The Bodgerover gets a

Rangie Spares 2" body lift from TWOOFFRD

You might call them modifications but I know they will be bodges...

Having put 34" Simex Jungle Trekker 2's on the Rangie a few months ago I had been running with a very bodgey set of custom wooden bump stop packers to stop the tyres from eating the wheel arches. While effective [read low cost] they also limited the articulation which was always going to bug me. And of course there was no way they were going to pass the WOF man's inspection. The plan was always to team the tyres up with a body lift although finances didn't allow me to do them at any where near the same time.

After much deliberation I settled on a lift kit from Rangie Spares. Although it is relatively easy to make the packers I felt I didn't have the skills to make the body rest brackets - in retrospect I probably could have managed it for a fraction of the cost - but thats hindsight for you.

All the bits arrived and I set out with great confidence one weekend conservatively leaving myself 2 hours for the first stage of the lift. Naturally 3 weekends later the Rangie's body hadn't moved.... You see I hadn't counted on the bolts being rusted solid. My first recommendation to anyone attempting this on a well used 70's Rangie would be to invest in some CRC, scratch that - buy shares. Surprising the Rangie is only joined to the chassis in 10 places. The front two came undone with no major hassles. The rear was a different story - after laying about with a hammer they had hardly moved. Chris, who is always there to lend a hand when someone else's truck needs a bashing with a hammer, went off to Hardware House and bought a bigger hammer! Even that couldn't budge the buggers. I finally resorted to soaking the bolts with CRC every night after work for a week and they finally came loose under the gentle attention of the afore mentioned big hammer. But by far the trickiest ones were the bolts in the engine bay at the bottom of the fire wall. Because of the angle of the firewall they wouldn't come out until they had been separated from the bush and washers. To complicate things the hydraulic clutch line is anchored right above the right hand one - so you have to disconnect the pipes. I had never bled a clutch and this was already turning out to be too much of a learning experience.

After freeing all the bolts the body did get lifted rather easily [if you remember to loosen the steering column universals - all of them! I blame the excitement]. After I had managed to go up 1 inch I hit another snag. The Bodgrover has been repowered with a P76 so the radiator hoses are in the reverse position to a normal Rangie. At 1.5 inches the bottom radiator hose hit the power steering pulley - damn. Philosophically I thought it might be a good time to take the radiator out and have it re-cored - thus demonstrating the chain reaction of events that usually takes place when you are bodging your pride and joy. My theory is that with the misalignment of the engine fan and the radiator due to the lift and the different engine, my overheating problem was only going to get worse. Out came the radiator and the basic lift was finished. Once the radiator was back in with some new electric fans [what was that I said about chain ractions..?] I was able to drive the rangie out to Tim's to have the six small welds done [I can't weld yet] and some brackets made to realign the bumpers.

Done, finished, completed. Or so I thought. Off I went to test my regained articulation on our number 1 secret ramp travel test pile of dirt. Engage diff lock. Engage diff lock. Damn - I had pulled the hose off the vacum centre diff lock! On closer inspection it wasn't going to be long enough - which of course gave rise to yet another great bodge. I did have a small piece of hose to do the job and with the help of a connector from my flatmates automatic watering system for their elaborate garden, I was able to join them.... how long will that last you ask. Never fear I have spares.........

Bodge rating: 6/10 [Although I bought a kit I re-used all the body bushes, washers, and sleeves...cheap!!]

Some of the body mounting points

Acres of space under the wheel arches

What it looked like before the lift

And after...