aevans692

aevans692

Active Member
Hi guys

looking for a little bit of advise , I have noticed that the bk door on my defender 110 td5 98 , has rotted out at the bottom , I dont think its in the best shape , should is consider replacing the whole door ?

If replacing the whole door is it straight forward to swap out the wiper , brake light , glass , lock, wheel carrier .. or is it better to opt for a ready glazed door ?

Is it worth getting a galvanised door (frame) or is this just more expense ?

I have seen the swing away wheel holders , are these worth the money , are they better than fitting to the bk door like my old door ?

Any real pain in the arse problems when swapping out the bk door which I should know about ,... any other advice would be great

Thanks ..
 
With front doors it is easy to replace the lower rail. I did my back door last year and would not bother again as there is a lot more to it with extra struts/ brackets. Rear doors are not expensive for a standard one and with a good coat of paint and plenty wax oil or similar inside will last a long time. My door was off to fit a new glass [ broke it on a gate ] and it was not difficult.
I have a checker plate door card riveted on and this stiffens the door a lot. Helps with the spare wheel weight but if you have larger/heavy than standard wheels go for a carrier.
 
ok , sure my spare wheel is of standard size ..

it seems like a fairly straight forward job , I just need to have it all swapped over in a day otherwise I won't be able to lock her up ..
 
Make sure you soak all the nuts with WD40 a couple of days before you do the job, there is bound to be at least one that wont budge.
 
lol... yeah for sure , if im going to tackle any projects I start with the wd40 the week before lol... I have learnt the hard way ..
 
If you can afford to go galvanised door I would do that. The replacement doors just come with a basic primer on the frame to which the skin is then wrapped on. All there is between the steel frame and the aluminium skin is this this primer and it soon breaks down and your back to square one. That's what Britpart door are like anyway. Don't know if they make their own doors or if they buy them from the same place everyone else does. This is the standard door, I'm talking about. There are others out there with different frame and skin combos.
 
ok , the galvanised one seems like a good call ..

with regards to a swing away , do I need to have the rear wheel carrier holes drill in , are they straight forward to fit ?
 
aevans692 said:
ok , the galvanised one seems like a good call ..

with regards to a swing away , do I need to have the rear wheel carrier holes drill in , are they straight forward to fit ?
Click to expand...
It'll vary from one design to another, but generally you need to drill through the tub capping to bolt it there and it also bolts through the rear crossmember, then some holes through the centre of the door skin to bolt on there with a pressure spreading plate on the back of it.

EDIT
Have you ever had a puncture?
 
yeah , had a puncture about a month or so ago , but I had my repair kit and compressor on board , no great dramas ... Why do you ask ?, you think to do away with the spare completely , not sure that would be wise ...lol...

I might consider getting a swing away first , take some strain off my bk door , might help it to last a bit longer , as I have just realised that the paint shop I use where I match the paint are closed atm :( so in the mean time I might fit a swing away ..
 
aevans692 said:
yeah , had a puncture about a month or so ago , but I had my repair kit and compressor on board , no great dramas ... Why do you ask ?, you think to do away with the spare completely , not sure that would be wise ...lol...

I might consider getting a swing away first , take some strain off my bk door , might help it to last a bit longer , as I have just realised that the paint shop I use where I match the paint are closed atm :( so in the mean time I might fit a swing away ..
Click to expand...
Clairvoyant!
Yes, I did away with my spare. Hand the Landy for over 15 years and never had a puncture. So, I put a standard wheel carrier of the door and made a false plywood wheel. Weighs next to nothing! Then, I put a wheel cover on it. You can't tell it's not a proper wheel.
I've been down the swing away route. Still shook the door apart. Thought I'd give this door a rest from having five stones hanging off it or banging through it every time I shut the door. My rear door does take a bit of shutting though!
 
yeah im pretty sure that having the wheel on the back doors has reduced the life of the door , I will put a post up about swing aways there is prob lots to choose from .. , knowing my luck id make a ply wood wheel and the following week id end up needing my spare ..lol..

I will see when the paint shop is taking orders agin , but with the weight of the spare off the door , I might get a little more life out of it ..lol.. the door looks fine until you look underneath it :eek: ...
 
The bottom of my rear door is rotten. I have covered the inside with aluminium sheet, removed the heavy outer wheel and just live with it. However, if mine wasn't a heap I'd prolly swop it out.
 
lol..

I thought as we're all living in isolation atm , id get some of those little jobs done :) .... Yeah mine might have a bit more life in it once I get the wheel off it ..
 
aevans692 said:
yeah im pretty sure that having the wheel on the back doors has reduced the life of the door , I will put a post up about swing aways there is prob lots to choose from .. , knowing my luck id make a ply wood wheel and the following week id end up needing my spare ..lol..

I will see when the paint shop is taking orders agin , but with the weight of the spare off the door , I might get a little more life out of it ..lol.. the door looks fine until you look underneath it :eek: ...
Click to expand...
Do a search for swing away wheel carriers. There's been quite a few threads about them. I gave mine away to a member of LZ :)
 
I have just seen , a new galvanised bk door , with Galvanised steel skin , which is meant to be much stronger than the standard door , just thinking would this door be fine with the wheel directly fitted on the door as its of a more robust construction ? the standard door prob had the spare wheel on it for the past 20 years ...

i will have a google on swing aways , I have seen brit part ones at one end , and Raptor ones at the hight end ...
 
Last edited:
aevans692 said:
I have just seen , a new galvanised bk door , with Galvans steel skin , which is meant to be much stronger than the standard door , just thinking would this door be fine with the wheel directly fitted on the door as its of a more robust construction ?

i will have a google on swing aways , I have seen brit part ones at one end , and Raptor ones at the hight end ...
Click to expand...
In my opinion the flexing of the door, largely due to the weight of the spare, causes paint to crack and allows water in. The galv door is going to flex in a similar fashion, perhaps slightly less, but the galv layer is more likely to be able to flex without cracking.
 
My 2005 Defender 110 still has the original rear door which has been wax injected when l got it back in 2014.
It has a boost alloy with the standard mounting on the door.
The Landy has done 120,000 miles and the door seems to show no ill effects from having the wheel on it all that time.
The door is still perfect with no corrosion or cracks in the frame parts (l had the door card off a couple of weeks ago)
 
that’s good to know .. I’m pretty sure that mine is it’s original door and has lasted 22 years with a wheel hanging off it ..
so I’d like to think that a new galvanised door would last a fair while ..

Tho I do like the look of the swing away now I’ve been looking at them ..
 
The other thing I hadn’t thought about is painting over a galvanised door .. ??

Done a bit of painting in the past, but I have never painted anything galvanised? , now if I bought a galvanised steel farms and skin door , is it going to be a pain to prime and paint , over an alu skin door ??

Anyone with experience with this ..
 
lightning said:
My 2005 Defender 110 still has the original rear door which has been wax injected when l got it back in 2014.
It has a boost alloy with the standard mounting on the door.
The Landy has done 120,000 miles and the door seems to show no ill effects from having the wheel on it all that time.
The door is still perfect with no corrosion or cracks in the frame parts (l had the door card off a couple of weeks ago)
Click to expand...
Lucky
 
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