About my Defender 90

ABOUT MY DEFENDER

 

Photo by Ed Boudreau.  (The Defender has driven the entire Denali Road five times, and has been to the ends of the road twice in both the northeast in Labrador and in the northwest in Prudhoe Alaska.)

(Some of the facts I need to check. I worked this page up quickly to post it before I leave on my trip. I will revise it when there is time.)

 

I bought my Defender 90 (#291) new on December 31, 1993.  It has been well maintained over the years and has served me well.  Few Defenders have seen the breadth of this continent as mine has. It has been in the featured pieces of two cover stories of the National Geographic. I have had -but resisted- numerous offers to sell it over the years.  One of the reasons I have not been able to give it up is because there is nothing new out there that comes close to its capabilities.    But at some point, I probably will be convinced to part with it.

 

There are two features I most value with this magnificent precision machine: first, it takes me where I want to go and, second, and more importantly, it gets me back home.

 

In addition to its five-speed manual locked transmission with low and high gears and superior BF Goodrich Mud Terrains, here are some of the add-ons I have made over the years. # means since 2011:

 

- More powerful AC#

- New larger heated front seat and new passenger seat#

- Warn winch (800 pounds*)#

- Rear chassis replaced 2018#

- Engineer updated to 4.6 liter in 2016 at 211,000 miles; RPI Tornado chip installed#

- Complete cooling system replaced in 2011#

- Rovers North stainless steel full-roof rack capable of holding more than 500 pounds of gear plus holders for gas can, water can, pull pal, hi-jack lift, shovel

- Differential locks in front and rear with air compressor under passenger seat#

- Easy access panel to fuel pump installed in floor of rear

- Supplemental gas tank (8 extra gallons) bringing total to 24 and range to 320 miles (395 with jerry can)

- Extra (lighter) battery chargers (total of 7 devices can be charged simultaneously)

- Caged window inserts for three rear windows (to keep dogs and stuff in)

- Surrey-type Bader Coachworks roof installed in 2016#

- New hinges installed on driver's door

- Transmission/transfer case replaced c. 2010

- New radio installed in 2012#

 

Accessories include:

- Winch kit

- Various off-road recovery gear

- Chains

- Various setups for rear bumper hitch steps

- Extra Ladder system for access to front roof rack

- spare tire mount on hood

- shovels

- hi-jack lift

- Pull pal recovery device

- Jerry cans for water and gas

- Portable window inserts for front windows

- GPS Garmin

 - Mini Battery jumper (1600)

 - Heavy duty jumper cables

 - Assortment of containers, bags, bungee cords, tie-downs for roof rack and rear

- Portable shower

- Protectors for headlights and radiator (homemade)

- Cover for winch (homemade)

 - More

 

Spare Parts include:

- Alternator

- Distributor

- Ignition coil

- Ignition wires

- Hoses

- Belts

- Plugs and wires

- More (see "Garage" container on OTR To-Take List)

 

Mechanics who worked on Defender

- John Kinter at Eurosport in Lorton VA

- Dean Kruse at LR Independent in Bethesda MD

- Travis, Michell and Olaf at John's Auto Repair in Yukon Canada (installed new engine)

- Land Rover Alexandria VA

 

Main suppliers Include:

- Rovers North VT

- Atlantic British NY

 

The Defender’s performance is best when driven listening to the following music on your headphones

- This Land is Your Land, by Pete Seger

- North to Alaska, by Johnny Horton

- The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Tokens

- Country Road, John Denver

- Red Rover Rock, Johnny and the Hurricanes

- Born in the USA, by Bruce Springsteen

 

Defender Replacement 2018 version

I am heading up to NY this weekend and will stop by the NY Auto Show.  There are only two vehicles I plan to look at, although I will hurry through the show to see what other vehicles are begging for my attention.  It will be difficult for me part with the Defender after 24 years, but I need to make sure I am not overlooking something that could be as valuable for me for the next X years as the Defender was for the last 24.  Back in 1993, when I was looking for a replacement for my JEEP CJ-7, I listed 41 criteria and the Defender met 40 of them with the highest score (4.0). The only one it failed was Made in America, although Ford came through for me on that several years later when it bought Land Rover, for a few years anyway.  Below is the list of criteria I will take to NY this weekend to score the vehicles.

 

The only reasons I would depart with the Defender are:

1- I need a vehicle I can sleep in during emergencies and provide some degree of comfort (space and warmth, not to mention protection from bears) when doing so.

2- I need a vehicle that can be serviced anywhere in North America. The Defender at 24 poses two problems in this regard, parts and mechanics. Even the Land Rover people refuse to service the Defender anymore, and don’t even have the compatible service computers to do so.

3- I need a vehicle that Donner cannot escape from.

 

The only two vehicles I think can replace the Defender are the Jeep Wrangler and the MB G-Wagon.  But if I am going to send $125,000 for the latter (which I never would do), I always have the option of having a Defender-110 built for me for the same price.

 

Here is my list of 62 requirements for the Defender’s replacement.

 

 

Defender Replacement 2018

 

	Accessory	Air compressor on board
	Accessory	Air snorkel
	Accessory	Bluetooth
	Accessory	Brush bars
	Accessory	Capable speakers
	accessory	Console, but not too in the way
	Accessory	GPS
	Accessory	Heavy duty front bumper
	Accessory	Heavy duty rear bumper
	Accessory	Skid plates on differentials, gas tank
	Accessory	Substantial AC
	Accessory	Substantial heater
	accessory	Tow hooks on front chassis
	Accessory	Trailer hitch
	Accessory	Winch 5000 pounds
	doors	Capability to cage rear windows for dogs
	Doors	Four doors (five with rear)
	doors	Manual windows preferred
	Doors	Rear door opens to right
	Drive	16 inches of clearance
	Drive	40 foot or less turning circle
	Drive	Five speed manual transmission
	Drive	Front, rear, front-rear differential locks
	Drive	Hi/Lo/lockable front-rear
	Drive	Lockable front and rear axles
	Drive	Permanent four-wheel-drive
	drive	Substantial towing capacity
	Electronics	Minimal electronics
	Engine	Powerful engine, 4.6 liter or higher
	Exterior	Box profile
	Exterior	Compact profile
	Exterior	Dog accessible in rear
	Exterior	Good road handling, not top-heavy
	Exterior	No more than 84 inches with roof rack
	Exterior	Retractable side view mirrors
	Exterior	Running boards
	Fuel	360-mile gas range (15 mpg X 23 gallons)
	Fuel	Accessible fuel pump
	Interior	72” in rear with seats removed down
	interior	Not luxurious, no leather
	Lights	Capability for adding floodlights
	Lights	LED
	Lights	Substantial headlights
	Roof	Soft top with surrey roof capability
	Roof	Sunroof
	Roofrack	Shovel holder
	Roofrack	Spare ladder holder
	Roofrack	Full roof rack with rear ladder
	Roofrack	Hi Jack Holder
	Roofrack	Jerry can holder
	Roofrack	Pull Pal holder
	Roofrack	Water can holder
	Seats	Front seat falls down and reclinable
	Seats	Heated seats
	Seats	Removable rear seats or complete fold-down
	Tires	Spare tire mount on hood
	Tires	Spare tire on rear door
	Tires	Tire mount on back without container
	Tires	Tires – BF Goodrich mud terrains quality
	X- Cost	Affordable
	X- Warranty	Substantial warranty
	X-Other	Made in America

 

Stainless steel bar for securing gas can - another problem solved

Another chore out of the way today…

 

I have an extra gas can compartment on the top of my roof rack.  To prevent the can from flying out over rough roads, or some crook from helping himself to the can, full or not, there is a 9" metal bar securing the can to the compartment.  Well, it seems that someone in my condo helped themselves to that before my last trip.  I say that because the bar itself was secured with a lynch pin, which that provides security in itself, but can be farther secured with a lock. I discovered it was missing just before OTR8 in 2016, about the same time that someone from my condo loosened four the five lug nuts on my rear right tire, which I discovered 1000 miles into the trip just before the wheel almost came off.  There are two suspects in the condo who would have done this, one of whom moved out about that time (his going away gift to me), the other of whom is known for this kind of mischief.  She also glued the locked to my storage locker in my parking space when I was away on OTR8.  The good news is that she was sued by our condo's managing agent for libel and slander and lost the case and her job in the process. A little schadenfreude never heart anyone. 😊

 

So I don't forget, below  is the web site I found where I was able to get a new bar for my mechanic will fit it to the rack.  Below it is the web site for the lynch pins.

 

There are hundreds of chores like this I have to go through in preparing for those trips.  Each one takes time (this one, probably four hours).  But they have to be done as there are enough problems that occur on the trip that need attention. These pre-trip postings are made for my own purposes, as a reminder to those who read my blogs that these trips ate not just a matter of packing, tossing the dogs in the car, and moving out/

 

http://www.onlinemetals.com/

 

 

 

http://www.navfastener.com/lynchpin.html

 

 

Another OTR problem solved

I just ordered this 90” extendable ladder to get up on the front of my roof rack, now that I cannot climb up the way I used to because of my leg.  It hooks onto two clamps I will have bolted on my roll bar and it folds in half for storage. At 42” folded, it will ride nicely on the ladder in the rear.  I also ordered two ladder clamps to hold it down, although I will also secure it with a locked loop-end stainless steel cable.

 

 

ED

 

Barrier for dog in rear of Defender

In preparing for my eight (soon to be nine) road-camping trips with my dogs, the one chore that has consumed the most times was (still is) trying to create some kind of barrier in the rear for the dogs to prevent them from getting out.  Until now, I have been using the disassembled sides of a large dog cage.  They have worked just fine for the two side windows (when the side windows are rolled up), not only for keeping the dogs inside, but preventing other things like maps from blowing out, as happened on my first trip in 2000 when I had installed nothing.  Only once did any of my dogs Leben and Erde breach the side gates, in 2001, when 25-pound Leben found a three-inch opening between the roll bar and gate, squeezed through, fell four feet the deck of the ferry and wandered around the car deck looking for me until I was summoned by the ferry’s purser at 6 a.m. one morning to go to the car deck to retrieve my  dog.  Lucky for me -and Leben-  that he did not find the nearby opened door to the open deck of the ferry. I was again summoned on OTR6 in 2013 by the purser to do the same, except that that time it was “dogs.”  Somehow, either then-12-year old and paralyzed Leben or his sister Erde managed to open the rear dog and I found both of them relaxing on the deck in the rear of the Defender.

 

The cage setup over the rear window worked quite well for all the other trips with Leben and Erde but became problematic with Donner, whose dominant skill in life seems to have something to do with escaping.  On OTR8, in New Brunswick, just before I experienced the first of five Defender breakdowns, I came out of a store only to find that Donner had pushed the rear gate out of the way and found that the only means of escape -or so he thought- was between the rungs of the stainless-steel ladder on the rear of the Defender.  He was wrong, and got his head caught between the rungs. Fortunately, he was not hurt or, as I was to learn later, discouraged from trying this again.  That again happened three months later three times on that same ferry from Alaska.  Three times I got summoned by the purser to “retrieve my dog from the car deck” when Donner managed to break though the rear panel of my brand-new canvass roof, push or clae the gate out of his way, and leap four feet to the ground.  A new rear panel cost me $1000. Not wanting to repeat that expense, and embarrassment, not to mention injury to Donner, I have spent hours searching for a better solution.  I think I found it with the below dog gate, although some reviews I read about it are not prosing in terms of its flimsiness.

 

The advantage of this gate is that I can put it inside the rear panel and not outside so he doies not claw through my rear panel.  It also covers the entire 58-inch width of the rear instead the 40 inches of the current gate, which gives him 18 inches of hope.  I will try this for a few months to see how it works.  If it does not do the trick, my search will continue. If an appropriate gate cannot be found, perhaps the solution is a new vehicle, or perhaps a new dog (just kidding).

 

 

Ladder for Defender

Moving on with planning for OTR9, for almost 24 years, to get up onto my roof rack at the front, I stepped up on the runner on the passenger side of the Defender, grasped the roll bar and stretched my right leg as far as it would go onto the front fender and then stepped up with both feet onto the roll bar that runs the length of the bottom of the front window.  Piece of cake.  Not even some die-hard Defender experts knew how to do that until I taught them.  As easy as that was, I always hated stepping down, as I had to search blindly and carefully with my left foot for the runner for fear that I might miss it and have to stretch that extra distance to the ground, an impossible task. Although I can still do it, with the residual problem left from my hip replacement (a damaged Gluteus Medius muscle), it is slightly more difficult.  Instead of compounding one problem on top of another, I will not fight it and just ordered a telescoping ladder (see below) for $69.99.  This beats renting some big Mercedes mobile mansion at $439 a night for three months, $39,510. This does not mean that I have decided the Defender will go with us for OTR9, but in all likelihood it will.

 

The URL for the ladder is here….

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0792BZPSB/ref=s9_acsd_simh_hd_bw_b2Jz6_c_x_1_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=8XZFT4BMTK7MQKY6HZZ6&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=20d7ce67-1a3d-5cce-abc4-9a158b671054&pf_rd_i=553480

 

 

Incidentally, I use my blogs to help coordinate my planning for my trips instead of creating a separate one for this purpose.  From time to time, then, you will see postings on here that may be uninteresting to you, but have significance to me, great significance in some cases, like this ladder.

Planning for OTR begins (February 11, 2018)

I guess I can say that the planning and preparation work for OTR9 began this past weekend, if two small steps can be called that - I updated my Garmin GPS and Donner's radio collar. However, the planning really started the day I returned from OTR8 on December 3rd over a year ago, which now seems like an eternity, since I do not think a day has gone by since that I have not given some thought to my next trip.

I still need to make a decision on the Defender, although my delay in looking for a new vehicle or putting the Defender on the market might be telling me something. I still need to take it for some long test drives, which I will do soon.

As for my residual limp from my surgeries last year, I am getting closer to finding out what is causing it, an atrophied gluteas minimis in my abductor muscle, probably caused by a nerve damaged in the hip surgery.  So far, I have learned that there is no easy prescribed remedy for this, only experimental stuff, so it may be that I have to resign myself to this condition.  No big deal, as it could be worse. However, it will prevent me from hopping up onto the roof rack on the front of the Defender, which means I have to figure out another way to dop that, or bring along someone on the trip who can do that.

Tomorrow I will being to sketch out some optional routes and start my To-Do list.  Stay tuned.

ED

Update as of November 30, 2017

Here's a quick update on the Defender, Donner, me, Stefanie, and plans for next year's trip.

 The Defender.  After more than one year in the garage following the Defender's break-down in from Salina, Utah, and then haul back to DC, I finally got it back today and it is running superbly, due in no small part to its 4.6-liter engine, upgraded from 3.8.  While I am somewhat hesitant to admit it, since April 2016, when I had to make a decision to either give up that beloved 1994 vehicle or figure out what was causing it to not start at times in wet weather (I opted for the later) until today, I figure I spent or invested more than $60,000 in repairs, upgrades and incidental costs related to its troubles (towing, hauling, car rental in the Yukon, etc.).  Readers of my 2016 blog will recall my resolution on September 24, 2016, after it broke down on the cold, dark, grizzly-inhabited Alaska Highway, 220 miles from the nearest garage, that the Defender will ride again, and it did.  That resolution was made partly out of my determination to not give up on anything I do, but also because when your vehicle breaks down more than 4000 miles from home in a foreign country with more than 1000 pounds of gear on it, and with a reactive 100-pound dog as the sole passenger, you just do not search for another way home because there is no other option. Readers will also recall that my mantra during that layover in the Yukon was the last three words of Nessum Dorma (from Puccini's Turandot), Vincero, Vincero, Vincero (“I will win, I will win, I will win”), which my spontaneous temporary travel partner Stefanie and I adopted for our mantra during some rough going in the Arctic. Well, I am happy to report that I vinceroed after all.

Donner.  I am equally happy to report that Donner is doing well, and has improved enormously with his reactivity over the last year.  After spending his first four years chained in L.A. backyards with no chance at socialization, my measure of his reactivity when he sees another dog has decreased from, say, 100 to 1.  While he has yet to play with a dog, with some careful introduction he can stand side-by-side with dogs as if they were not there or the best of buddies. I am so proud of him.

Me. Readers of my 2016 blog will also recall that from time to time I referred to my “pesky sciatic nerve problem.”  I lied. It was not a pesky problem, I was in dire pain with every right step I took. I just did not want to remind myself of what I was going through for fear that I might abandon the trip.  Well, since then, after three surgeries (back, hip and knee) and almost 50 sessions with five different physical therapists, I am approaching getting back to normal.  All indications are that the hip surgery either impinged or severed some nerves, preventing critical walking muscles from firing properly.  My hope is that I will be back to my pre-2016 walking ability in two months, although right now I still need to use a cane on long walks. I also need to get rid of the weight I put on since my low-point on last year’s trip because of my inability to walk any distance until recently. Again, Vincero, Vincero, Vincero.

Stefanie.  Readers of my 2016 blog will also remember Stefanie, the 24-year old medical student from Germany I ran into in the Canadian Rockies at a rest break and who then then joined me days later on the Arctic and Denali legs of my trip. Dedicated readers of the 0TR8 blog will recall that we adopted Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turnadot as the song for our trip together, especially for its last three words, Vincero, Vincero, Vincero (I will will, I will win, I will win). Well, Stefanie visited me in November for two weeks and the big surprise for her was a box seat at the Met in NY for Turandot, when she thought we were going to an Explorer’s Club photo exhibition where my photo of our tent on the Arctic Circle was to be shown. Surprise.

2018 On the Road 9.  Although my plans for 2018’s trip will depend on which vehicle I take, the Defender or a new vehicle (probably a Jeep Wrangler), the options now being considered are one or some combination of the following:

(1) The complete Labrador to Prudhoe Bay journey that has eluded me three time already.

(2) Quebec’s Rue du Nord to James Bay (below Hudson Bay) to Tuk (NWT) along the just-opened all-year 70-mile road from Inuvik (NWT) to the Arctic Ocean at Tuk.

(3) Either on their own or on our return trip home, the Bears Ears and Grand Escalante Staircase national monuments that Trump wants to destroy, just so I can see what we the people will lose.

 

Updates on all of these to come in the future.

August 18....A little change of plans

Those of you who read my blog from last year's trip will recall two things.

First, the Defender had to be shipped 2500 miles back home from cold, snowy Salina, Utah, last December after it improbably broke down for the 4^th time on the trip, this last time just as we were about to get onto the last of the hundreds of highways, byways, and trails that we drove on for that fated journey.

Second, during the trip, I made the occasional, muted reference to my “pesky sciatic nerve problem.”  Although I did write in muted terms, the fact of the matter was that I was in pain with every single right step I took during that 14,500-mile, 117-day journey, ranging from moderate pain, to pain bordering on and getting into excruciating. Since there was nothing more I could do about it on the trip, I just tolerated it, learned how to deal with it, and moved on.

As for the Defender, it was towed back to my mechanic in Virgina who eventually discovered that distributor had been installed incorrectly at the mechanic’s in Utah, and somehow the fuel pressure line had gotten disconnected from the engine. I guess these things happen.  I retrieved the Defender from the mechanic in April, only to have it not start a week later due to a dead battery, caused by a small light on a new recharger outlet that was hard wired to the battery. I then had it towed to a closer mechanic who, as a former master Land Rover technician, discovered a number of other things needed to get it running in top condition, and so that is where it still is now.  I am told the work is almost finished and I will have the Defender back in a week or so.

The news about my “pesky sciatic nerve” problem is not as optimistic, not yet anyway. As soon as I got home, I checked into my orthopedic doctor, who told me to see a back doctor, which I promptly did. That doctor told me I needed serious back surgery fast, which I had done on January 30^th. When that didn’t solve my problem, I then went to see a hip doctord, who replaced my right knee on May 1.  After 20 sessions of physical therapy, when I still could not walk without a cane, I went back to the doctor and he took an MRI of my knee, which showed a lateral meniscus tear, which happened during my hip surgery recovery.  I then went in for arthroscopic surgery on my tight knee on July 13^th, and the doctor found and repaired not one but two meniscus tears. After 10 more sessions of PT, when I realized that the physical therapy was not working and there was nothing more this therapist could do, I signed up with another therapist this past Wednesday, where I plan to spend the next three weeks or so to get to the point where I can walk without a cane, not to mentioned climb into a low-door tent leap up onto my roof rack, lug around 50-pound supply containers, and other things like that.

All of the above is by way of saying that there will be no OnTheRoad.camp trip this year, as originally hoped anyway.  The earliest I will be able to get on the road now is mid-September, and that is too late to drive to Labrador, James Bay, or the Arctic Ocean beyond Inuvik in Canada’s Northwest Territories.  But I am not giving up for some kind of road trip. I cannot. I need them to survive, now that they are in my system. If I am able to get on the road by mid-September, I might drive to the West Coast and spending the next six weeks driving that spectacular highway, and then finishing the trip as I did last year, through the Nevada and Utah deserts, and then on home.  I cannot afford another breakdown again this year if I follow this schedule because my two-week travel companion from last year, Stefanie, the medical student from Germany who jumped from reading my blog last year into the driver’s seat of my Defender will be coming over to visit me in mid-November.

Interestingly enough, I am not disappointed with this change of plans. Sure, I was anxious to get on the road again, especially in my “new” Defender, and out of my comfort zone, especially after being “imprisoned” for eight weeks on last year’s trip and then since I returned home on December 4^th.  But I often said that 1/3 of the fun of these trips is the planning, so I will at least get that.  On Monday next week, I will start the serious planning for OTR-9, wherever that may take us.

I will end this blog posting with the same last three words of the Turandot aria, Nessun Dorma, that got Stefanie and me through a rather adventurous two weeks, and then me home from some very tough predicaments after that, Vincero, Vincero, Vincero.