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Land Rover S3 109" Pintle hitch / bumper / modifications


robin craig

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The venerable Series 3 came with a pintle hitch on the rear cross member.

 

Some units saw need for another pintle hitch on the front bumper, for putting trailers into aircraft etc.

 

Was there an official modification instruction? Can anyone share it and put it up on here?

 

Does anyone have memories of doing it themselves unofficialy?

 

Im trying to help a friend who needs / wants to fit one to his vehicle

 

Thanks

 

R

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Img_1119.jpg

 

IMG_1287.jpg

 

A Lightweight bumper blade has provision of holes , mil. chassis , so there there is a No.1 cross-member , 2.1/4" x 3.1/4" x 1/8" 3mm , L shaped press-brake / folded , and welded on. You should be able to slip it in loose as sandwich.

 

Civvy pattern Rovers the No. 1 cross-member is where the steering relay mounts.

 

L'wt bumper (late type) rear face has 5/8" packers (to allow 7.50x16 tyres) , there are in addition 4 qty. as welded ferrules where the pintle bolts pass through. ERarly blade is just bolted to the No.1

Edited by ruxy
amd.
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  • 1 year later...

I have a S3 109 FFR currently and I recall on Exercise in the late 80's in Germany seeing that some FFR's having a NATO tow hitch on the front bumper to facilitate towing and recovery using the REME 'fixed bar' as these were a valuable asset if they broke down. The tow hitch was painted in various red/black/green colours... You will must/need a spreader plate behind. LR Part No's to check are 531447 and 523807 (with a double nutted 1/2 inch UNF full threaded bolt). I have these parts to fit to my SIII now and can provide measurements/photos for you to get made up locally.....

Edited by Ian Driver
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As I remember from fitting these years ago, a standard RING spreader plate fits. I had one on the front of 3 109, it was parked up on the side of the road, the only vehicle in the road. A woman came out of a house jumped into her convertble Ford Escort , backed out of her drive, then continued going backwards a good fifty feet, straight into the NATO hitch. I had to repaint it! :mad:

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I have a S3 109 FFR currently and I recall on Exercise in the late 80's in Germany seeing that some FFR's having a NATO tow hitch on the front bumper to facilitate towing and recovery using the REME 'fixed bar' as these were a valuable asset if they broke down. The tow hitch was painted in various red/black/green colours... You will must/need a spreader plate behind. LR Part No's to check are 531447 and 523807 (with a double nutted 1/2 inch UNF full threaded bolt). I have these parts to fit to my SIII now and can provide measurements/photos for you to get made up locally.....

 

==========

 

531447 plate as intended fits to the inside of the rear tow member (cross-member) and 523807 as intended is a sandwich plate between the D-B pintle and the rear tow member , to fit will , they would need cutting down - so you may as well use just a bit of plate plate a suitable size and thickness. However - I would advise against any heavy reinforcement , the front bumper was not intended to take such a heavy load . The load is transfered to both dumb-irons that are often corroded internally / externally & the 3/8" dia bolts passing through the bumper bolting to the No. 1 'X' member - so it is a waste of time stiffening up to further extent.

 

In service - you can find the odd Land Rover , that will be RAF with a plate on the outside of the bumper - BUt these were S2A Rover 8 and 10 types - you will find a photograph of this in Mark Cook's Lightweight book. The reason being that these Rover Mk. types don't have a No. 1 cross member that a Lightweight chassis does.

Edited by ruxy
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http://slickpic.us/13316032MZ2

 

http://slickpic.us/1331608ZT43

 

19FM65 with D-B pintle on front bumper from 1980 until abt. 1993 , then there was lots of trouble in the press about 'Bull-Bars' - so for insurance (possibly) reasons I decided to remove , along with the AVM fwh LoL . Front pintle was only used for nosing Sankey , pulling boats up slip and attachment point during 'non-damaging' green laning , of course the bar was nfu when reversing.

 

I know somebody who was in the RM , asked him about the hitch on rear of widetrack & D-B Pintle on rear of narrowtrack - he said they only used them with a rope for gang pulling up ramp on to landing-craft & aircraft , a front D-B Pintle sometimes used for same purpose..

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Sort of , however - I will have to borrow a photograph out of the MJC Lightweight book to show a typical 'in-service' stiffener /sandwich reinforcement plate between the front of the bumper and Pintle , they are abt. as long as the span of the dumb-irons.

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Hi

 

Apart from banging your knees on the pintle (one reason why I removed mine). The second (main) reason was I am sure it is illegal to have a projection in front of the bumper, can't find the regulation at the moment, something to do with bull bars. In a similar vein, the rear towing pintle does protrude past the rear bumper but not the bumperettes, as the bumperettes are part of the rear bumper system, this is permissible. Hope I haven't opened a can of worms.

 

Cheers

Richard

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Hi

 

Apart from banging your knees on the pintle (one reason why I removed mine). The second (main) reason was I am sure it is illegal to have a projection in front of the bumper, can't find the regulation at the moment, something to do with bull bars. In a similar vein, the rear towing pintle does protrude past the rear bumper but not the bumperettes, as the bumperettes are part of the rear bumper system, this is permissible. Hope I haven't opened a can of worms.

 

Cheers

Richard

 

I believe the issue with bull bars was that they are a rigid structure blocking the crumple zones, or other design features, modern vehicles have for pedestrian protection Generally speaking - if you hit a pedestrian with a Series Landie the idea of pedestrian protection becomes a laughable concept as you have a solid front - period. Ain't no way they are going to roll over and off the bonnet. :)

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