Excitement - new toy

Picked up my new Patriot roof rack earlier. I watched them assembling it, and I have to say, I have a lot of faith in their engineering - they certainly have attention to detail. It's more a hand-crafted piece of industrial-strength artwork than a roof rack.

One slight problem is that the sunroof threw a spanner in the works. Most of their Disco II racks have been on Commercials, so the standard height didn't allow for the plastic moulding around the rear sunroof, which was a little too close for comfort. So they've set it up with spacers (which, even though they're there for a short space of time, were again lovingly hand-crafted to measure) and I'll be dropping back in a few days to get the vertical supports replaced by a custom-built set which will be a few mil higher. This will also change the ladder height fractionally so they're re-fabricating a custom ladder too. See what I mean about attention to detail.

I'm also very tempted by an older prototype rack-mounted toolbox they have in the showroom (as per another post). They will build custom toolboxes, but the cost's justifiably high, so I'm hoping I'll be able to buy this prototype off them for a reasonable price.

So, I'm a very happy Patriot customer so far. They're just about the most expensive roof racks out there, but you can see where your money is going - I think you'd be hard-pushed to get a better roof rack. Hopefully I won't need to buy another for some time.

David

Reply to
David French
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Some photos of the roof rack, plus the QT rear diff guard, on

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David

Reply to
David French

Nice!

How much did it cost if you don't mind me asking?

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

I can't tell you, it might get back to my wife :)

But the prices are on the Patriot web page,

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They do a *particularly* fine 2.8 roof rack for double cab Defenders & LWB Defender Black. Heck, all of them are pretty nice from my angle. I think I'm becoming a roof rack anorak.

David

Reply to
David French

Although, don't you think it would look even nicer with a Safari Snorkel...? Hmmmmm...

Reply to
David French

Twas Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:35:44 +0100 when "David French" put finger to keyboard producing:

I think it will, go-on, you know you want to

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

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110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

Reply to
Mr.Nice.

Now that you mention it....

And the tree wires

and 2" lifted suspension

and larger tyres

and a full load of lights across the front - 4 on the rack, 4 on a lighting pod, 2 on the bumper.

And a nice X9 winch

Truetrac LSDs on the front, Detroits on the rear

Hmm.

That's my plan, not yours. Drat.

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

How did you know? I'm planning to stick some BFG All Terrain 245/75s on, probably leave the suspension the same height but put some OME shocks on at some point. A snorkel would be nice, if I can figure out how to waterproof the rest of it as well. And if I'm ever feeling very wealthy, think of the fun I could have with a winch...

I'm not thinking of locking diffs though, the traction control does a reasonably good job and I think lockers would confuse the hell out of it!

Definitely new tyres though before I take it anywhere too challenging. Shame the existing set still have quite a bit of tread :)

David

Reply to
David French

David,

Apparently the tru-trac works well with the diff lock and traction control on a DSII ;-)

Honest!

Neil

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Owner of a DS1 with 2 tru-tracs ;-)

Reply to
Neil Brownlee

Where did you get yours from? I'm having some difficulty finding them.

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

They originally came from Ashcrofts

Neil

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Reply to
Neil Brownlee

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