 | Home > My Defender > An Anorak's Utility Station Wagon |
 
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240   
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It's been an ambition of mine for some time to fit a set Wolf wheels to my Land Rover and yesterday I finally did it! The wheels were bought, brand new, from Frogs Island 4x4 and were delivered with a gloss black finish:
 Click image to enlarge By chance, there's a wheel refurbishment company in the village where I live and so I arranged for them to powder coat them in a gloss anthracite finish. I then took them to my 'go to' tyre supplier, Bracknell Tyre and Battery, for them to be shod with 235/85 General Grabber AT3's: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge I then spent a happy hour or so swapping wheels and with the addition of some Wrington Engineering blackened, closed end wheel nuts, I ended up with this: Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge I am very chuffed with the look 
I'm also chuffed with the tyres. I've had the previous GGAT2's on three different vehicles in the past and always been pleased with their performance in the wet and especially in snow and ice, as they're mountain snowflake marked. So far, these AT3's are even better as they're sooo quiet, especially compared to the Wrangler MTR's that they've replaced! They were also pretty economical at £590 for five, fitted and balanced. 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 2019 9:09pm |
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| 90 Dreamer Member Since: 13 Jul 2019 Location: Oop North Posts: 2050 
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Looks nice in that colour
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17th Sep 2019 9:13pm |
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| MussEd Member Since: 20 Feb 2013 Location: East Lothian Posts: 345  
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Very nice!
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17th Sep 2019 9:19pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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Whilst I had the front wheels off, I also took the opportunity to fit some HD drive flanges. I've gone with generic ones from Paddocks, as they all seem much of a muchness.
As supplied, they have a yellowish zinc passivated finish but as I knew they'd be on show, I spent a bit of time prepping and painting them satin black: Click image to enlarge Unlike the rears, when I removed the originals the ends of the drive shafts were pristine. Regardless though, I greased them up before fitting the new ones, with galvanised cap head bolts and matching spring washers, torqued to 65Nm: 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 |
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17th Sep 2019 9:23pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10478 
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I like that LRA, very smart, just right for the USW
 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper.
Clayton. |
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19th Sep 2019 9:06pm |
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| Sulisuli Member Since: 30 Oct 2016 Location: South west Posts: 4789
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Looking very smart Darren
 2015 HT XS 90
2008 SVX 90 2000 XS TD5 90 |
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19th Sep 2019 9:09pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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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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19th Sep 2019 9:13pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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I've had Dixon Bate hitches on my last four Defenders but having sold my trailer and caravan in the last couple of years, I hardly do any towing anymore. As a consequence, I fancied fitting a receiver hitch, partly for the novelty having never had one before, and partly as a strong recovery point whilst still retaining the ability to tow, should the need arise. After a bit of discussion on here a few weeks ago, I settled on the kit from Safari Equip, which was both cheaper than the Terrafirma alternative and available for me to collect from 4x4 Overlander at the Peterborough show:
Click image to enlarge The kit is very nicely made and was well packed but, like so many aftermarket items, came without any instructions. That wasn't an insurmountable problem as it's not particularly complicated, but the fixings pack contained more bolts than there were holes and it was only after unpacking that I realised that I needed to re-use the two long chassis bolts: Click image to enlarge First job though, was removing the existing Dixon Bate, which was an absolute sod. I suspect it was new with the vehicle and so was six and a half years old, but it looked like it was assembled dry and so every bolt was seized solid. After much sweating and cursing, and the application of a lump hammer, I did eventually get it stripped down but my favourite 1/2" ratchet, which was an 18th birthday present 30-odd years ago, didn't survive the encounter! Anyway, with it all stripped off I could finally see what went where: Click image to enlarge One thing I didn't really appreciate when I selected the Safari Equip kit was that it clashed with the folding rear step that I had fitted. If I'd thought about this a little more earlier, I may have chosen the Terrafirma kit, which is a slightly different design. It even clashed with the rivnut insert to which the step was bolted and so I had to drill it out before the hitch would sit flush with the underside of the crossmember: Click image to enlarge With that all out of the way, I gave all of the mating surfaces a coat of Dinitrol to hopefully keep the rust at bay: Click image to enlarge Then, it was a relatively simple matter to bolt the new hitch together. Every bolt was given a generous coating of copperslip to help avoid any problems in the future and the whole thing was loose assembled before tightening up in sequence, starting with the chassis rail bolts and working backwards and upwards: Click image to enlarge And finally, for the sake of completeness, I offered up the drop plate that comes with the kit: Click image to enlarge I have a recovery point designed to accept a shackle on order, but it hasn't arrived yet. The vehicle is fitted with twin towing electric sockets, which have been cable tied up out of the way for the time being. When I get chance, I intend to install a 13 pin socket in the crossmember recess and a junction box to convert the existing wiring, but I ran out of time this weekend. 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 13th Apr 2020 9:45am. Edited 1 time in total |
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22nd Sep 2019 10:35pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11240
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Thanks. As ever, there's never enough hours in the day to do all that I'd like so I've got a project backlog
 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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22nd Sep 2019 10:43pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10478
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^^^
Same here as well what Sulisuli said 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper.
Clayton. |
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22nd Sep 2019 10:46pm |
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| 90 Dreamer Member Since: 13 Jul 2019 Location: Oop North Posts: 2050
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with the OE step rivnut i simply "massaged" it so it was flush when i installed the NAS rear step...............
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23rd Sep 2019 9:02am |
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| Rosco Member Since: 03 Dec 2010 Location: Burntwood Posts: 1799 
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Looking good Darren.
Out of interest how big a job is it switching to 13 pin electrics? I currently only have the 7 pin 'N' socket on mine and wondered whether future proofing with 13 pin is a worthwhile upgrade. 2007 - Stornoway Grey 90 XS SW - Gone 2002 - Black Discovery II - Gone 2014 - Montalcino Red 110 XS SW |
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23rd Sep 2019 11:00am |
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| AJC Member Since: 30 Nov 2015 Location: Lancashire Posts: 1329
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I have the GG AT3'S on my D4 and they're superb so agree with you on the tyre choice.
I also have the same safari hitch on my Defender. mine not quite a shiny as yours though |
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23rd Sep 2019 1:41pm |
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| Devon-Rover Member Since: 22 Jan 2015 Location: South Devon Posts: 906 
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Looking good. the hitch is a nicely made bit of kit.
The NAS blanking plug will look good too  
https://www.lrdirect.com/ANR3196-Plug-Blanking/ Also can be found on Fb, Ytube, Insta & Twitter @4WDSouthwest |
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23rd Sep 2019 6:43pm |
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