LR3/D3 Terrafirma swing away tire carrier BS

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

Gord Wedman

Well-Known Member
Posts
612
Location
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Installed anTerrafirma swing away tire carrier on my 2008 LR3.

What load of BS.

These may fit an LR4 without issue but not my LR3.
Problem 1:
the template you use to cut a rectangular hole in the vertical face of the bumper for the latching piece to poke through is wrong. The spot marked to drill the hole for the rubber bumper is also wrong. After making the cuts and trying to fit the bumper I discovered I had to move the holes 1 1/8 inches towards the passenger side. I then had to make a larger cover plate to go over my too big slot.
Problem 2:
The metal bar that holds the 4 captive nuts sticks into the opening where the parking sensor goes. I fitted the cover but it would not go flush against the bumper. Took it off and noticed the insulation on one of the sensor wires was nicked. Put some glue on it. The metal cutting blade in my jigsaw would not touch the bar so I used a half inch drill bit to drill most of it away and then filed the rest away.
Problem 3:
After installing the cover, lights and fender skirts we tried to install the swing away arm. It would only go into the brass bushing about an inch. No amount of wiggling, swinging and hammer tapping would make it go down further. There seemed to be a bit of a Ridge in the bushing. I had to buy a wheel cylinder hone to enlarge the bushing to get the arm to slide in.
Problem 4:
The arm only went down as far as the second bushing but not into it. Had to hone out the lower bushing. Finally got the damn thing all the way down.

In addition to these problems the instructions make no mention of the need to remove some of the gray Styrofoam liner to allow the bracket for the exterior rubber bumper to fit flush against the cover. I used a knife to cut out the foam and manged to cut through the wires going to one of the parking sensors. Solder and heat shrink to the rescue. Glad I noticed the cut wires.

The instructions are pretty poor really. Why they can't provide better quality instructions and templates which are up to date beats me. As an example, they say you can let some gas out of the strut if it is too hard to push the arm to the locking position. There is no way to do this on the strut in my kit. Very unprofessional
 

Attachments

  • 20230521_150828.jpg
    20230521_150828.jpg
    441.5 KB · Views: 56
  • 20230521_151340.jpg
    20230521_151340.jpg
    366.3 KB · Views: 58
  • 20230520_114108.jpg
    20230520_114108.jpg
    398.7 KB · Views: 52
  • 20230521_121535.jpg
    20230521_121535.jpg
    697.3 KB · Views: 82
Back
Top