freelander 1 sump guard

hi guys im trying to source a alloy or steel sump (steering guard) for my 2002 freelander 1 and they seem to be like rocking horse poo. easily sourced for the discovery but not for freelander. i know people have made their own using 6mm alloy plate and the frame from the original undertray but i have no welder and have not got the time due to work and family commitments so i have no option but to buy one.
is thare anywhare or any one who can make them whare i can buy one.
cheers guys.

If you're having trouble finding one, can you not take your undertray to an engineering workshop and ask them to beef it up? I don't know if the undertray mounting points are strong enough to form a guard - but I don't suppose there is anywhere else!

These pe5do a couple of sump guards.
http://www.mansfield4x4burystedmunds.com/freelander_accessories.php

Isn't that the outfit that Simon/SES88 used to flog his lift kits through? Maybe he does those as well.

All of those kits do use the undertray mounts, and 2 make sure of the existing undertray frame - so might be worth taking your tray along to a workshop to see if they can weld a 6mm ally plate onto it at a better price! It looks like those plates may extend a bit further than the original tray to cover the whole of the subframe?

GrumpyGel said:

Isn't that the outfit that Simon/SES88 used to flog his lift kits through? Maybe he does those as well.

All of those kits do use the undertray mounts, and 2 make sure of the existing undertray frame - so might be worth taking your tray along to a workshop to see if they can weld a 6mm ally plate onto it at a better price! It looks like those plates may extend a bit further than the original tray to cover the whole of the subframe?

Click to expand...

Yes Simon did sell some stuff through them. I don't believe he supplies them any more.

The sump guard mounting points are well up to the task of supporting a sturdier guard though

wow this is a great forum very helpfull and fast replies. thanks for info and advice guys.

I suspect that the DIY approach will likely be simpler than you think Andrew! Just thinking about it, you should be able to pop-rivet a 6mm alloy plate to the existing undertray frame. Getting that plate bent is the only "issue" - a problem that any sheet metal working shop should be able to do for you very simply?

This is good old Kiwi home ingenuity, so not sure if it will relate back to the UK (there's your challenge ), but that is exactly what @htr has done. No specific thread for it (that I can find), but have a look at ....

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/return-of-the-land-rovers-kilo-hippo-delta.304131/page-6

For a photo album...

http://s987.photobucket.com/user/harveytherabbit_photos/library/Freelander/underneath?sort=3&page=1

A foot note to that - I've added an extra piece to the rear edge so that it sits beneath and is bolted to the cross member. Those to small brackets were to thin and allowed the rear of the plate to be pushed up.

Good mod: I can see that the rear L-brackets for the plastic tray would be inadequate

I have the undertray removed on my Hippo at the moment, and wondering whether to put back as it is for now, or to plate it... but many other jobs to do, so perhaps will come back to this later.

One little snippet that may be a decent bit of advice or complete pants....

If you do plate it up, before you do so put it on the car , take it off and put it on again. Some of them (eg mine!) are right buggers to get installed/lined up - some people respond and say I'm just a pussy, but others agree theirs is difficult to install as well. So I'm thinking that maybe some (eg mine) have been slightly bent or something at some point. If your's is difficult to install, you might like to try another one to see if that is easier before putting the work in to beefing it up.

I would think as well, that if it is difficult, it will be even more difficult with the weight of the protection on it.

It could be of course that my undertray is perfect, but my chassis is f**ked - but lets hope not! I have the added pain of having to line up the A Bar lower brackets at the same time cos they use the same bolts as the front of the tray. TBH I'm not even sure the A Bar brackets are bolted on at the moment - they're such a pain I don't bother some times! Also I'm not sure how many bolts I've got holding the tray on - for the same reason - plus I though it would be a good father/son bonding thing to work on the car one day and the bolts he put on the tray fell off at some point! Such is life

Here's a pic of the piece I added to the rear of the sump guard.

rob_bell said:

I have the undertray removed on my Hippo at the moment, and wondering whether to put back as it is for now, or to plate it... but many other jobs to do, so perhaps will come back to this later.

Click to expand...

I was in the same boat; I had the do I don't I dilemma so I modified mine to make it very fast to remove, easy to access some crucial parts and yet retain some protection such as high flying kerbs. Also as you can see mine had been "holed" by a previous owner or garage so I decided to cut it along the line shown. In fact I took more of TBH. What remains is enough to protect against rampant corn/wheat plants.



Here it is fitted; I covered the ally in black stuff so it was more in keeping with the black front bumper, not much to see I'm afraid.

GrumpyGel said:

One little snippet that may be a decent bit of advice or complete pants....

Some of them (eg mine!) are right buggers to get installed/lined up

Click to expand...

Mine was also; it is those stupid pairs of bolts that you can't get straight access to with a socket wrench that infuriated me and more so because I am used to a more straightforward fitment on other motors which is why I modifed it. Four bolts and it is off and refitting is a dream now cos I have clearance for those nasties at the corners.