Explorer roof racks
The heavy-duty steel roof rack range from Safety Devices is now available direct from Britpart. Explorer roof racks are fitted using a system of detachable roof cross rails to the vehicle’s rainwater gutters. Grit blasted, and primed with zinc enriched powder undercoat, they are finished with a durable black powder coat. Seriously tough, they are available for Land Rover 90 Hard Top and Station Wagon, 110 Hard Top and Station Wagon, 110 and 130 Double Cab/Crew Cab pick-ups. Call Britpart, or check the website for more details.
Website: www.britpart.com
Having a technical manual in the garage that you try to follow while doing a service repair is all very well, but you know it’s going to get ruined, covered in grease and tea stains probably! The team at Britpart has a great answer to this in that they can provide original technical publications as digital downloads. This means that the manual is very easily searchable, but more importantly, you can print just the pages you need and use without worrying about ruining the book itself. (You can view but not print using Mac OS X. To print you will need to be running Windows on a PC. Do call first if unsure). The manuals cover early Land Rovers, Discovery 1 and 2, Freelander 1, Range Rover Classic, P38 and L322. Check the website for more details.
It’s one thing going into the wilderness on a fabulous overlanding trip, with the intention of ‘getting away from it all’ but there could we a time when you want someone to know exactly where you are for a safety point of view. Of course, in many cases the ubiquitous mobile phone will solve your problems, but what happens when you travel to an area with no mobile phone signal? Globalstar Inc is a leader in satellite and emergency notification technologies and the new SPOT Gen 3 device makes that very clever technology and affordable and simple option for overlanders. This is a small tracking device that you can fit to your vehicle, which allows for your journey to be tracked and regularly update your position on Google Maps. Most importantly, it is also able to immediately transmit an SOS notification, and allows you to confirm your arrival or send messages to friends and family regardless of mobile coverage. SPOT satellite coverage is impressive as it covers Europe, Canada, continental United States, Mexico, Australia, Northern and Central Africa, and much of South America and North-Eastern Asia. For such a tiny unit, it offers an amazing amount of security for any serious 4×4 adventurer. It’s not expensive either, with the RRP in the UK of £150, with annual subscription services starting at £118 per year. 
Exide has launched a new battery charger. Called the 12/7 Battery Charger, it has been designed to achieve 100 per cent charge, regardless of the weather. It works for all types and sizes of 12v batteries, including cars, motorcycles, boats and caravans. Temperature has an important effect on charging and this new Exide charger will offer full charging between temperatures of minus 40degC to plus 50 degC – so they probably have most situations covered. As you would expect the charger has ‘robust overcharge protection’ and also has anti-spark technology in place to protect against faulty batteries and connections. For more details check out the Exide website.
The roof rack cages from ARB are all constructed from hardened steel tubing, with cross bars to add strength and allow for carrying up to 75kg. The mounting pack also includes an air deflector, which not only reduces aerodynamic drag but is also claimed to reduce wind noise. The cage shown here is actually for the Isuzu D Max but Arbil carries an extensive selection of cages (from £500) and mounting kits (from £200). As ever it makes sense to give the Arbil team a call, and make sure you tell them we sent you!
Excellent SUV that it is, the VW Touareg cannot be claimed to be a particularly distinctive vehicle, so it’s no surprise that German tuning company JE Design has produced a new Widebody kit for R-Line series Touaregs. A combination of 22inch alloy wheels, lowered suspension and the new body kit will certainly make the Touareg stand out on the street! And it’s not just an ‘all-show-no-go’ option as there are tuning packages available for the Touareg by JE Design that tweak the engine management systems and, for example, will push the 4.2-litre TDI engine from 340bhp to 410bhp, which it’s likely you’ll notice from behind the wheel! Tuning packages are strictly controlled in Germany and all these modifications come with the necessary TÜV certificates. The company has a very comprehensive website, all in English.
Finding a mobile fridge freezer that suits you both in size and cost is one thing, but you have to be sure that it can be connected correctly to your vehicle. ARB now has a variety of new power accessories to cater for a wide variety of installation types and is claimed to make sure that the electric performance of both the vehicle and the fridge is maximised. The one thing that you do not want is a voltage drop while the fridge is keeping those beers cool for when you finish driving! To this end, there’s a new DC Wiring Kit, DC Threaded Socket set and 12/24V DC Plug available. Produced by ARB, the quality will be high and is available in the UK at Arbil.
It’s fair to say that standard original Land Rover headlamps are not that powerful… even the latest models use conventional reflector lenses according to specialists Ring Automotive. To improve matters, Ring has produced a seven inch Complex Surface Reflector headlamp which means that owners can make a simple replacement and actually see where they are going. If fitted with Ring’s XenonUltima bulbs it is claimed that there will be 120 per cent more light available over the original headlamps. The headlamp units come as a pair obviously and both have fitted the XenonUltima H4 bulbs and IceBlue side light. They are H4 fitment for full beam and dipped beam and come with a three year warranty and are E approved. The suggested RRP is £69.99.
Vehicle security, especially for Land Rover Defender and Discoverys is something that most owners are keenly aware of, Defenders in particular being top of the ‘must have’ list for car thieves. As well as making your vehicle secure, it’s good to have a product that is highly visible and this Pedal Lock from the guys at Tune My Defender certainly does both of these things. It’s available for the Discovery TD5 (with or without Air Con) and the Defender 2.2 and 2.4 TDCI. It’s fair to say that it’s easy to fit, and no one will be driving your Defender away once fitted. For only £89 (plus VAT) it sounds like a sensible choice to us. Available at The Man For Land Rovers, if you contact them, make sure you say where you heard about it.
ARB has extended its range of battery trays to now cover the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT50. The new under vehicle battery tray is designed around the Optima range of battery and Redarc’s BCDC range of chargers. The trays are 4mm thick steel, zinc plated and black powder coated and are suitable for single, dual and extra cab models. The cover plate also incorporates plastic press fit insulators to prevent terminal and cover plate contact. As with all the top ARB equipment, it is available from the Arbil dealer network. Check the website to find your nearest dealer.
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