Freelander Project IV (Bertie)

Nice to hear. That's what most people find. I can't get my head around the negative comments that have been chucked at Alibro.

The lift will probably shorten the life of the drive shafts (CVs) though. That's not a negative comment - just a price you pay for having the ground clearance.

Diesel Do said:

Nice to hear. That's what most people find. I can't get my head around the negative comments that have been chucked at Alibro.

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Lets just say it's my fault! That's what my wife always says anyway.

The new arms arrived today so tonight I stuck them in and then had a wee look at the old ones.
This is what they look like when cut in half.



I measured the gaps between the wheel arches and found I need to move the wheel forward by 17mm to bring it into the middle. As the gap to the front was 45mm on full compression (nearly) I'm happy there is will be plenty of margin if I move the wheel forward by this much.

GrumpyGel said:

The lift will probably shorten the life of the drive shafts (CVs) though. That's not a negative comment - just a price you pay for having the ground clearance.

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I always knew I could/would be shortening the life of some suspension components. Like you say that is part of the price you pay for modding your car and I don't mind cause I intend to have some fun in it.

I extended the wheel end rather than cutting the tube. Lengthened and braced the u shape bit that goes around the bush

Diesel Do said:

I extended the wheel end rather than cutting the tube. Lengthened and braced the u shape bit that goes around the bush

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Ahh, I never thought of that.
I still think with my welding skills my way will be stronger and safer for me. I plan to put a tube up the centre and another on the outside. I did this before with a wind turbine I built a few years ago and it worked fine.
The gash along the length was so I can line it up again before welding but It just occurred I won't see it with a bigger tube over it.

Doh!

Ah well, I'll probably make up a jig from the other one before cutting it so it'll be fine.

Doing that will be strong enough. If you cross drill the outer tube you can puddle weld through the holes too.

Diesel Do said:

Doing that will be strong enough. If you cross drill the outer tube you can puddle weld through the holes too.

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Yes I was thinking of doing that so it behaves more like one thick solid pipe.
The wind turbine I built had a ten foot span and when the wind blew hard it took some serious abuse. The first time I put it up I had a pipe going up the inside of the main pipe. First big storm and it bent right over so after that I had pipe up the inside and another on the outside and never had a problem again.

Alibro said:

Lets just say it's my fault! That's what my wife always says anyway.

The new arms arrived today so tonight I stuck them in and then had a wee look at the old ones.
This is what they look like when cut in half.

I measured the gaps between the wheel arches and found I need to move the wheel forward by 17mm to bring it into the middle. As the gap to the front was 45mm on full compression (nearly) I'm happy there is will be plenty of margin if I move the wheel forward by this much.

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You could probably weld in the adjuster section from the rear suspension lower arm. This would allow the adjustment to be set at what ever gives the perfect geometry

Nodge68 said:

You could probably weld in the adjuster section from the rear suspension lower arm. This would allow the adjustment to be set at what ever gives the perfect geometry

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I'd thought of that too Nodge but for now I'm going to go ahead with 17mm as that will bring the wheel back to centre. If I find it catches when off roading I can always do another set which are adjustable but I don't think it will be a problem.
I know that perfection on this is not as important as some might think. The last time I had my MGF in for a 4 wheel alignment the manager of the garage said he was impressed at how square the car was. He said many cars come in for alignment and are many mm off square with wheels too far forward or back and some of them are fairly new.
I think the biggest issue I will have is getting steel bar the right size for inside and outside. The inner diameter is 24mm and outer is 32mm but will call in with a steel supplier today and see what they can give me.

I have no idea as to the answer of this, but are the suspension arms designed to take as much force as the trailing arms?

GrumpyGel said:

I have no idea as to the answer of this, but are the suspension arms designed to take as much force as the trailing arms?

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No idea but when off roading they will all take a battering so need to be over engineered.

GrumpyGel said:

I have no idea as to the answer of this, but are the suspension arms designed to take as much force as the trailing arms?

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The trailing arms will take smaller loadings than the lower arms .

Nodge68 said:

The trailing arms will take smaller loadings than the lower arms .

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'Pends on how steep the hills I'm climbing are.

Alibro said:

'Pends on how steep the hills I'm climbing are.

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The tie bar is under compression while moving forward. It'll be fine with a 3mm tube slid over the current bar. Drill some large holes in a four places on each end so you can plug weld the inner to the outer. Then seam weld the ends. Weld it like that and it won't be braking in use.

Nodge68 said:

The tie bar is under compression while moving forward. It'll be fine with a 3mm tube slid over the current bar. Drill some large holes in a four places on each end so you can plug weld the inner to the outer. Then seam weld the ends. Weld it like that and it won't be braking in use.

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I was concerned 3mm may not be enough as the original is 4mm although smaller diameter. I'll try to find something to go inside as well. Like I said before I've been there and seen my efforts fail quite spectacularly so don't intend it to happen again. I'll take a look for the photos and post them for your entertainment.
There's also every chance these might get knocked on rocks.

This is the steepest hill I've attempted in a Land Rover. I was poodling along a beautiful track up the Hanmer River valley with my Uncle (who is the maddest sensible person you could ever meet) when he spots these ravines/gullies gouged out of the side of a hill....



"We'll have a drive up there" he says. I was none to sure about it but took it as far as I was going to go before spoiling the driver seat

This is what happens when you under engineer your shaft.

Alibro said:

This is what happens when you under engineer your shaft.


View attachment 109279

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I quite fancy a wind turbine myself. Although I could get away with a small one.
The power of the weather is awesome, so over engineering is the key

It would surprise you how little a wind turbine produces unless you live in a very windy place. On a windy day mine would generate up to 1.5Kw but most of the time it was only a couple of hundred watts or less. Still it was a lot of fun building it and I learned a lot in the process, I built it from scratch winding the coils, setting them in resin and used brake disks with magnets attached and mounted on an old wheel hub. Once the batteries died on me I sold the turbine and shed etc to a guy who lives on an island with no electricity but I never heard from him again. The design was by a guy called Hugh Piggot.