biggeeeee
Retired - Living the dream
- Posts
- 11,090
- Location
- Lanarkshire or Argyll
The scissor jack and wheel brace supplied by Land Rover for the discovery 3 are in my opinion not fit for purpose,there have been many documented instances of the the thread failing and the jack collapsing.
The jack seems rather flimsy for such a heavy vehicle.
When I bought my vehicle I noted that the jack and brace were still in a new condition
and after reading up on the subject which describes new jacks collapsing on first usage,
I decided to replace with a bottle jack.
I plumped for the tried and tested Discovery II bottle Jack as I was impressed with it
during my ownership of the TD5 and they are readily available 2nd hand.
This would be used for roadside repairs, punctures and the like.
Problem of storage then arises, however in their wisdom the designers of the Disco 3
have built in a spare battery storage compartment in the engine bay and as I had no plans
to utilise the spilt charge system decided on using this space.
I ruled out both of the spaces in the boot area, one where the scissor jack and other where the detachable towbar lives, due to a lack of means of securing the bottle jack in place.
I constructed a wooden frame just bigger than the space available in the compartment and
lined it with thick plastic, sprayed fire rated expanding foam available from Screwfix/Toolstation etc into the frame. This stage is trial and error to the correct amount, when I felt I had enough foam in the box, I added
another layer of plastic and put the jack on top of this to use as a mould.
Left overnight to dry, the jack is easily removed.
The foam that had expanded can easily be trimmed flat and the plastic peeled away.
Purely for aesthetics I gave the foam a coat of paint. Jack now fits snugly in the engine bay.
I also bought an expanding wheel brace and along with the jack handle both fit in the space in the boot
under the 6th & 7th seat.
I have the trolley jack for any jobs whilst at the house, you can see from the picture that the
original scissor jack has a locating spigot that fits into the chassis, to compensate for this,
I also purchased an aluminium billet that fits into the cup of the trolley jack and the spigot locates
in the jacking point of the chassis. This was purchased from a well known internet auction site.
What price safety, Well in this case less than £50 all in.
The scissor jack was taken to the local Recycling centre, I see there are a few on the well known Auction site for sale but my conscience wouldn't allow me to sell it on due to the reasons listed above.
This is a prototype and has only been fitted in the motor for less than a week, but I'll monitor it to make sure all is well and adjust as necessary.
The jack seems rather flimsy for such a heavy vehicle.
When I bought my vehicle I noted that the jack and brace were still in a new condition
and after reading up on the subject which describes new jacks collapsing on first usage,
I decided to replace with a bottle jack.
I plumped for the tried and tested Discovery II bottle Jack as I was impressed with it
during my ownership of the TD5 and they are readily available 2nd hand.
This would be used for roadside repairs, punctures and the like.
Problem of storage then arises, however in their wisdom the designers of the Disco 3
have built in a spare battery storage compartment in the engine bay and as I had no plans
to utilise the spilt charge system decided on using this space.
I ruled out both of the spaces in the boot area, one where the scissor jack and other where the detachable towbar lives, due to a lack of means of securing the bottle jack in place.
I constructed a wooden frame just bigger than the space available in the compartment and
lined it with thick plastic, sprayed fire rated expanding foam available from Screwfix/Toolstation etc into the frame. This stage is trial and error to the correct amount, when I felt I had enough foam in the box, I added
another layer of plastic and put the jack on top of this to use as a mould.
Left overnight to dry, the jack is easily removed.
The foam that had expanded can easily be trimmed flat and the plastic peeled away.
Purely for aesthetics I gave the foam a coat of paint. Jack now fits snugly in the engine bay.
I also bought an expanding wheel brace and along with the jack handle both fit in the space in the boot
under the 6th & 7th seat.
I have the trolley jack for any jobs whilst at the house, you can see from the picture that the
original scissor jack has a locating spigot that fits into the chassis, to compensate for this,
I also purchased an aluminium billet that fits into the cup of the trolley jack and the spigot locates
in the jacking point of the chassis. This was purchased from a well known internet auction site.
What price safety, Well in this case less than £50 all in.
The scissor jack was taken to the local Recycling centre, I see there are a few on the well known Auction site for sale but my conscience wouldn't allow me to sell it on due to the reasons listed above.
This is a prototype and has only been fitted in the motor for less than a week, but I'll monitor it to make sure all is well and adjust as necessary.
