By MikeS - 3 Apr 2012
Finally got the RRS registered with the local authority (VicRoads) on Monday, so BV55 YZE now has a new identity here in Melbourne and I can finally drive it round legally.
Imagine my surprise when the plates handed over to me were YZE 481 :cool:
Off to join the LR Owners Club of Victoria later this week and then go on our first trip into the countryside over the bank holiday weekend, so with any luck it'll be muddy by the end of the weekend :D We then plan to start getting out and about, camping and just generally exploring. SWMBO wants us to hire a camper trailer fairly soon, so I'll need to make a few mods to the wiring for the electric trailer brakes they have here.
Anyway, excuse the legs but as you can see, I was ever so slightly happy when a friend took this photo on Monday evening, as I tightened the roof rack mountings back up. Yes Dave, it'll now be running around with the rack attached, no more nakedness for this car ;) |
By davezrx - 3 Apr 2012
well done mike
nice to see it fully kitted ;)..... so will soon be mucky again then:D ...i will have the cleanist one again :w00t:
not jealous at all :hehe::hehe:
|
By L18OYD - 4 Apr 2012
Hi Mike
Glad the Australian authorities took into consideration your YZE requirement!
I know you mentioned it was easy to remove the rack, but just how easy has it been to remove and then re-attach it. I went to the local Kings Langley Land Rover (KLLR) specialist yesterday, and they mentioned it would be a 4 man job to remove the rack from my G4 D3, plus it was not so easy to fit the water proof plugs to the coax radio lead, as well as fog cable. Looked like it may cost me 2 man hours at least for them to do the necessary to allow removal with waterproof plugs.
While it may look 'naked', it does add a bit of drag to the daily commute, when I only really need the rack for those trips to the Lakes / Peaks / N. Wales. However, as my sons are only 1 and 5, they are not yet strong enough or tall enough :Wow: to help!
Appreciate any further advice on the logistics of preparation for "easy" removal and re-attachment.
Lloyd
|
By adesg4 - 4 Apr 2012
davezrx (4/3/2012)
...i will have the cleanist one again :w00t:
:
Not for long
|
By adesg4 - 4 Apr 2012
The roofrack should not be that heavy to require 4 people. I normally fit the one on my 110 with only 2 of us.
Fitting the D3/RRS racks are much easier as they fit on top of the roof rather than span over the sides to the gutter. You need to ensure rack bolts are tightened correctly to avoid fatigue cracking.
A word of caution about removing and refitting the rack too often.
http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic53587-15.html
|
By MikeS - 5 Apr 2012
Cheers all, it's great to be driving around in it again, 6 months after leaving it in the UK.
Lloyd, to remove mine I've cut the roof light wiring and had 2 quick release plugs fitted, these can then be shoved inside the roof rail for protection when the rack is off the car. The UHF aerial cable I just cut on the rack and pushed the other end down inside the roof rail. In the UK I didn't have a radio fitted so it wasn't an issue, however I'll be fitting it up with UHF here for our trips, so I'll reinstate the aerial wire with a connector. I'm not sure about the D3 rack fixings, but on the RRS rack it's attached with 10mm nuts onto a 2 bolt sliding fixing in the roof rails and can be removed with the rack floors in place if I use a narrow deep socket on 2" extension. The rears fixings are easily accessible, the fronts aren't though, so to refit the rack means taking the floors out. Mine is a 2 person job and takes less than 15 minutes to remove, refitting takes about the same amount of time. If the rack's never been off though then yes, it'll take longer to do and sort the wiring out properly (rather than just chopping it). Certainly the 1st time I took mine off I sat on the roof scratching my head for a long while at how it was all attached. Once I'd realised I had to peel up the ends of the grip tape to expose the roof flooring attachments and got them out of the way to get at the roof rail fixings for the 1st time, it's been easy. Main thing to remember is drop the suspension to access height and take the weight of the rack near to the lights. Given the length of the D3 rack having 3 people to do it would be better, one can hold it up at the back. They're not that heavy, just bulky and awkward. If you're ever near Syston in Leicester, call into Armson's Land Rover specialists and see Stuart, he'll be able to sort it all out for you (he's done the wiring for mine and is familiar with the racks). http://armsonae.webs.com/ that's my car on his webpage. Phone number is 0116 3193251 or 07977051769
|
By Cerby49 - 10 Apr 2012
Lloyd, I took the roofrack of my D3 to drive through France last summer (good job I did as some of the underground carparks were frighteningly low, even when the car was set to access height:exclamation:) Happily, I scraped another 2-3 mpg without the rack:Wow: Although the car looked odd, this saving partly made up for some of the huge tolls:crying:
To remove the roofack, I also cut the wiring to the roof lights. My roof lights had 4 wires and I cut them one at a time in a staggered fashion so that I didn't have to disconnect the battery and chance confusing anything electrical:crying:. Once the rack was off, I fitted crimp type connectors so that I can easly remove the rack in future. With the rack off, these crimps live in the corrugated plastic sleeve that surrounds the wires and look like a stubby bee sting type aerial
Mine did not have a CB aerial cable but once the rack was off, I could see the aerial cable, which enters the car on the passenger side and is hidden by the black plastic trim around the windscreen.
The D3 roof rack fixes to the roof rails via eight M6 nuts and two M6 bolts (I used a 1/4" drive 10mm socket with a 150mm extension). Four 2 bolt fixings slide into the roof rails and these can easily be removed/replaced with the rack off.
Removing/replacing the rack is a 2 to 3 person job (one at either side and one at the rear) and takes 15 minutes or so. Refitting takes a little longer purely to line up the captive bolts through the roof rack. The racks ar not particularly heavy, just awkward as you are working at arms reach.
Mark
|
|