This is a utility model of the series II Land Rover, aimed at farmers and contractors who needed a reliable and rugged vehicle in their work. It is four wheel drive, with 8 forward speeds and 2 reverse speeds. With an optional overdrive, which operated on all gears, this range was effectively doubled. The engine is a 2.25 liter Rover 4 cylinder unit with roller lifters and 3 main bearings in this early example, later engines had 5. Suspension is by leaf springs on both axles. The company considered using independent suspension but felt it was not suited to off road conditions at its then current state of development. The vehicle has a very heavy duty box section chassis frame, a steel bulkhead (below where the windscreen is) and the remainder of the body is aluminum alloy. Seating and creature comforts are minimal, yet reasonably comfortable even on fairly long trips. This is a slow vehicle, and will not happily go over about 60-65mph. Many accessories were available for the Land Rover, including agricultural attachments, winches, PTO units, and more. This is the long wheelbase version of the truck, and is considered to be good for towing. The shorter version is known as an "88".

Photos: various views of the 109- showing towing eyes, lamp guards and repainted wheels with new Dunlop "Radial Rover" 235/85-16 tires, but this view does not show the factory approved Fairey locking front hubs I later installed. Lower right is the new engine nearly finished. Photo on lower left shows the original fixed front hubs, and Bob Faulhaber with surfboard.

This example came to me in running condition from an owner in Crockett, CA. It is a nice truck because it's mostly stock; many of the Land Rovers that can be found in the USA have been heavily modified. Land Rovers in a condition like this one are relatively cheap in the U.K., and usually would have severe chassis and bulkhead rust. But here in the USA they are not all that cheap, I was lucky to get this one for a reasonable price, perhaps due to it's multicolored appearance. It has a very rare long hardtop, with an upper rear door that can be fixed in the "up" position. It also has a hand throttle.

I made many improvements and repairs to this truck. I replaced the right hand windscreen glass, the previous owner having mentioned that he went out drinking with his sister in the truck and her head managed to hit the glass and crack it! I rebuilt the engine, which was something of a major undertaking. The engine is extremely heavy, just to lift the bare block off the ground on a handtruck (an easy thing with an MGB block) required 2 people. I've worked on the brakes, steering, radiator, generator, defrosters, wipers, body work, and more. There's still a long way to go but at least it is a reasonably functional and useful vehicle.

Braking system hydraulics on this vehicle proved challenging. It's quite difficult to get all the air out of the hydraulic system. This was a 4 month saga. For a while the problem seemed to be a combination of trapped air and wheel cylinders that didn't leak fluid out but leaked air back in. One of the revelations was the use of special clamps to close off the flexible lines to allow me to locate air trapped in the system. I didn't like the idea of doing this, but it now seems absolutely necessary on this vehicle. I have consumed about 2 gallons of brake fluid trying to solve these problems... in the end it actually turned out that the whole issue was caused by prior owners/ workers who overcut the rear drums, resulting in it taking more than one full pump of the master cylinder to move the rear shoes into contact with the drums, meaning that bleeding was difficult and pumping was needed even with all the air removed. Truly the nightmare brake job! The design of the drum brake adjusters is such that if the drums are overcut, there is no possibility of compensating like there is on other designs. This may be safer, but I sure lost a lot of time figuring it out.

On a trip to England in 1999 I managed to find a number of accessory items to fit this truck, some of which I've already installed. My finds included a pair of Fairey locking hubs, a rare Turner PTO winch, and a rear PTO drive unit for the gearbox, plus a drive shaft and rear PTO unit.

This truck has now been sold to a new owner in Southern California, he drove it home. I now have a serious case of seller's remorse, often wishing I had this truck back again. The money I got was little compensation and was quickly expended.