Yeah they're made out of 6mm thick steel. They will be holding 7" spotlights further up, next to the VW logo so don't want vibration - making provision for the forces all the more when we are taking the roads less travelled. Learned from my mistakes when I made a custom bracket I made on my Disco 4 back in the day.
Finished up hard wiring of the Victron system last night; that Lynx distributor is a game changer and will now be included in all my future setups!
And it reduces interior heating through solar radiation, no bad thing at all. I believe Ford started this in the 1970s on the mk1 Transit, painting them white instead of grey as the stock factory colour due to complaints about interior temps in fine weather.
Great images, love the elephant! I only tentatively suggested linking brackets to soften the knife or stab, puncture effect on impact not suggesting a bulbar which are not legal in UK and most probably the EU either, perhaps just grinding the corners down might be the better solution. Anything that minimises potential contact with living things really. My BFG AT KO2 are All Season also, a strong motivation for me to have bought them. Other Tyre manufacturers are also stretching the spec of AT tyres to add All Season capability, a great idea IMHO. BFG are bringing in the KO3, slowly, a few sizes at a time. Supposedly they have better performance in certain areas. Hopefully that does not compromise them. They have been a due change, competitors have moved on. Michelin used to manufacture off road tyres particularly suitable for military machines. XL for mud and general use and XS for sand. I still have specifications and sizes in a booklet somewhere I do not know if they even manufacture those sort of tyres now. I use XL for many years 9.00x16 but they became almost impossible to buy during and after the Gulf War and that is the last I heard of them. I do not drive the LR101FC any more and on reflection those tyres where for another age. Any way best of luck with your expeditionary machine. Their aught to be a lot going on and information on some of the specialist German Forums they are great expedition type travellers.What an awesome message, thank you KoB
Recovery Tracks: I agree with you on the shorties, I have never actually used them. My thinking is, short tracks for self recovery are better than no tracks as I dont have the place to fit full length ones.
I have however extensively used and tested the standard full length ones throughout my adventures around sub-Saharan Africa. They work amazingly and the Maxtrax branded versions are internally reinforced so quite strong. They also double as a spade as can be seen in this funny little clip - VIDEO - the Mrs and I share the work when it comes to a self recovery, she does her side and I do mine. In this case I dug quicker and quickly took a video. We got very very stuck in thick sand and tracks that are truck width as they are primarily used by military trucks, Unimogs etc. When you purchase a set they come with a strap that you attach to the tow bar ball so when you drive off they are dragged along for easy recovery of them.
They also serve a fantastic purpose in leveling of the vehicle for flat sleeping.
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Lamp Brackets: You make some valid points there, I will put some thought into this - it never crossed my mind actually as we don't really think about that when fitting the bull bars to our vehicles in Africa.
I like white colour on an expedition vehicle, it works with my tyle when kitting out a car for an expedition.
The bonnet mounted solar panel is switchable, between charging the starter battery on extended stops and contributing to the overall roof installed solar system. There will be 3 x 175W Solar panels installed on the roof + the 120W panel makes for a quick charge on the battery
I had BFGs KO2s on my Discovery 4 and loved them, when I sold the disco and replaced it with the Hilux I also fitted BFGs and hated them. They didnt match well with the Hilux. On the van so far they seem to be a great match and durable too. The EU version of the BFGs KO2 is different to that in Africa, in EU its a softer compound and they are all season tyres. so time will tell on how they settle in with the van.
