42110 - Land Rover Defender - MODs and Improvements

[Some Belgian LEGO Fan]

2 hours ago, Go-Kart said:

Isn't this causing a negative Ackerman geometry?

I like the foldable seats!

Thanks!

With the steering rack in front of the axle, the steering link pivot point needs to be on the outside of the wheel pivot point in order to obtain Ackermann geometry.

With the steering rack behind the axle, the steering link pivot point needs to be on the inside of wheel pivot point in order to obtain Ackermann geometry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry

The steering link pivot point being farther ouside than the wheel pivot point is the reason the steering link touches the inner edge of the rim.

The first option, as proposed in this topic, needs the long toothed beam.

The second option needs the short toothed beam, as included in the set, but with a reduced subframe width between the steering links, which is not worked out yet for this set as far as I know. It might not even be worth the effort since the friction against the rim is minimal.

[Some Belgian LEGO Fan]

As for my first attempt to motorize the Defender.

First the succeeded part. The above mentioned steering mod can relatively easy be motorized:

The steering ratio is good and teering works quite well this way.
The interior steering wheel follows nicely, but can off course no longer serve to operate the steering, nor can the steering HOG.

There is a structural downside: because of the added steering servo, the 3 stud wide floor plate needs to be replaced by something 2 stud wide on the driver's side. Also, the servo should be part of the structure in order to repair the chassis regidity.

 

The driving function is still work in progress. I first tried to put an XL motor under the bonnet. The cranckshaft and the pistons need to be removed.

I would have preferred to install the motor in the middle of the engine bay, but couldn't find a way to get the steering column out of the way, so I mounted the motor 1 stud to the passenger side.

As a result, the drive shaft needed to come out of the center console also 1 stud to the passenger side. To achieve that, the beam with the Lo-Hi sticker needs to be moved 2 studs to the back.

The easier solution would have been to remove the steering column and mount the motor in the center.

But that is not the problem. The problem turns out to be the gearing that is all wrong for the motor. There is more cracking than moving. I think the path from the motor to the wheels is simply too long.

Another minor issue is that the XL motor in the front, requires the double red suspension and I don't have those in spare.

My next attempt to motorize the drive, will consist of disconnecting or removing the 4-speed gear box and only leave the D-R and Lo-Hi functionality. In that case, the XL motor can be mounted in the center console, in the middle between the 4 seats.

Another possibility is to omit the center diff and all the shifters and gear boxes and put 2 XL motors in the center console. One to drive the front wheels and one to drive the rear wheels.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Some Belgian LEGO Fan

[Leanderv]

I made some roof rack changes with the idea that nothing should be attached to the roof itself like the original model but only the rack. I've made this virtual at the moment and I'll update the post if the additional parts arrive and mounted.

I added 4 root lights with the intention to add leds to them. For this the middle cross needs to be free for the wire.

I added 2 fuel can's inspired by the cans on the trailer of Tonyst4rk80 and the defender pictures where the fuel cans are mounted on their back.

Modified dismounted roof rack:

With the case and plates removed you can see it's all attached tot he rack instead of the defender roof. Note that the fuel cans are fixed in place by 2 studs so they don't fall out when the car flips 

Detail of the empty middle cross to feed the led wires.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Ill post the .io file when i confirmed the parts work.

[4x4mods]

Has anyone done a lift on their land rover?

[JonathanM]

On 2/6/2020 at 12:30 PM, jb70 said:

I have redesigned the front axle and integrated Ackermann steering. To do this I needed to reverse the steering rack from rear to front. As result I could even remove some gears and simplified the steering. It works pretty fine:

<snip>

I plan to add this feature to Pimp up my Land Rover in the next weeks. 

An alternate Ackermann that is behind the axle instead of in front is below. This is the minimal change I could think of from the original axle, and doesn't have the rubbing issues that the version in Pimp up my Land Rover v1.3. Basically remove the 9L beam, replace the 5L axles with stops with 4L then there's room to put the ball joints one stud further in. The 3x3 T pieces give a flat surface to run against the perpendicular connectors. Also need to replace the 5L half beams with cross axle holes at the end of the suspension arms with a single 5L half beam using 1.5L pins.

Jonathan

[Some Belgian LEGO Fan]

I made the bodywork easy to remove (without following the mod guide). I wanted the seats to stay on the chassis, and not in the bodywork.

There are 10 pins connecting the bodywork to the chassis (indicated in red). I added a 'door stop' to prevent the trunk from opening inwards (indicated in green), and reinforced the connection between the front arches and the doorstep.

Two half-height 5L beams click into the 5x7 frames I used to reinforce the front part of the chassis.

The rear seats still fold, but less far if the bodywork is mounted because of the B-pillars.

For motorisation, I removed the whole gearbox and made a low-high gear and lockable center diff in the center console. The center console still needs to be finished.

For the steering, my final idea was to put the servo motor where the cranck shaft was.

It works and drives really well, even faster than I expected. The steering wheel is still turning and the front suspension can handle the weight of the servo without modification.

The rear suspension is now oriented straith up instead of slightly inwards, to make room for the battery pack. This also makes it a little firmer which is good for the added weight.

I hope to finish the center console soon...

Edited August 28, 2020 by Some Belgian LEGO Fan
Typos

[4x4mods]

Has anyone performed a lift on their land rover???

[nerdsforprez]

I think you have asked this about a half dozen times already.  Not quite sure if asking, asking and asking again is producing the result you want.....

[Bartybum]

5 hours ago, 4x4mods said:

Has anyone performed a lift on their land rover???

If it was a no before, it'll be a no now

[Some Belgian LEGO Fan]

Like on most cars, a dreployable tow bar is available on the real life version of the Defender. I tried to replicate this feature for the lego version.

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/design.page?idModel=140729

Video

 

[alademann]

I've finished getting rid of the silly looking inline 6, put in a V6 with @Edward011778's intake manifold, and added my own intercooler. Think I'm done with the engine compartment! 

[SimonCK]

Nice engine bay there Alademann.  Can I ask, did you manage to keep the steering connection to the interior steering wheel?  When I put a v6 in mine I had to lose that steering link. 

By the way, for anyone with issues getting the gearbox to run smoothly I found 2 things helped hugely:

1. reversing the front and rear diffs.  My car worked well when pushed backwards but far more friction when pushed forwards for some reason.  Reversing the diffs cured this.

2. Swapping out the inline 6 for the old fashioned technic v6 which is much smoother. 

[thekoRngear]

32 minutes ago, SimonCK said:

 

1. reversing the front and rear diffs.  My car worked well when pushed backwards but far more friction when pushed forwards for some reason.  Reversing the diffs cured this.

 

After reversing the front and rear diffs, when the vehicle moved forward the cracking transferred to when moving it backwards, right? Or, are you saying reversing the diffs completely removed the friction either moved forward or backward?

[SimonCK]

Reversing the diffs transferred the cracking / tension issue to pushing backwards which is preferable for me because usually I want to push it forwards.  Pushing backwards should use reverse gear which I think isolates the gearbox. 

[alademann]

On 5/22/2020 at 8:01 AM, SimonCK said:

Nice engine bay there Alademann.  Can I ask, did you manage to keep the steering connection to the interior steering wheel?  When I put a v6 in mine I had to lose that steering link. 

By the way, for anyone with issues getting the gearbox to run smoothly I found 2 things helped hugely:

1. reversing the front and rear diffs.  My car worked well when pushed backwards but far more friction when pushed forwards for some reason.  Reversing the diffs cured this.

2. Swapping out the inline 6 for the old fashioned technic v6 which is much smoother. 

@SimonCK yes - the steering connection remains intact with a few minor modifications. Use a longer axle parallel to the ground, and a shorter axle angled connecting the two u-joints near the cab.

[alademann]

On 5/2/2020 at 1:05 PM, 4x4mods said:

Has anyone performed a lift on their land rover???

@4x4mods its not a lift, but I did add a third shock absorber to the rear and added more support to reduce the amount of tension on the axle(s) used to connect the springs. Makes it sit up much nicer; doesn't "sag" in the back. Note: I also used two red shocks on the front axle as well - instead of one red and one gray.

 

[Cappy21]

 

a few mods to may land rover

- v6 engine with moving fan

- redesigned the winch so you dont need access to engine bay

- added side steps for looks

- added exhaust pipes witch from front to the rear

- added tow bar

- added front bumber with lights

- added roof rack with lights

Edited June 12, 2020 by Cappy21

[LegoHoops]

Finally got my Land Rover finished - using Pimp my Land Rover and few other mods.

-Bull-bar with lights

-Removal of Blue 3L Pins and replaced with Black, looks much better especially around the guards.

-Roof-line finished in full white, fully removed the line of Light Bluish-Grey and replaced with a few White Technic, Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Pin Hole.

Also moved the ladder over to line up with Olive-Green pillar, bugged me that it was off-set by one stud.

Edited June 27, 2020 by LegoHoops

[Big Roy]

Hey am trying find a tips or instruction to make right hand side for steering, it feel wrong for me to build on left side ? 

 

[Magical Duck]

6 hours ago, Big Roy said:

Hey am trying find a tips or instruction to make right hand side for steering, it feel wrong for me to build on left side ? 

 

Unfortunately the chassis is not very symmetric, so the only way to incorporate RHD would be to rebuild the thing from scratch and mirror the instructions..

[thekoRngear]

Great mods keep coming 

Edited July 24, 2020 by thekoRngear

[Big Roy]

On 10/29/2019 at 7:40 AM, Bricktrain said:

with control plus

Is there in instruction or u got instructions in process? ? 

[CannonballCO]

On 5/27/2020 at 8:51 AM, alademann said:

@4x4mods its not a lift, but I did add a third shock absorber to the rear and added more support to reduce the amount of tension on the axle(s) used to connect the springs. [...]

Hi @alademann any chance you could please upload a few more pictures of that rear suspension mod, from different angles? I came in from the dark ages last year, have recently started learning Stud.io, and would like to attempt to incorporate that mod on @jb70's "Pimp up my Land Rover" collection. If I can accomplish this task I will gladly return the io file to this forum.

[R4ph]

Hi everyone,

I finished the 1st steps of my modifications , some of it inspired by design found here :

-Bullbar, some great designs here however I wasn't a fan of the lights sticking it and the bullbar not being fully linked, both points that I corrected

-Roof lights, easy design and easy to implement

-Snorkel, very easy to implement with small mods

-Front protection cables, easy add-on

-Twin Exhaust on each side, new design, very easy to add.

-New support for traction mats, so they are now fixed and don't fall over anymore when manipulating the defender

If anyone is intesterested by the cad files to do the mods, let me know.

The next stage will be a mod of the engine, with a V6

[CannonballCO]

12 minutes ago, R4ph said:

Hi everyone,

I finished the 1st steps of my modifications , some of it inspired by design found here : [...]

Wow that is beautiful. I would love the digital file for review. Thank you for offering.

On 5/27/2020 at 8:51 AM, alademann said:

@4x4mods its not a lift, but I did add a third shock absorber to the rear and added more support to reduce the amount of tension on the axle(s) used to connect the springs.[...]

[...]

Well I'm in shelter-in-place mode and needed a break from work so I got started. @alademann if you are willing, this is what is unclear to me (below). Of course if you already have a solid model, if you are willing to share that would be much appreciated.

In the image,

1. Can't quite figure out what you've done on the back side; this is where pictures would help the most.
2. This is the old front mount, it will be removed.
3. jb70's mod has a axle 5 preventing a blue pin here, I will figure that out...
4. Haven't done the other side yet.

Thanks for any & all hints.

Edited July 16, 2020 by CannonballCO
Added Request