Tech Shorts 2-More Bits 'n Pieces
- Swing-away spare wheel carrier: This
is a prototype to prove the concept of a horizontally swinging tail-gate incorporating a
wheel carrier. On each side of tail-gate opening are vertical mounting pieces made of
40x5mm steel strap. At top, a 20mm hole in each strap slips over the usual tail-gate
securing posts and straps are secured by the captive drop-pins. At bottom, straps are
secured to rear crossmember by 10mm bolts. The left-hand strap has a housing for a 12mm
hinge-pin on which the tyre-carrier "gate" swings. The right- hand strap has a
simple pivoting latch of the sort used on box-trailer tail gates.
The gate is made of 30mm square steel tube of 3mm wall thickness with substantial corner gussets. The "stem" bearing the wheel is made of 75mm pipe and is welded and gusseted securely to a 125mm wide baseplate, welded in turn to the gate structure. Three knock-in Land Rover wheel studs are fitted to a flat plate on the outboard end of the stem.
A further piece of 75mm pipe is arranged to protrude through the hole in the centre of the wheel rim. This gives you somewhere to rest 60 pounds of spare wheel after lifting it straight up off the ground. After you've caught your breath, it is easy to slide the wheel forward onto the studs.
Tyres are 235/85x16 Goodyear Desert Duellers.
The tailgate is a fabrication made of aluminium sheet and angle because the original tail-gate was in poor condition. The original galvanised steel top capping is fitted. Four 8mm bolts attach the tailgate to the tubular frame with stacked phenolic washers over bolts to adjust the fit of the tailgate against the door rubbers.
- The personalised
number plate: There is one big problem with the standard number plates issued
by the various Australian States. At 385mm wide, they are just too long to fit on the rear
quarter panel of a Series Land Rover. Some owners trim a bit off the ends which is
probably against the law. Others are happy to leave 20mm of plate protruding beyond the
galvo capping which looks awful and is prone to damage.
I looked up the Queensland Transport personalised plates website where I discovered that I could have a US sized plate, at a price, measuring just 300mm wide by 150mm high and in a choice of colours. This fitted very neatly. The front plate, seen elswhere on this site, is the optional slimline type which fitted in perfectly on the front quarter panel.
The characters could be chosen from any unissued three letter/two number or two number/three letter combination.
This is a bit limiting but after a bit of thought, I picked I IA 68.
- The number plate light: This
was just something I happened to have, a cast alloy number plate light from a late sixties
VW Bug. The whole thing is made by Hella and has an excellent quality bulb holder and a
rubber-gasketed plastic lens. When sprayed to match the rest of the paintwork, it looks
like it belongs there.
Last updated Sunday, 05 December 1999 13:33
