Just Downsized to a Renegade (build and trips)

[crossed-up]

Some more pics...

Lunch stop off on the way up to Monte Jafferau

At the base of the fort.

A Hungarian Land Cruiser and various Swiss and German bikers were up there too.

On the way down.
Shot from inside the tunnel that leads up through the through the hillside to the fort above.

Last few pics later...

 

[zb39]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loving this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE post more....

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks zb, here are a few more, before the last few from a bit of hiking in Switzerland....

After all the dust and sand of Monte Jafferau we headed back into Tignes, France and gave the Jeeps a well earned rest and took the funicular and cable car up to the Glacier Grand Motte.

Whilst waiting for the funicular to arrive a heli pilot looked to be having plenty of fun ferrying building materials up to the cable car station.

The funicular takes you up the cable car station

Once up at the glacier the views were spectacular

 

[GetOutThere]

Excellent stuff! Great fab work on your drawer and kitchen set up. I need to up my game.

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks Brian, the kitchen and fridge arrangement worked out well on the trip. Speaking of which here are the last few pics; a hike up to walk the Aspi-Titter suspension bridge above Bellwald in Switzerland.

 

[jgaz]

Love your hiking pictures!

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks jgaz, it was a pretty tiring week. Pretty much we would hike up a mountain immediately we arrived anywhere after several hours drive!

I've been using the car as a daily driver since I've been back and the normal UK summer climate (rain) did a reasonable job of washing off the worst of the sand and dust, making the proper clean up slightly easier.

Apart from a general good clean and tidy up I did an oil and air filter change and a general check over.

All cleaned up.

Now back on to some fabrication. My annual trip up to the Scottish island of Mull is only a few weeks away, so I decided it was time to mount the Cibie LED Oscars I’ve had ‘in stock’ for while after I noticed a ridiculously low price on an Amazon listing. I spent an hour so looking at how I could mount them on the BU without drilling holes in the bodywork or taking the whole front end off and all that that entails. I considered some sort of bracket that mouth behind the number pate, or something that hooks and clamps into the horizontal intake slots, but eventually turned my thoughts upside down and decided to hang a single strut mount from the nice chunky Torx bolt on the slam panel. After I spent a bit of time with paper and card I just got stuck in and started cutting metal and let it evolve.

I started with a bracket that covers the general width of where the lamp needed to be.

Then dropped a small box section, slightly bent to follow the colour of the grill, down to the actual lamp mountain plate. This has a tongue that fits through a slot on the grill and will have a small clamping bracket to prevent it pulling out. I cut the plate over size to allow for some development of the shape.

Trial fit.

Bracket removed for some tweaking and refinement

Hopefully I will spend I bit more time on this today to finalise the shape of all the pieces, then replicate another set. I thought about building the mounts in ali so save weight but I don't think there will be too much material in them one the final design is complete.

 

[crossed-up]

Spent some time today refining and minimising the shapes of the various parts of the lamp brackets.

Trimmed the main mounting plate down and added a hole for the rubber seal.

Also added a fillet where the plate meets the bracket for some added strength, and a tab for to top lamp steady bar.

Added the small clamp to retain the bottom plate. The hole for the M5 bolt is tapped straight into the 3mm plate.

I am more or less happy with the shape and fit now. I will shorten and bend the tab that goes through the grill in the opposite direction to the clamp for a bit more security. I also tries two different mounting position for the lamp in case they need to sit inboard slightly more to avoid masking the headlight beam.

 

[jbeer]

Fantastic fab work!

 

[crossed-up]

Thanks jbeer. I made up the rest of the parts for the other side plus another set for my brother's Jeep as he had been searching for brackets too. I've got them all welded up now apart from the cappings on the down tubes. Once that's done they just need a few details tidying up then painting. I might get that done tomorrow.

 

[G0to60]

Nice work!

 

[texasnielsen]

Very talented and creative. Enjoying your thread immensely. Keep the posts (and photos!) coming...

 

[jpat30]

Just awesome and indeed keep those pics coming. I am currently sitting in here in my windowless office at work daydreaming about adventure

 

[Grassland]

What is your fuel economy on average while fully laden with people and your travel Gear?

Also, was the pre filter on your air filter a stock thing or did you add that? And notable performance difference with that?

I enjoy the fully realistic daily driver you have, withe the focus on daily driving and fuel economy.
Last I was in Europe the price of petrol was over 1.40 per liter. What is it there now?

 

[ZMagic97]

I'm really enjoying this thread: first time going through it today. I love the photos and cleaver fab work. Thanks for sharing.