Can I put my spare wheel on my bonnet?

disagree - doesnt take a great deal of strength to life teh bonnet with the wheel on, though ive been building up-body strength this year so maybe ive become rufty tufty without realising. . .

hmmm. . . i own a land rover, i am rufty tufty!!!

teddave

Its not the weight, its the lack of a third arm to work the catch while you use the other two arms to lift the bonnet. :)

But my bonnet catch is on the front of the vehicle, above the radiator grille, which is where I'll be when I want to be doing the lifting bit anyway. Not sure that I understand really......

Olly R

You must have one of those special bonnet catches that actually disengages properly when you pull it :) On all the ones ive used (including the new one on mine), you have to pull them concurrently with pushing up on the bonnet, using the exact right amount of force on both the lever and the bonnet. Trust us that it does get pretty hard to do when you have a heavy spare wheel on the bonnet too! :).

It seems it should be possible to put a stronger spring on the plunger attached to the bonnet to lift the extra weight - a valve spring? Personally I have never had a problem - the spare on my 2a goes on the bonnet when the back is full, and I have never noticed any serious problems, either with the weight or the visibility. Whether visibility is a problem probably depends on just how high you are! Only time it has worried me is coming up over a steep creek bank. JD

It's the little useless bits of my landrover that work perfectly (heater is fab, bonnet catch operates properly) - just wish the rather more important bits like the engine were so reliable ;-)

I'll give it a go and see what I can see! thanks for all the help.

Olly

Interesting the problems people have with opening the bonnet. You can adjust the main spring catch to give more lift or keep a bit of heater hose handy and wedge this under the lip of the bonnet prior to opening. This will give the required lift to ping the spring. Peter

The way I figuer it, trying the bonnet catch this morning, unless you can lift the bonnet and wheel with one hand it will be difficult as I need one hand to stay on the catch until it is properly released and have to lift the bonnet clear.

As for bonnet strength it will dent if you kneel on it, (as I have also discovered) not that I care that much.

Not with both arms but with one perhaps.

I have found that buying a landie is equivalent to a body building course, what with trying to put full lock on when it is parked and grappling with the handbrake, giving the doors a helthy slam to make sure they are shut, hammering off all that nasty filler etc.

The ultimate workout would be loading the roofrack I imagine :)

Shall I market the landrover fitness video, grunting blokes in overalls, covered in gunge ? I am sure there would be a market soemwhere :)

In message , Larry writes

When I was going in the opposite direction - removing spare from bonnet I found that at places like Craddocks the 2nd hand bonnets with recess and mounting were cheaper and more readily available than those without.

In message , Alex writes

Pedestrian would bounce off nicely though.