Had a crack at installing the recovery eyes this evening. A fun 3 hours of pottering about in the driveway after a fun morning of skiing. All in all, a pretty excellent way to spend a Friday.


Slow and steady

This is all the screws/bolts etc




Loaner from Autozone

Out with the old

Be gone!!

Let the cliff winching begin

PowerfulUK trim pieces


A pretty decent Friday.




All in all. Very doable for even an automotive dullard like me. A couple of notes..

Raise the rear up as high as it goes and even jack it up a wee bit to allow easy access to the screws in the wheel well. (2 on each side)

I broke a little of the plastic trim on each fender flare. The part where the replacement plastic clips attach on the inside. No biggie, but that's the only fly in the ointment from the whole process. I'll probably fix it with some epoxy at some point but may not bother. It's nothing that affects the visuals or function but a little frustrating to make a bilateral error.

The NAS fender flare lights add a little nuisance value to the whole process.


PowerfulUK were excellent. Great price, shipped to me in under a week (UK to WA). Their trim pieces are Okay. Not a great fit on the RHS. LHS was perfect. No idea if OEM are better. They are a bit pricier.

 

You seriously just removed your bumper and set it finished surface down on those pavers!? Ouch.

Good job on the recovery hooks though. Still can't quite figure out why these are not just installed at the factory for an 'off-road' vehicle. Probably some obscure crash regulation or something.

 

I like to live dangerously I guess. No scratches. At least none to my eye but I'm not worried either way. It's just a bumper on a Defender not a museum piece.

I agree. These should be stock on all trims for a Defender. LR's flagship off-roader comes with no rear off-road recovery points as stock. I would have had to add the bright pack to get them on the SE. I don't wall all the rest of that stuff. Just the recovery eyes. On the build site it is $200 to add them and then when you do there's a pop up telling you to bend over and think of England.

It's a clever cash grab I guess. Just pointless. LR still have to fit two bits of steel (receivers for the recovery eye) anyway and supply the buyer with the on-road recovery eye in the trunk. 3 parts rather than two. I'm sure it makes sense to someone.

 

My thoughts exactly. A piece of cardboard to lay the bumper on is so easy.

 

Yeah, I can't quite figure out why factory install necessitates selecting the bright exterior pack. I think the bright finish on the bumpers looks seriously cheesy when compared to the standard satin finish. I also think anyone interested in having the recovery points would probably not want the bright pack.

 

my understanding is that the bright pack is actually a body color matching. the graphical display on the configurator is not accurate. That is at least what some sales guide said here a few months back.

I also think its ridiculous they are not standard. The weight of the item in its place cant be substantially different and they still install it. Its nonsensical to me.

 

I just had the tow package for my new 130 SE installed today by the local dealer. He could not find the loops without waiting weeks. Lucky8 didn’t have them and said it would be a week before they could give me a delivery date. Really wanted them put on at the same time as the tow kit as the bumper was being pulled. And yep, I don’t want the bright package, either. Some day….

 

PowerfulUK will have them to you in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Black, Red, L'orange and Blue. Great prices and service.

It's not a big job. Quite fun to do.

Best bit of money I've spent. Indispensable on those days when the excrement and rotational air-coolant device are in close proximity.

 

l fitted these as well, and broke the same wheel arch trim clips!

lt doesn't seem to affect the trim fitting so l've not replaced them.

lt's a bit of a task to remove the rear bumper/fender.

The Powerful U.K. video certainly helped, particularly when you've got to basically yank the bumper assembly off after removing all the bolts and fasteners, to release the top row of clips (they don't break)