit of extra payload whilst towing a small car, which involved uprated rear springs and a new plate. I'm not sure how that becomes 'official' though, off hand. 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

25th Sep 2018 1:48pm

miker

Member Since: 13 Sep 2015
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1758

As this exists, modified and plated to about 5000kg gross and a train weight of 13000kg (if I remember the mod auction correctly)
https://goo.gl/images/XHEiZw

Then I'm sure what you want is technically possible!

25th Sep 2018 1:48pm

Guy

Member Since: 11 Feb 2013
Location: St Eval, Cornwall
Posts: 250

Thanks guys (that was quick!).
DINGO - '99 Discovery 2 V8 with 300Tdi transplant, chawton white. Repatriated from Australia and expedition prepped. **FOR SALE**
SHARKY - '06 Discovery 3 HSE Auto, bonatti grey. SOLD.
GEORGE - '99 Discovery 1 300Tdi Auto, willow green. Daily driver, travel companion, part of the family! SOLD.
PINGU - '96 Defender 110 300Tdi station wagon. SOLD.

Dream LR - 130 pop top station wagon camper.

25th Sep 2018 1:53pm

Cupboard

Member Since: 21 Mar 2014
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 2971

2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 HT Corris Grey

I'd love to see that build when you start it!

27th Sep 2018 12:29pm

NickMc

Member Since: 01 Oct 2014
Location: Norn Iron
Posts: 1568

Land Rover run a welded plate from in front of the bulkhead riggers along the top and bottom of the Chassis rail when the increase it on a Defender.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

You must be lucky and have a rare non rotten D2!

29th Sep 2018 4:23pm

Guy

Member Since: 11 Feb 2013
Location: St Eval, Cornwall
Posts: 250

Thanks Nick!

I am lucky (although the more money I spend on preventative maintenance the luckier I get!

), the Disco is almost completely rust free. Just a little surface rust here and there. No rot to speak of.

29th Sep 2018 5:32pm

yostumpy

Member Since: 01 Aug 2010
Location: n/kent
Posts: 327

If your interested, I have a couple of articles I saved( torn out) from old LR mags. A chap down under converted his D2 in to a 120" ute. IIRC he used part of aMazda door panel at the rear of the cab to finish off behind the door. A perfect match to the contour of the body. If you want them, pm me your address and I'll post them off.

30th Sep 2018 8:20am

Guy

Member Since: 11 Feb 2013
Location: St Eval, Cornwall
Posts: 250

Yostumpy.

Thank you. That's really kind. PM on its way.

Cheers.

Guy
DINGO - '99 Discovery 2 V8 with 300Tdi transplant, chawton white. Repatriated from Australia and expedition prepped. **FOR SALE**
SHARKY - '06 Discovery 3 HSE Auto, bonatti grey. SOLD.
GEORGE - '99 Discovery 1 300Tdi Auto, willow green. Daily driver, travel companion, part of the family! SOLD.
PINGU - '96 Defender 110 300Tdi station wagon. SOLD.

Dream LR - 130 pop top station wagon camper.

30th Sep 2018 1:54pm

NickMc

Member Since: 01 Oct 2014
Location: Norn Iron
Posts: 1568

I owned a Disco 1 300tdi pickup with a flat bed for a while and it was such a handy work truck. I’ll see if I can dig out some build pictures if you want?

Last edited by NickMc on 30th Sep 2018 6:37pm. Edited 1 time in total

30th Sep 2018 3:50pm

Guy

Member Since: 11 Feb 2013
Location: St Eval, Cornwall
Posts: 250

That sounds great. Thank you!!

30th Sep 2018 4:59pm

Guy

Member Since: 11 Feb 2013
Location: St Eval, Cornwall
Posts: 250

yostumpy wrote:
If your interested, I have a couple of articles I saved( torn out) from old LR mags. A chap down under converted his D2 in to a 120" ute. IIRC he used part of aMazda door panel at the rear of the cab to finish off behind the door. A perfect match to the contour of the body. If you want them, pm me your address and I'll post them off.

Well folks. The Land Rover community really is something special. The magazine articles donated by Yostumpy arrived by post today.

What does that mean? It means someone I have never met removed the article from his collection (neatly whole punched!🙂), put it in an envelope, added a stamp and sent it to a total stranger.

Thank you very very much!

4th Oct 2018 11:10pm

Supacat

Member Since: 16 Oct 2012
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 11018

2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS DCPU Keswick Green

Good stuff ~ have you seen the Supacat modded Discos?

5th Oct 2018 7:08am

Martyn668

Member Since: 17 Mar 2013
Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 134

Total Off Road, or 4x4 Mag, or whatever it’s called, runs an advert by a company who specialises in replaying U.K. vehicles’ GVWs. Can’t remember their name off hand. I can barely remember the magazine’s name since it stopped being a proper off road magazine and just started reviewing shiny pick ups. To be fair to them I wrote to tell them that I thought they had gone down a dead end, and they replied saying the readership simply isn’t there for muddy stuff any more.

5th Oct 2018 6:13pm

Martyn668

Member Since: 17 Mar 2013
Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 134

replating not replaying. Stupid autocorrect.

5th Oct 2018 6:14pm

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