On guard (guard on)

So the dogs love the new car. In fact every time I walk them past it Benny wags his tail and sniffs around the doors.

One of the nice things about the Freelander is the tail glass, which can be fully lowered to get more air in the cabin. But not much good to stop dogs from leaping out.

Land Rover thought of this and made a guard which fits to the tail door. Only trouble is the cost - nearly £100 for some mesh!

I made up a template out of some cardboard, replicating the original.

Looking in my parts (scrap) pile I fount the framing from my parents old swing seat. All 90° bends but the right diameter.

Setting to the job with grinder and blow torch, I cut the frame into 4 smaller pieces, with the aim to save and reuse the bends.

Heating up the bends with the torch made it a bit easier to bend them to the correct angle, then it was on to the welder.

A confession, I'm not a great welder. I don't have a decent welder either, just a Lidl stick welder that is a little finicky to use and has lousy duty cycle.

But still, I can use it to stick metal together.

After some faffing, I got the 4 pieces back together, with only a few blow throughs...

Next its time for some mesh. I had this in my shed already from the load guards I fitted to the old van. Stocks as good as money...

A suitable size piece was cut to size and flattened to match the new guard before being welded in place. The whole thing was painted in black smooth Hammerite.

Next it was time to fit the mounting brackets. These came from eBay - not genuine but neither is my guard!
After much gnashing and wailing of teeth I was convinced I had marked the positions correctly so out came the drill. I own a nutsert tool so these were installed easily, after a little paint was added to the bare metal.

The vapour barrier was already torn, I'm not that much of an animal. Just need to reseal shortly.

And fitted. Looks good, fits correctly, and as I made it to factory dimensions I could always swap out for a genuine one if I find one cheap enough, but as they usually go for £60+ I think I'll be content with my own handiwork for now...

What do you know? The damn thing fits!

An it proved useful later that day taking the dogs to meet my wife for a lunchtime walk.