Discovery 4 door mirror replacement

 I finally got round to swapping out the damaged door mirror assembly that I damaged at Christmas.

I was hoping to be able to get away with just replacing the plastic upper cover, but when I looked, the metal internal housing was cracked. 

The whole unit had to be replaced.

I tried to do it just by removing the small plastic speaker cover section, but the connector for the cable is behind the door trim panel, so off came the door panel.

It's not too difficult to remove the panel. There's a screw at the open end of the door, towards the top.

There's one behind the door opener. By pushing the bottom edge of the little cover, the top edge pops out enough to get hold of and it comes out.

There are two screws each side of the grab handle. The silver plastic covers are a little tricky to get the trim tools under but with enough confidence and a bit of struggling, they pop off. 

There are some small tabs at the sides that make it more difficult. Knowing that helps to lever in the right direction.

The two long screws in the door pocket are easy to get out.

With all the screws removed, it's fairly easy to pull the panel off, starting in the lower outer corner. Again, it needs a bit of leverage and some confidence to get the clips to pop out.

Watch out for the small triangular speaker housing. There is a popper type clip that will fall out and is easily lost.

As I was only doing the mirror, there was no need to disconnect the wires to remove the door panel. I could get to the door mirror connector and screws, easily with the panel just pulled away.

Swap with the new assembly.

Clip in the new motor and secure with the one central screw.

Attach the wire to the heated mirror and push on.

Lastly, after having checked it works, I clipped on the new plastic cover.

Put it all back together and checked it all still worked.

== 

Continuation of my bide rack for a Discovery 4

Following on from my first attempt, I have completed a solution that holds two bikes securely on the back of a Land Rover Discovery 4.

This version has the bikes with their tyres facing the back of the car.

A single strap is sufficient to hold the bikes securely on the rack although I will use a couple of others to stop them bouncing about.

This version has a few features:

• The lights and the number plate are not obscured
• Easy to fit
• It comes apart easily so it fits in the back of the car

==

Bike rack for a Discovery

I can fit three bikes and three people inside our Discovery 4. I would like to have the option to fit 4 people and 4 bikes. That would need two of the bikes on the outside.

I was not happy with any of the bike racks I could find for a Discovery. The tow ball mounted type were probably the best but I'd like something that is more secured to the car. I also don't have a tow ball on this car.

I decided I could make something that hung from a roof rack.

I used the fittings from a budget strap on rack.

The end result is very secure, which is one of the goals but the bikes overhang the sides more than I would like. Especially my bike because it is so large.

It's not easy to come up with a simple solution to re-position them because the geometry of my bike is so different to that of Shelley's.

I've offered up the bikes a few ways and decided that straight out the back is the simplest. They'll stick out a little bit further than I originally intended but this arrangement will not obscure the lights in any way.

I work on this another weekend, see my newer post.

==