DIY HD tank gaurd

[stretchy]

hiya guys just wondering if anyone has made there own tank gaurd ?? im thinking of just welding a thick plate over the orignal tank gaurd like a second skin or poprivet a pice of cheq plate over it. any other ideas ?

stretchy

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

When money permits, I'll get one of these - saves a lot of aggro for not a lot of money.

http://www.paddockspares.com/pp/OFF_ROAD/Protection/Disco_1_Fuel_Tank_Guard_-_Galvanised_Steel.html

 :lol:

[stretchy]

hmmm that seems a bit steep for what it is i bet its not much stronger than a standard plate.  I think im going to double skin it with some cheq plate or thick steel

[lambert]

doubtless this will attract dissent but;

if you armour plate the underneath of your car you give it more mass, this gives rise to two problems in my mind. 1 it will sit lower on it's suspension, than a lighter un armoured car on the same springs, and is therefor  closer to the ground and will hit more things more often. 2 as it is has more mass it will have more kinetic energy to dissapate when it does hit something resulting in more damage.

or to put it another way a lighter car will sustain less damage and therefor needs less protection.

[stretchy]

taking on board what you have said and makes sense but 2 square ft of cheq plate is not going to be very heavy

[lambert]

that is the problem; in isolation one bit of protection is not that heavy but when you add in the affect of tree sliders, tank guards, steering guard, second battery, roof rack, hd front bumper, hd rear bumper, a winch and a big bag of recovery equipment/tools you can soon add half a tonne or more to a car's sprung mass.

the thing that brought this into focus for me is that i have a mate with most of that list on his 5door and compared to my standard 3door his body ride height is well over an inch and a half lower than mine and he is forever ploughing his front or rear into things i don't seem to touch.

[Disco Matt]

Compared to some tank guards I've seen that one is very reasonably priced, and I may well add one.

Extra weight is not a problem if you fit the proper springs. I have OEM heavy duty rears on mine and the back end sits at the right height as well as flexing nicely and handling well. I'm seriously contemplating replacing the Britpart HD fronts with standard OEM springs in an effort to get it flexing better at that end, but nobody on ebay seems to have new standard springs for sane money. I don't want to buy unseen from a website as I know some will try to palm you off with Britpart rubbish.

I did have Britpart HD all round but one of the rears went soggy, leading to a car that pogoed horribly in left hand bends. The problem disappeared when I swapped them for OEM HD rears.

[Jay_disco]

i think if you have kitted your 4x4 out with guards/wheels/tyres/bumper/winch etc then the weight issue is completely out the window. best thing to do then really is rip out all the luxuries like electric windows,air con, door cards and plastics and it might give a bit of weight back for the last item you umm and arr about buying. and if you buy suspension without takin all the above kit in mind then there is your first mistake. there are a few sites that give an info section on buying the right springs before you pick the first ones you see.

onthat note.....do the tank guard. that small amount of weight might cost you a mile less to the gallon but, but how much would it cost bein in the middle of nowhere with a pierced fuel tank?
im going to make a hd guard that fits off the rear anti roll bar mounts. i want protection in the long run  :dance:

[weeone]

I've a SouthDown guard.... the one that takes the adapters for tow-balls. I can't praise it enough: bloody marvellous!

I've a 50mm drop plate, a Nato plate that sits high, and a recovery ring.... but most of the time, they all sit in the shed... and I've nothing to catch when off-roading.

The plate has taken a few knocks, and I suspect it's saved the fuel-tank a couple of times (well, it sounded like it, from inside the car ;-) )

[rover51]

Hi Strechy

Before you go buying one i have one laying around that was fitted on my disco

it was part of a set up for a removable towbar

needs cleaning up but let me know if you might be interested in it

[mark-d]

my disco has a big dent in its tank since one off road outing without the tow bar

[russ3120]

this is one I made for my old Disco