Hi de hi...

Any help or advice for fitting a hiab to a defender 130?

In particular,is it best to fasten the hiab to the new subrame and drill and bolt through the subframe or better to make plates so that the bolts pass arround the subframe?

Anyone with opinions or pictures of similar work please share it.

Thanks Sam Crow

hi sam, sounds like fun to me,
ive never put a hiab on a landy but have put plenty on puddle jumpers & bigger trucks, the method for those if its of any use to you, was to make a heavy subframe the same width of chassis with cross braces & with the hold down blocks for the hiab welded to it, then weld on heavy side plates for which to bolt thru sides of chassis, bearing in mind truck chassis s have plenty of holes already there to utilise & landies dont, definately dont want to go drilling holes in the chassis so perhaps plates to sandwich the chassis then bolt thru underneath sandwiching the plates to the chassis but some compensators would be reqd on the underside of the chassis maybe channel sections that the bolts also pass thru to keep the whole rig seated on the chassis snug
nice project id be interested to hear how it goes

Lots of talk of chassis snapping if picker is too far back.

Would seem the LR dropped using specific 130 chassis and instead use lengthened 110 chassis. Pressure of weight and movement when unit lifted on 'feet' has caused a few to crack and collapse.

If pre-TD5 then should be ok, but if TD5/Puma then need to sleeve the chassis rail. Should find info if you Google it, but here is something on Landyzone...

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f7/td5-defender-130-chassis-repairs-101880.html

James

Thanks for that, I will get a sub frame made up and will post the work as ongoing if its okay with you? that way I can get your imput regarding the compensators? etc once again thanks for the help.

Sam

Have thought about overloading but the hiab is going to be directly behind the cab so in reality the weight of the hiab approx 300kg is equivalent to the extra 3 man cab combined weight for that section. So long as the legs counter the weight and are not causing the chasis to bridge to much on load there should be no problem?!! Thanks Sam

I used to use a 109 hi-ab for work. The hiab was mounted right at the rear end and although was only rated as summit like 300kg I have had and driven with small cars dangling fully suspended off it over the back of the vehicle. I usually used it to lift one end of a burnt out vehicle onto some dolly wheels and then suspend tow the other end without damaging grass or property. Even being abused as badly as it was, the vehicle is still on its original chassis and has no signs of cracking.

Hello,

Just a suggestion re managing the load.

Managed to break the chassis on my 04 130 td5 DC - lots of heavy loads and heavy towing on rough roads.

Fixing was remarkably simple as mild steel plates and normal mig wire did the job (no hitensile steel and strange welding gas to worry about) and access was easy once the tray was off - but there were a few lessons in the process.

If you look at the 130 chassis there is a straight section and then a bend up for the rear springs just behind the back of the cab (dual cab). This is the 'stess point' - and landrover in their wisdom have a weld directly across the top of the chassis at this point - and this is where it will break.

So I would suggest that while you have the tray off getting the hiab mounted, look at reinforcing the chassis at this point.

Another lesson was the variability of landrover steel. The steel on the side of the chassis that broke first and worst was significantly thinner than the other side. You notice these things while welding - but it would be impossible to detect before it broke.

There is also an issue with the rigidity of the tray/crane mount. My tray does not flex - I built it to handle my work/loads and the mounts are compact and rigid - so the chassis becomes the flex. Most 'professionally' built trays have 'universal' mounts and flex significantly and need repair often under heavy conditions. It is an interesting debate as to whether it is better to crack tray/crane mounts rather than the chassis.

Hope these comments are of use

rgds
alanw

Much appreciated, Thanks Sam

If it was me I'd build some sort of frame sat on the chassis then have feet on the frame so all the weight goes through the feet and not the chassis. I'd possibly strengthen the chassis under the bed but I doubt you need to. Once it's in the bed it should be ok. Don't know if that made sense but it did to me.