Adventioneering

For some reason it’s just not hard for me to imagine my truck upside down. Or
at the very least coming to a sudden stop. It’s also not hard for me to imagine filling
my cargo area with lots of heavy things, all of which could become deadly projectiles
in an accident.

It was time for cargo tie-down points. If you have a Disco II odd are you
already have factory lashing points, but, it was only option in the Disco I that
most owners did not bother with.

I did this install after I had already pulled the interior to do a rust repair (just
look at all that POR-15). Don’t think my rover normally looks like this.

The product at hand are modular tie-downs from Mac’s Custom
Tie-Downs (www.macscustomtiedowns.com), although mine came from
EE (www.expeditionexchange.com). They sent me a nice sticker, this time, and
I am a sucker, so it’s proudly displayed on my disco now.

Mac makes a number of custom tie-down products, which are really interesting
due to their modular nature, particularly the versatie. I think you could get
two tracks and install them widthwise in the cargo area of a rover, which would create
a really cool system. I didn’t bother, going for the typical four tie-downs.

Before you go drilling any holes, make sure they are the right size! Measure twice,
cut once! I knew the spec on these screws was 6.35mm but it made me feel better to
see it in person. The rating on the backing plates is 900kg.

The interior steel of the Disco is actually pretty soft and any old drill
will do the trick. Here I am using a DeWalt 14.4v with their weird unobtanium
pilot hole bits. Check several times underneath the truck before you drill!!
The size of the tie-down units prevents their use in the corrugated portion
of the load space so you will have to be more creative. I had to avoid
A/C lines and fuel lines.

Once I got the first hole drilled even though I had marked both I would
drop a screw in it and drill through the other hole.

Be careful not to let
the screw pivot too much or the tie-down could slide making you drill in the
wrong spot. Measure twice, drill once!

You will need someone to help you install the cargo tie downs; someone has
to crawl under the truck and hold the backing plate up to the screws.
Once both screws are engaged you can let go, and just screw in from the
inside.

Here you can see the tie-down is fully installed. Later holes will be
cut in the carpet and load mat when the interior is re-installed to permit
the tie-downs to be used.

Note that I opted to install the forward tie-downs under the folding seats.
Not everyone does this, opting to install the forward points just aft
of the seats when they are down (unfolded). My reasoning is that I still
wanted to be able to secure an even larger volume of cargo with the seats folded
forward. When the seats are down they trap the ratchet strap line, so the
system still works.

All four installed. Here you can see the interior is pulled, and the truck
is a big (no longer rusting) mess.

Here you can see the system in action using your basic ratchet straps. These
are rated at 180kg which should be plenty. You can also see the rear seats
are down (unfolded), and the tie-downs still operate properly.