Ask any Range Rover owner which panel he/she has, or is most likely to damage, and I think you would
get a unanimous response of "the back quarter panel". Due to the length of rear overhang, this area is very prone to bottoming out when exiting deep or steep ditches, and also gets a fair pounding from the side if
you are unlucky enough to side swipe a bank. Add to this a combination of soft aluminium sheet metal, and little under body stiffening, and the resulting damage can be quite major.When I set out to design and
build a bull bar for the rear of my Range Rover, I wanted to offer some protection to the fuel tank and rear quarter panels, replace the rear grader blade (tow ball mounting plate) and also provide a mounting location
for a swing-away wheel carrier. Fortunately the rear end of a Range Rover has a myriad of factory fitted mounting points suitable for supporting the bull bar.
The bars covered in mud after a hard run
I used 40mm galvanised water pipe all round, with short radius welded elbows so that I could keep the pipe work close to the vehicle panelling. I have discovered that the best way to mount
any attachments to the vehicle chassis is to use a 10mm mild steel plate with as bigger foot print as possible (100mm x 100mm), drilled and tapped for M10 bolts. This plate is then welded to
the chassis. The bull bar is then welded to a 6mm mild steel plate cut and drilled to match. Using this method, you don't have to drill and tube the chassis rails, and to date, even after
some rather heavy impacts, no chassis deformation has occurred.
Chassis mount for side bar and tank protection bar
My original design for the bull bar was to remove the manufacturer's rear bumper (only to keep the weight down) and replace it with a double pipe bar. I started the job one weekend, just
before a club run (great planning, ha!). I managed to fabricate and fit the first (bottom) bar, which incorporated the fuel tank protection, but ran out of weekend before managing to fit the
second bar. Well, due to other priorities, that was how it stayed for the next 18 months.
Working in the back of my mind, was the design for a rear mounted swing away wheel carrier.
I wanted something that was easy to use, worked well and didn't look too agricultural. I finally settled on using a trailer stub axle and a custom machined boss (machined by Maritime and
General Engineering) as the hinge assembly, and a toggle type latch to keep the carrier shut when driving. In keeping with the bull bar, 40mm water pipe formed the tyre support. To trial
the concept, I welded the stub axle directly on top of the rear bull bar.
The concept worked extremely well, but the thin wall of the bull bar couldn't cope with the
weigh and vibration of the spare wheel, and finally the stub axle broke free due to fatigue cracking.
This provided the motivation to finish the bull bar off as per the original design, and remount the
wheel carrier to both bars at the same time, spreading the load over a greater area. This also allowed me to remove the grader blade and gain an extra 2" of ground clearance. Actually, just
thinking about it, the Range Rover tow ball mounting plate was probably the fore father of the ground anchors you see on the market today!!
Fuel tank protection bar
So, to all you RR owners with vulnerable butts, get out there and protect them! It's not a
difficult task. I should also make note of the fact that I completed all this work in my driveway at home, with no special equipment. All you need is a disc grinder, drill, welder, tape measure
and some motivation to give it a go.
