The 'Ag-Rover'
The Ag-Rover conversion was produced by AT Vehicles of Rossendale. It was originally designed to be a smaller version of the Unimog. Initially it was promoted in the agricultural market, moving on to include local authorities, who used the vehicles for grass-cutting and parks maintenance. The vehicle was based on a 110" Defender chassis/cab, fitted with portal axles, and a tractor style power take-off and three point linkage.
Roger Stephenson and Steve Castellani (both previously from Trantor, the Stockport high-speed tractor makers) were responsible for the design and construction of the vehicle. The rear chassis has a flat platform of box section steel at the rear to allow the hi-cap style tub to be fitted or removed quickly. Rear mudguards are bolted to the chassis, and the vehicle has adopted modified Land Rover axles, with portal droppers. The standard factory axles were fitted with the portal 'droppers' which fitted directly to the original bolt arrangement on the ends of these axles, before re-attaching the steering swivels to the front and the drive flanges to the rear. The portal modification was made to allow a greater ground clearance over rough ground. The portal 'droppers' or 'stub ends' that were fitted to the axle ends were the less common chain driven type, not spur driven like the Volvo C303 or Unimog. These units are reported to have produced a fair bit of backlash. The exhaust exits between the wheels, just behind the cab on the passenger side of the vehicle. The rear axle has a steel cradle welded to it, acting as the mounting for a three point linkage (for tractor accessories) and associated hydraulic gear. This meant that any implement carried added it's weight to the rear axle, increasing grip. The chassis has been chopped short, just behind the rear axle, to allow clearance for the three point linkage etc. The power take off emerges centrally at the back, providing a complete tractor style connection point for powered implements. The vehicle is fitted with series IIb / One Ton specification wheels, and 9.00x16 tyres. Complete Land Rover vehicles were purchased and then stripped and modified to suit.
The engine fitted in the vehicle pictured is a 2.5 litre normally aspirated diesel driving a standard 5 speed box, which is maybe a bit underpowered. We would like to know if other engines were tested, we have no data at present. In hindsight, the Ag-Rover came to the market a little too soon and suffered reliability problems centred around the gear train. This meant that the cost of keeping the Ag-Rovers running in a commercial environment was prohibitive.
Land Rover built its own 110 for testing fitted with portals, but the project was abandoned due to 'handling issues'. At this time as many as four examples of the Ag-Rover are known to survive.
Thanks to Roger Stephenson for information on these vehicles.
(left) Ag-Rover E 408 XDB. (right) Ag-Rover portal conversion.
Ag-Rover rear.
David Ferguson Wrote:
With regard to the Ag-Rover in your article, this vehicle was sold to Bury County Council along with its sister vehicle E409 XDB. They bought these two vehicles as they thought it would do the job of a light tractor as well as the transport work of a normal Land Rover. However technical issues meant that, for the council, they were not ideal.
Engines fitted to AG-Rovers were the 2.5 d, 2.5 td and the very last ones sold had the 200 tdi fitted. They were all driven through the 5 speed LT77 gearbox. PTO shaft hp rating for the 2.5 d was 47 hp whilst the 2.5 td and the later 200's had a shaft hp rating of 60 hp.
I've attached a few recent photo's of E408 XDB for your reference.
David's Ag-Rover, E 408 XDB.
Roger has helped me with certain specific technical queries I have had relating to my vehicle and has also been good with snippets of the history and development of the vehicles. There were a total of 12 full spec Ag-Rovers built with as many as 30 lower spec vehicles and rumour has it, a blue 90 built for Lancashire Council. Neither Roger or Steven would say how many have been built even when asked directly. Steven Castellani left AT Vehicles after the 6th vehicle was produced but he didn't say what year that was - so as of this moment I can not say how many vehicles have been modified.
From the information I have, three are taxed for the road and one is on a SORN, but I know one has been burnt out and the ex-Kingston-upon-Thames Ag-Rover has had its portal axles removed, and what's left of it is now blue and not white. I am getting info slowly on these vehicles but much of it is now usually years out of date.
The company was located in a unit in Holme Bank, Rawtenstall, Lancashire. Here again information is a bit cloudy. Northamptonshire Council bought its Ag-Rover from Valley Engineering and not AT Vehicles. This could be the name of the foundry Steven was running making street furniture before he left to go back to Trantor.
The last Ag-Rover known to me is an 'H'- registered (1990-1991 model year) blue cherry picker that was last known working in the Coventry area some years ago. The prototype Ag-Rover was probably of 1986 vintage as it has lift up door handles but their first blue demonstrator was probably of 1987 vintage with almost certainly a 2.5 d engine. The first one sold was the white sprayer, again 1988 vintage to a farmer in the Perth area of Scotland.
The portal axles were of their own design with the chain link driven by a cog arrangement on the end of the half shafts and held in place and run on four bearing carriers on the portal casing. The casing is of a clever design because each half can be used on any axle, either the inner or outer half which helped with the costs.
I don't know if Land Rover built its own portal axle converted vehicle for evaluation. I have been in touch with Roger Crathorne at Land Rover and again info is cloudy. They did get an Ag in for evaluation. However they wanted a number of issues addressed, but the cost factor was prohibitive to do the work and get approved vehicle status. Roger Crathorne didn't do any evaluation work on the vehicle but he did remember it and certain aspects of the vehicle.
With a vehicle designed and built nearly 25 years ago memories fade and information is getting harder to find, especially when so few were built, but I'd really like to find out more.
David Ferguson
Ag-Rover with wood chipper.
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