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Defender 90 pick-up - dog AND kit?


Al Downie
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I've been looking at Defenders, and would love to have a 90 pick-up with the canvas canopy - just seems 'proper'. But I'm wondering what the best way to transport the dog and all my shooting kit would be. I wouldn't like to have the dog loose in the back with all the kit rolling around, so one or t'other is going to have to be secured somehow. If you use a box for the dog, wherabouts does it sit? And is it secured to the floor?

 

Cheers,

 

Al

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I carry a fair bit of kit in my defender though I dont have a dog. I would have thought a dog crate would easily go in the back and am pretty sure that there are secure mounting rings on the floor...I will double check tomorrow when I'll be dragging the kit out. Other than that it may be possible to use cargo straps and secure the crate to the roll bar. I am in Cambridge tomorrow with the Landy near the hospital if you want to check out the dimensions of it, my mate has a 109 so you can compare the two.

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Thanks a lot for that Ozzy - but the wee dog is running in a working test tomorrow, down in Essex, so we'll not be around.

 

I've got a dog box in the estate car at the moment and I reckon I'd be able to find a compact one that'll leave most of the Landy's load bay free for kit to be chucked into, but I was hoping there might be some elegant way of doing it the other way around. I really like the idea of the wee dog having free run of the back, with all my kit stowed securely in some kind of lockable box. The more I think about it, the more I realise that the pick-up maybe isn't the most practical solution, if the car is to be parked on the road at night. I don't think I'd like to leave anything at all in the back, locked or otherwise. And the canvas top is just an invitation for pissheads to jump in and have a carp. Maybe I've been living in a city for too long...

 

Back to the drawing board! Maybe a hard-top would be a better bet after all.

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Been thinking the same thing myself...

 

I really want a 90, but I also want a shooting truck, so the debate about a truck cab vs. a County, vs. a van is a normal one in the house.

 

A county would make sense for the future, being able to take passengers in "seats", but a van would make more sense for the two dogs and camping equipment when we go away. But... if I want a shooting truck, I really need a truck cab, but that means I will need to bang on a rigid load cover if we go away so the dogs don't freeze in the back, so I should get a van, or a County. But a county has seats, so it carries less and the crates won't fit in properly. So I should get a truck cab...

 

You see how it ends. By me buying a Navarra Pathfinder or another Frontera.

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Ah but... ah but... you can stand in the back of a pick-up and shoot over the cab. With the county or the hard-top you'd need to cut a clanger-hole in the top and build some kind of platform under it!.

 

In the last few weeks I've tried a 90 XS, a 110 XS, a Hard-Top and a Pick-Up. The pick-up was the one I felt most immediately at home in, by a long long way. The hard-top was the noisiest and rattliest of them all (and the back door didn't fit properly), and the two XS models just seemed daft - like they're pretending to be cars but failing BADLY. I'll be keeping my estate car for longer journeys and chauffeuring passengers about, but for the weekends I want something I don't have to feel precious about in the slightest.

 

I reckon I'll get the pick-up and find a way to deal with the pactical issues. It's got the most potential for fun! In winter the dog can ride up front with me.

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In the back of my pick-up 90 i have put ply wood across the wheel archs from front to back, creating a raised floor allowing the storage of gear underneath . On top of this i have a triple terrier box and this still leaves plenty room for two labs. also if you go for a 90 with a ifor williams canopy on it you can put a shelf in above the back window of the pick-up which will hold three guns no problem. gives more storage and security than a canvas top.

 

will try and sort some pics for you just for ideas

 

JDF

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In the back of my pick-up 90 i have put ply wood across the wheel archs from front to back, creating a raised floor allowing the storage of gear underneath . On top of this i have a triple terrier box and this still leaves plenty room for two labs. also if you go for a 90 with a ifor williams canopy on it you can put a shelf in above the back window of the pick-up which will hold three guns no problem. gives more storage and security than a canvas top.

 

will try and sort some pics for you just for ideas

 

JDF

 

i did something very similar, created a kind off false floor which when the tailgate was up meant stuff could be stashed away from prying eyes

 

somehow though the pick up never quite worked as a shooting truck for me (its was my dads old one off the farm) it ws in good nick so i converted it, it now is miles better as a shooting vehicle

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Unfortunately the LR is a British icon .. unique appearance etc. and loyal following.

 

Utilitarian with superb off-road capabilities ...

 

Unbeatable within the agricultural sphere and associated business ...

 

Nice to own, nice to look at, nice to customise, you even have a certain aura when driving them ...

 

But ... as a shooting vehicle they are rubbish.

 

The back of a 90 is only 48", my gun in it's slip is 50" :lol:

Hide poles are 48" with second hide poles 50", both sets are collapsible but have the netting permanently attached :lol:

Magnet arms are 50" :rolleyes:

Floaters are 58" :yes:

20 full body crow decoys :lol:

20 pigeon shells and 10 full bodies :lol:

500 cartridges :P

Seat of any description :P

Etc., etc., etc.,

 

Dog box for a Lab / Spaniel :yes::hmm::hmm:

 

Don't forget the pick-up has it's spare wheel attached to the bulkhead and if it's an alloy? reduce your 48" floor down to 40" :oops:

 

If your doing serious, serious off-road work then fine get a LR.

 

If you want a superb "Shooting Vehicle" and dog box vehicle for the week-end get a Nissan NP300 king cab :yes::yes:

Brilliant off-road, standard fit sump and axle guards, separate transfer box (high / low) get a canopy for the back :yes: and stand on the tail gate for elevated rifle 'work' :yes:

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and barn_owl, have you ever heard of the word 'cram'

 

From dictionary.com

cram - to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.

 

I could cram the Cocker in ... but never the Lab :lol:

My dogs are more valueable to me than the metal :hmm:

 

The vehicle that you are describing that you need is actually a TD5 with dog guard.

 

Mind you, I understand that the Defenders and early series Landys are all the rage these days with the uber trendy farmersexuals.

 

:lol::lol::lol:

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frame work for raising the floor, raised by 3.5 inch. to accomodate spare wheel, spades, sledge hammers, tool kit, towing kit. so plenty room to get stuff out the way that doesnt get used on a daily basis this is what i found to be a problem before raising the floor.

 

Made the frame work up to allow a sliding panel to gain access, but just made a few alteration yesterday decided to hinge the front of the access panel to save time and any hassel shifting gear of the top just to gain access below think it will work out a treat

 

post-7404-1246778161.jpg

 

 

On the top easily fit a triple terrier box and also plenty room left for 2 larger dogs (LABS) above the terrier box i have put a chequer plate shelf in with soon to be fitted lockable door. this is big enough to hold 3 shotguns / rifles in there slips which is great to get them up out the way. also work light fitted below the shelf which is great for lighting the back of the vehicle up switched from inside the front cab.

 

Another advantage i have found in raising the floor is that it allows you to use the full load space which give you approx another 6ft square cosidering the size of the wheel arch space which is no go for nowt apart from sitting on.

 

 

post-7404-1246779042.jpg

 

Hope this gives you an idea of what can be done

 

JDF

Edited by JDFrain
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  • 4 months later...

We have the same sort of idea,

 

but made it simple and just a board of ply wood between the two rear benches so the dog use the whole boot,

also gives a very good place for a spare wheel,

 

with regard to the space, my answer is to get a 110, i prefer them and the guns go very nicely under the middle seats in the station wagon model,

and there is lots more space if you fold the middle seats down,

 

other options would be get a small trailer (not ideal but possible)

 

or maybe using a roof rack with a top box on, possibly fit some side lockers in like the military one's for extra space,

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The main issue I've always had with my landys is storage space! The timber over the wheel arches is a great idea, I've done that myself in the past. A 110 crew cab would be the answer to your troubles and believe it or not they're not that much more cumbersome than a 90.

 

To go a step further a mate of mine had a 90 with a metal lid that fitted just below the top of the pickup bed. It was well made with a lightweight aluminium frame and you could walk on it no problem. It was hinged at the front and could be locked to the tailgate so no thief could get into it without a real fight. If you were to made something like that there would still be room for your dogs to be boxed on top of it? The only issue you'd have then would be lifting the top whilst the dogs were in there, but then I guess you could just open the tailgate and reach in because there would be plenty of room to get your head in there if you wanted to. Cost could be an issue. My mate made his own lid and the materiels cost him a couple of hundred quid. It was a really good job though, similar to the mountain tops you see on the jap pickups.

 

Get a 110 crew cab :good:

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