The tedious but important part...preparing for powder coating and trying to make my welds look half decent. You can also see the thickness of the steel where the recovery hook bolts on. 4mm channel with a 10mm plate behind sound enable a decent recovery. Time to start machining the fairlead...

hahahaha...sorry about that...I tried to resist...honest:)

Thanks guys. I found the off the shelf bars were a bit too "fancy" for how I wanted my Defender. I prefer simple, functional design that has the strength to hack it in teh Aussie bush where any weakness is exposed in quick time.

Finally got the roof rack done and dusted so it was time to move onto a bullbar. Had a look at what was available commercially and nothing was what I wanted so I decided to build my own. My concept was for a steel bar with a centre loop which would follow the radiator/grille lines, take a...

I don't make the bigger gear for others as it is a hobby for me. I enjoy the design and building stuff that suits my needs at the time and that I know is going to stand upto the conditions where I tour. I have posted a couple of my trips in the off roading section if anyone is interested...

Sadly it is frowned upon to refer to our indigenious brothers like that these days, but then again I have never been accused of being PC!!!:D Salt lakes don’t exactly add to the hospitality of the place.. Legacy of previous travellers The country just keeps getting more spectacular…for...

The Talawana Track is another of Len Beadell’s tracks in the Pilbara region of NW Western Australia. I started at the Newman end with the 1st half of the track being a well graded road as it provides access to the Cotton Creek aboriginal community. The second half is what it is all about...

Things have been a bit slow to get started on my rig but are starting to hot up now. Half way through building an aluminium roof rack. Got some more done on the roof rack basket Decided to make my own gutter mount system as well. And plates to weld into the basket which is...

Thanks Ginge. Hope there are enuf pics :)

Having just bought a small turret mill, I decided to raise the diff breathers and to machine a manifold from billet. Slight overkill…maybe …but it was a good learner project and it felt good! You might also notice how straight the "wing" on top of the mud guard was fitted by the...

Thought members might be interested in an Aussie build up. This has been posted on the AULRO forum but I have taken the commentary/others posts out so hopefully it still makes sense. I have actually moved onto a new 130 recently but many of the things I did on the 110 eventually became...

I carry the standard 75L in the main tank plus 100L in sill tanks plus on this trip an extra 60L in 3 jerry cans. Always hard to know exactly what consumption you might use as conditions vary, especially in the desert regions. On this trip I had about 1100 to 1200kms between drinks.

In places the country side was more open Windy Junction is the intersection of Gary H/Way and the Talawana Track. Love the “Visitor Jars” The desert never ceases to amaze and once again, in the middle of nowhere, Lake Cohen Quick detour to...

Pretty experienced at remote travel and carry lots of safety gear plus spares, plus EPIRB plus Sat Phone, plus SPOT etc. Was hot that trip. One day it was 47C under the canvas back by the Engel fridge. Nice dry heat so not too bad. Drink lots of water and save the cold beer for the end of...

They reckon there are a million feral camels in the centre of Australia and I reckon they are right..they are everywhere. There is a lot of scrub close to the edge of the track Eventually it took its toll on my UHF ariel but nothing a section of rubber fuel line and some gaffer tape...

The 4th leg of my second trip last year took in the Gary H/way and a section of the old Gunbarrel H/way, both Len Beadell gems which have not seen a grader blade since they were cut in the 60’s. The Gary H/way starts at Gary Junction. Just off well 33 of the Canning Stock Route, intersects...

Defender owner from Brisbane dropping in to see how the northern hemispheres do it. Just over from a 2010 110 Crew cab to a 2013 130 Cab Chassis which I will do up for remote touring. I enjoy doing my own builds as much as possible and the 110 was an almost complete tourer....the 130 will be...