It’s been a while since we did an updated report on Project Re-A-Range, our modified Range Rover, so we decided it was about time we covered some of the little things that have done in maintenance and upgrades.  

The Range Rover probably took a back seat while we concentrated on our Jeep Cherokee (known as Project 8K), but thanks to the Jeep the Range Rover now sports a brand new set of Narva Ultima 225 driving lights. 

These lights were originally intended to replace the ones on the Jeep but due to their rather large size they wouldn’t fit onto the pedestals on the Jeep bumper.  The easy solution was to swap the existing Narva driving lights on Re-A-Range with the new Ultimas and put the smaller units onto the Jeep.

The Narva Ultima 225 lights were Swedish designed for the Australian outback after three years of research and development between Ultima and Narva, and have a virtually unbreakable polycarbonate lens that maximises and focuses light output, plus a further lens protector, again of polycarbonate.  These will certainly be put to the test as even on the Range Rover they stick out in the front a bit so could be vulnerable off-road. 

The kit we got has one pencil beam and one broad beam driving light to maximise the light coverage.  We used the wiring loom provided with the lights but changed the end plug to suit the exiting relays and loom in the vehicle. 

On the electrical side of things the electric windows were playing up, blowing fuses, and the rear windows weren’t working at all.  So an afternoon was set aside and each door was stripped and the window regulators and motors were checked.  We replaced the driver’s door regulator and motor and also replaced a couple of the other motors.  Along with the correctly rated fuse the niggling window problems have been rectified.

The standard winch roller fairlead has the rollers held on by small circlips but the ARB bull bar does allow this to be changed to allow the use of bolts to hold the side rollers.  We have had these bolts for a couple of years (or more) but never got around to fitting them and there is always a price to pay for putting off small jobs like this. 

We managed to hit the roller fairlead into a bank and didn’t notice that it was damaged, and the side roller had lost a circlip.  When we went to winch ourselves out it was very much a side pull on the roller and it popped out causing the wire winch cable to be forced on the square edge, and of course broke.  Interestingly enough, due to the cable damper in place the cable did not fly, proving the dampers do work when positioned properly.

Having a preference for wire cable for normal four wheeling we got a new cable from Bridon NZ Ltd (formerly Cookes Bridon) with thimble and connector to hold the cable-to-winch drum crimped on.  We also took the opportunity to fit a larger winch hook we had got from Brett at Tigerz11.

Before winding the new cable on the roller fairlead was removed, straightened and put back, this time using the bolts through the bullbar to hold the side rollers.  Plenty of Copper-cote anti seize lubricant was used on the bolts and inside the rollers.  The new winch cable was then wound neatly onto the drum under tension ready for the next outing.

An issue that came up at WoF time was the rose joint on the end of the adjustable panhard rod.  Over the year’s mud, dirt and general abuse had taken the toll on the rose joint and excessive play was starting to develop.  

At the time we fitted the original panhard rod they were only available with the rose joint but now a fixed bush eye end is available from Mainlandrover which uses either a standard rubber bush or a urethane type bush.  We opted for the fixed eye for the replacement as the rose joints, while very good, are too susceptible to the mud and off-road abuse.
At the same time we decided to update the fixed eye end to the later and slight larger diameter Discovery set up.  This meant drilling the holes in the diff housing bracket slightly bigger for the larger diameter bolt.  To get the drill straight and level we had to either remove the front steering guard or raise the vehicle up (letting it hang on the suspension) and remove the steering drag link.  We did the latter.

We were also going to opt for a nice orange Polybush to match the panhard rod, but urethane or polybushs are not so easy to fit.  Each time we tried to push the sleeve through it ended up pushing the end of the bush out just enough to be annoying.  In the end we resorted to a standard rubber bush.

Again a good coating of Copper-cote was applied to the thread before fitting the fixed eye and also to the bolt.

As always with a vehicle such as Project Re-A-Range there is always something on the “To Do” list and we still have a couple of jobs to do. As we get them ticked off you will be the first to know about it.