Hedgehog - LC100 build thread

[SteveS]

Beautiful work going into that 100 .

I'd love to have a drawer system, but I need the third row of seats. Even a stubby type of top opening box would be better than all my stuff chucked in the back

Yes - I was in two minds. On the one hand the convenience of drawers particularly if we're living out of the thing; on the other hand the additional weight is quite substantial and is a current concern of mine as I'm getting near the GVW limit if my calculations are to be believed. I will need to put it on a weighbridge and see if my calcs are close to reality. A number of the mods will be modular/removeable in any case depending on the trip we embark upon. I've still got some big-ticket weight items to fit.....100litre diesel, 50litre water tank, RTT and full length rack.....so I may need to compromise elsewhere (like leave the missus at home but she is only petite so not much of a weight saving).

Anyway 3 weeks of camping and the drawers are a hit. Given their robustness the secret is to not only use them for the day to day stuff, but also for heavy weight items and things you need the extra security for.

The Left drawer we packed all the non-fridge food (tins/rice/bottles/sauces etc) into and utensils/gubbins....the right hand drawer all tools that were not spanners/sockets and also some of the recovery gear shackles/snatch blocks, hook up cable - still quite a bit of space in both drawers and with a bit more thought for cameras, passports/docs, etc

I'll post a few piccs of the general camp set up in a while - need to do some quick editing

 

[SteveS]

A couple of camp set up photos.

Cooker on the right, food/kitchen drawer on the left to allow access without moving the Coleman. The water carrier will eventually go and there will be pumped water on a tap on the left of the drawers, along with 12v Anderson for camp power and I may pipe in a remote air-line from the compressor to there too. Water filters and pump will probably be on that side of the drawers but haven't given that too much though yet.

I have a 2.8m wide Hannibal awning which is nice but it is very heavy so as part of the weight saving I thought that I would try the simple Outlast awning you see here. More conveniently mounted over the cooking area. The RTT will come out on the RHS/drivers side and will also provide a bit of shelter and a spare 'room' under if the weather is really bad as an option. The Outlast works pretty well in this configuration and provides ample seating space for two.

View attachment _MG_3554 low res.jpg

 

[stumog]

I really like the checker plate step for the vertical challenged people.
100 looks really nice.
Stu

 

[SteveS]

Xmas has come early

So the long ranger tank, OEM fitting kit, rack and some ancillary pieces have arrived today. Photos below. The tank provides an additional 122 litres of diesel and 55 litres of water with the fitting kit providing switches, pipes, filler neck, gauges, solenoids, senders etc. The tank alone has an empty weight of 54kg so is going to take some effort to install.....for which I'll be getting some help.



I've to give some thought as to where the change-over switch will go - centre console near the gears, and the fuel gauge....which I think may sit quite nicely mounted in the drawer side wing panel and be accessible when the tail gate is down.....not sure it is something that I need to see everyday. The kit comes with a pod to mount the gauge but I don't like the look of it....needs to be bulkhead mounted somewhere....ideas?? Could be on the side of the transmission tunnel potentially. Needs thought. Which sort of brings me onto what to do the area where the "tape deck" sits......this piece of history will never be used and thus the real estate is a waste, but some of the switches in that area need to be retained.....again needs some thought.

 

[AndyCook]

Interesting tank, look forward to seeing the fitting progress
Don't mix up the diesel and water when filling it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[SteveS]

Interesting tank, look forward to seeing the fitting progress
Don't mix up the diesel and water when filling it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Luckily at opposite ends of the car....not even I'm that stupid.....cue debate

 

[SteveS]

I really like the checker plate step for the vertical challenged people.
100 looks really nice.
Stu

Yes - it is for when we have the circus in town. Seriously though I know it is a bit crude but it really helps with reaching into the back of th truck....particularly when the lowest surface is 210mm up from the original floor and with a 2" lift.....just makes it easier to kneel on the tailgate. Somewhat surprisingly neither of us bashed our shins in 3 weeks of camping. I did slide off the receiver hitch once when we were parked with the rear end sticking out in the road....I had visions of a French car being sliced open like some James Bond contraption

 

[Geert]

This is a very nice 100!
Jealous... I "only" have an 80
We made a 3 month trip to Mongolia and back this summer. I was certainly 100kg over the max weight of the 80. I guess 3100kg. RTT, sub tank of 85l, 40l water, 2 spare tires, 2 jerrycans of 20l, 3rd battery of 60kg to run the fridge 10 days without driving and to be able to winch a long time... it adds up quickly.
But with a good spring set-up, the cruiser can handle it. And so will yours. Who is going to check your weight anyway??

 

[SteveS]

This is a very nice 100!
Jealous... I "only" have an 80
We made a 3 month trip to Mongolia and back this summer. I was certainly 100kg over the max weight of the 80. I guess 3100kg. RTT, sub tank of 85l, 40l water, 2 spare tires, 2 jerrycans of 20l, 3rd battery of 60kg to run the fridge 10 days without driving and to be able to winch a long time... it adds up quickly.
But with a good spring set-up, the cruiser can handle it. And so will yours. Who is going to check your weight anyway??

Nobody is going to check the weight in reality, although the UK police do have access to weigh-scales if they think the vehicle is overloaded. Also the issue will only come up if you have an accident and the vehicle is overweight and this has an impact - for example the stopping distance. Insurance could then be an issue and pay-out stopped. Overseas in remote places nobody will care - but in Europe, USA then I want to avoid any potential questions. I'm not worried about the cruiser being able to handle the weight particularly as I am working on an all-up weight with a full long range tank, full water, 3rd passenger/guide etc which is unlikely to happen except in extreme circumstances (do I need to have 122litres in the reserve tank in every day use?). However, thinking about the weight that you are going to take with you (every day) the impact to running costs, strain on the vehicle, unnecessary items packed, in my view helps keep me really focused on what is important rather than a nice-to-have.

 

[Geert]

That is so true... We had packed some stuff we never used... But not that much. Like a spare jerrycan, a bicycle pump (in case the compressor failed), too much clothing... but that's about it.

 

[SteveS]

Fitted the Hannibal rack roof rails/load spreaders. Each side has 6 mounting bolts but of the twelve bolts to extract and use the threads to mount the rails, one of them was rusted in solid....so only 11 bolts holding the rails in place. I decided to use blue hylomar gasket paste as the thread sealant to keep the water out - seems pretty close to the original goo on the OEM bolts

The tracking doesn't yet sit completely flat to the roof - particularly on the last 2" - but I think with some load and some bumps this will settle down a little more over time.

Next job is to slide on the 6 mounting feet and put the rack bed up onto the roof and bolt everything together

 

[SteveS]

Mounted the roof rack to the tracking. Fiddly but straightforward. The Hannibal rack has lots of adjusting bolts to take out the curve to the vehicle. The rack sits nice and close to the roof and has hardly any deflection even when I'm standing in the middle of it. The sun roof tilts open without fouling. Some of the supplied bolts (all stainless steel) were too long and winding on a nylok nut took ages. The were some quality problems with nuts/bolts binding to the extent that one welded itself together after 7 or 8 turns - these were temporarily replaced with s/s nuts bolts until the right length bolts can be retrofitted

 

[WomblingFree]

Some thoughts from DownUnder-

My tailgate deck is checker plate aluminium. No problems with reflections, glare or excessive heat in Oz outback.
Watch out for the two check straps supporting it. Water runs down the cables and sits in the rubber sleeve when the tailgate is closed and they rust out. Reasonably common problem here and you will likely experience more rain where you are going. We cut a little V notch in the sleeve to let the water drain out.


Re the winch. Suggest you strip it down, drill and tap a hole and fit a barb for a breather hose. Then silicon the winch body up and make it waterproof.
The breather will allow for air expansion/contraction just like your diff breathers.


I reckon your rear tow ball step will eventually come to grief when you reverse into something. In Oz, that would be illegal anyway as its a hazard and probably in lots of other countries you will visit. We use a little collapsible step.


Sounds like you are expecting the little ARB compressor to do a hell of a lot of work. Despite what the sales guys are telling you, they are not made for pumping tyres etc and suffer badly from heat etc plus no one ever uses a thick enough cable and they melt.
I have one mounted under the drivers seat just for the lockers. A bigger 150 L/M unit lives in the drawers for tyres etc. handy to have a backup.


I have the same model LongRanger. The level indicator does not read the content above the base of the water tank so is a guide only. When you install it, put 20L of diesel in the tank and adjust the float switch so that the low fuel light just comes on. You know you have about 100Km left then.
You mention a change over switch. The Oz cars have a sub tank switch mounted above where you are fitting the locker switch so there's a nice factory switch available. It uses the same gauge for both tanks and dash lights exist to show which one is in use. I'd presume the cabling is already in your truck.

Where are you mounting the water filler? I have mine under the bonnet so no cretin can pee in it. I have a manual caravan type plunger pump mounted in the rear barwork. No electric pump as its another thing to go wrong and flatten a battery.

Good work, hope you have a great trip.
Malcom

 

[SteveS]

Some thoughts from DownUnder-


Watch out for the two check straps supporting it. Water runs down the cables and sits in the rubber sleeve when the tailgate is closed and they rust out. Reasonably common problem here and you will likely experience more rain where you are going. We cut a little V notch in the sleeve to let the water drain out.


Re the winch. Suggest you strip it down, drill and tap a hole and fit a barb for a breather hose. Then silicon the winch body up and make it waterproof.
The breather will allow for air expansion/contraction just like your diff breathers.


I reckon your rear tow ball step will eventually come to grief when you reverse into something. In Oz, that would be illegal anyway as its a hazard and probably in lots of other countries you will visit. We use a little collapsible step.


Sounds like you are expecting the little ARB compressor to do a hell of a lot of work. Despite what the sales guys are telling you, they are not made for pumping tyres etc and suffer badly from heat etc plus no one ever uses a thick enough cable and they melt.
I have one mounted under the drivers seat just for the lockers. A bigger 150 L/M unit lives in the drawers for tyres etc. handy to have a backup.


I have the same model LongRanger. The level indicator does not read the content above the base of the water tank so is a guide only. When you install it, put 20L of diesel in the tank and adjust the float switch so that the low fuel light just comes on. You know you have about 100Km left then.
You mention a change over switch. The Oz cars have a sub tank switch mounted above where you are fitting the locker switch so there's a nice factory switch available. It uses the same gauge for both tanks and dash lights exist to show which one is in use. I'd presume the cabling is already in your truck.

Where are you mounting the water filler? I have mine under the bonnet so no cretin can pee in it. I have a manual caravan type plunger pump mounted in the rear barwork. No electric pump as its another thing to go wrong and flatten a battery.

Good work, hope you have a great trip.
Malcom

Thanks for the advice - some good ideas in there:

Two cuts in the supporting cable sleeves - I'll do that;
Rear tow ball - I take it off when off roading, the rear camera stops car park grief. The flip up steps....I can't seem to get those in the UK unless I pay as much for shipping as the cost of the unit....I'll buy one once I get to the States;
Compressor - agreed. However, I don't anticipate too much airing up/down initially, and I need to keep an eye on weight until I get the major elements finished and the truck weighed....I may have space for a stand alone unit saving the ARB compressor for lockers at that time;
UK vehicles don't have a reserve tank as standard and therefore you have to buy a kit to put in all of the filler neck, pipes, gauges etc. The kit comes complete with a gauge dedicated for the reserve. I'm not sure if the wiring loom has all the wires unused waiting for this to be added. The instructions provided tell you to cut the float arm and extend it to give more movement/range....but the calibration advise would still apply. Did you do the same with your float arm?
The water filler will be under the bonnet for the same reason but my water system will include a ceramic filter on the output (possibly a strainer/filter on input too) to give us safe water from more or less any source. This will require a pump - I had intended for an electric pump, but I'll look at a manual pump system too. I haven't designed the water system just yet - job for the winter

The other problem I will likely get is water freezing and therefore I am looking at having a trace heating/heating pad element lying in the base of the water tank to act as a de-frost: I don't want to cut holes in the tank and there is limited space to do so in any case - Long Ranger said they don't have any experience of that problem. In the high altitudes of the Andes you can be boiling hot during the day and wake up to severe frosts in the morning. Likewise it can get pretty cold in the Rockies

Thanks for the tips...

 

[SteveS]

Here's the detail on the modification to the float arm

 

[stumog]

I am really surprised malcomb has not had issues with the talegate in raw metal. I only did 1 surf trip as had to do something about it.

I like the idea of a breather on the winch.
Stu

 

[SteveS]

I am really surprised malcomb has not had issues with the talegate in raw metal. I only did 1 surf trip as had to do something about it.

I like the idea of a breather on the winch.
Stu

I didn't have trouble in France either - occasional warm to the touch and reflection but the hatch and wheel carrier all play their bit of keeping the sun off or the car getting in the way. The smooth kitchen surface works a treat for cooking. With a bit of bad luck/car positioning the sun could be a pain though.

I'll look at the winch breather idea when I eventually get round to getting one

 

[WomblingFree]

The instructions provided tell you to cut the float arm and extend it to give more movement/range....but the calibration advise would still apply. Did you do the same with your float arm?

My tank was in the truck when I bought it but I'm not aware of that requirement.
Is your factory tank under the passenger side or at the rear?
Our main is under the passenger side and the sub is at the back by the spare wheel. The LongRanger replaces the spare and the sub tank. As such it uses the existing sub sender assembly which mat be longer.

The water filler will be under the bonnet for the same reason but my water system will include a ceramic filter on the output (possibly a strainer/filter on input too) to give us safe water from more or less any source. This will require a pump - I had intended for an electric pump, but I'll look at a manual pump system too. I haven't designed the water system just yet - job for the winter

I use this filter for our water ingest - http://www.bestwaterfilters.com.au/ very good and widely used here. I use it as a hose attachment as it serves double service on my camper trailer as well. Works with colloidal silver so safe to humans but kills everything else.

The other problem I will likely get is water freezing and therefore I am looking at having a trace heating/heating pad element lying in the base of the water tank to act as a de-frost:

Well thats a problem I have never really considered! I've had the water in my camper trailer under slung tanks freeze up at temperatures around -7c and the poor old pump had some 'issues' with that but it was only a problem until the sun rose enough to thaw things out. I just keep the kettle full and boil it now but I can appreciate your problem.

If your heating pad ever has issues its going to be a real bugger to remove/replace, especially on the side of the road somewhere, plus you have to get the wires into the tank. Why not source a 12v heating element and screw it into the side of the tank like a domestic hot water cylinder. http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/hotwater.html

 

[WomblingFree]

I am really surprised malcomb has not had issues with the talegate in raw metal. I only did 1 surf trip as had to do something about it.

I like the idea of a breather on the winch.
Stu

Hi Stu

My tailgate platform is just a sheet of aluminium checkerplate cut to fit. Its in its raw state with no finish on it whatsoever.
Been around Australia and some 90K Km's since fitting.
Admittedly I don't drive the salt water beaches very often and salt spray is not going to happen, but the deck is still 100%.

Another mod I will do one day is to cut some storage lockers into the face of the deck as there is a lot of unused space inside these tailgate doors. Just need to find some sort of flush mount door to fit the checkerplate.

cheers
malcom

 

[stumog]

If tyou made the tail gate from checker plate it would not reflect the light as much as a sheet of smooth Ali.

As mine spends a lot of time on west coast looking out to sea the tail gate nearly alsways has the sun directly on it could be why i found ity a problem.

Hi Stu

My tailgate platform is just a sheet of aluminium checkerplate cut to fit. Its in its raw state with no finish on it whatsoever.
Been around Australia and some 90K Km's since fitting.
Admittedly I don't drive the salt water beaches very often and salt spray is not going to happen, but the deck is still 100%.

Another mod I will do one day is to cut some storage lockers into the face of the deck as there is a lot of unused space inside these tailgate doors. Just need to find some sort of flush mount door to fit the checkerplate.

cheers
malcom