LCV chassis

Post by **dean36014** » Sat May 19, 2007 8:29 pm

Well it was the misuse's birthday today, so never one to miss an oportunity, I grabbed two of the largest relatives that came around and dragged them down the garage ;D.
A couple of minutes straining had the cab of the body, the chassis rolled back, and the cab stood on end, all looking like this.

Close examination of this

Revealed lots of this,

The chassis has virtually snapped though in two places, on the o/s side by the rear of the torsion bar mount, on the nearside about 10 inches further back. Its also flexible on the nearside front chassis leg around the front mount for the torsion bar, where previous(and there's lots of it!) dodgy welding had broke allowing the chassis leg to move in a badly welded sleeve.
At this point I'm beginning to hope i can still repair it, I've ordered a decent metal folder, and need to collect a sheet of steel next week.
I don't suppose anyone has any decent new or second hand repair sections available?

I've a full bottle of gas, half a roll of mig wire, I've got me shades and its about a hundred hours of welding to completion

Post by **flying** » Sat May 19, 2007 9:16 pm

good luck...looks like you got your self a project and a half there

Post by **steve4063** » Sat May 19, 2007 9:25 pm

i'm envious do u want 2 sell your garage lol

not fair i have 2 do most of my stuff on the drive

Post by **NZJLY** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:18 pm

Unless you are very keen on welding, might be cheaper and easier to source a new chassis

Post by **les** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:34 pm

Was thinking the same, I've been there! Wait 'till the top plates come off! The problem is it's not easy to find a good chassis, although Deans does look particularly bad.

Post by **dean36014** » Sat May 19, 2007 10:49 pm

Time I have plenty of, money not. I'm been on longterm sick due to an operation on my spine. Still haven't received a penny of my insurance policies as they are trying to wiggle out of paying me

I'd love to get a better chassis, but they all seem to be to far away, and I'm still not allowed to drive. In fairness the chassis does seem rather simple in construction, most of the top plates have been poorly repaired already, so its grind off and replaced. first job is to strengthen it enough so i can turn it over without fear of it snaping.
The garage is a constant source of annoyance. I could never understand why the previous owners of the house built it 18 inches in from the fence line each side, leaving two bits of wasted space either side which is unaccesible. If it had been built out correctly it would have been a double garage, but at least its warm and dry and plenty of room to work around one car. Previous projects have always resulted in the garage resembling a bomb sight. New ethics are now to sweep up, and clear up all the tools at the end of a playing session, so next time I go down there I don't spend all my time working in a sty.

Post by **les** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:04 pm

Well good luck anyway, not sure I'd like to manhandle another chassis if I had a spine problem, mind how you go. Agree with your new ethics.

Post by **dean36014** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:34 pm

Well I had a play down the garage today, removed the axle and leaf springs, and then spent an age trying to level it all all on an uneven garage floor.
The first thing I wanted to do was stabilise the chassis, to stop it totally snapping in half. Today i concentrated on nearside chassis rail which seemed the worse of the two. Cleaned the chassis rail up on its sides and seamed welded a piece of 25mm box section along both sides to hold it all together. Then I replaced the top lip which had rotted away with some correct thickness angle. The previously repaired top plates were the ground off, revealing the old plates which were also rotted away underneath. I was actually quite surprised how solid this side was, just a couple of repairs where the lip had rotted. As a bonus I've found that both rear ends of the chassis have been replaced, just not welded very well, so that will get corrected. Now to stabilise the other side, then I can tip the chassis over and replace the rest of the "U" section underneath properly.

A quick question is the rearmost crossmember supposed to be a piece of box section, or has this been incorrectly replaced.

Post by **les** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:19 pm

I have some dimensions for chassis alignment if you need any. I may be able to scan and send.

Post by **dean36014** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:25 pm

That would be great, I'm just hoping I've got it re-alligned correctly. Luckily the side above cracked neatly, levelling it all up, closed the crack up perfectly, and the top of the rail was all level and straight. The other side will be a nightmare as I've got to remove the torsion bar rear mount crossmember and remake it.
I'll PM you my email address, if you can mange to scan it.
Cheers
Dean

Post by **les** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:56 pm

Document sent, I've been having problems with sending mail lately so fingers crossed! Let me know if it arrives.

Post by **dean36014** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:02 pm

Well it hasn't arrived yet, i'll check again in the morning.
Dean

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:07 pm

Hi Dean - I'm glad you've made it this far, and look forward to seeing the rest.
I was amazed how heavy a cab is - I moved one using 3 people and we all had very red faces. I'm hoping that my latest pick up chassis is a bit better than yours but until I actually check it, I can only carry on kidding myself

My current excuse is that I lent my wheel ramps to a colleague 6 weeks ago and haven't had them back yet. In reality I'm just happy to put off finding bad news.

Post by **les** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:09 pm

The problems may still be there. If you don't receive it I will gladly post it to you --the good old fashion way.

Post by **paulhumphries** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:27 pm

rayofleamington wrote: I was amazed how heavy a cab is - I moved one using 3 people and we all had very red faces.

I must be strong as I lifted one off myself a few weeks ago.

To be fair I lifted each corner in turn and then hooked on a strap that was attached to my car port before pulling chassis from under.
The corner was then lifted again, strap unhooked and the cab lowered to the ground.
The cab is a bare unit with EVERY item removed and I can easilly move it around myself.
There again I can, just, manage to pick up a chassis with one hand (cann't walk with it though !)

Paul Humphries

Post by **les** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:34 pm

There again I can, just, manage to pick up a chassis with one hand

Not many people can do that.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:37 pm

There again I can, just, manage to pick up a chassis with one hand

I get back ache just thinking about it - For me it'd be 2 hands and a red face.

Post by **paulhumphries** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:49 pm

rayofleamington wrote:
There again I can, just, manage to pick up a chassis with one hand
I get back ache just thinking about it - For me it'd be 2 hands and a red face.

I used to have arms like Popeye !
20+ years of office work and a brain injury that affect my right side has massively reduced my strength but I still didn't have any probelm carrying a bare chassis from the drive on the front for the house to the bottom of the rear garden by myself.
I can carry 2'x3'x2" paving slabs which weigh 1.25 cwt. I reckon a bare chassis doesn't weight anything like that amount.

Paul Humphries.

Post by **bigginger** » Tue May 22, 2007 12:01 am

Good luck then - they're damn awkward things to carry

Post by **dean36014** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:54 am

Still taking it easy on the lifting front, due to the operation. Mind you I've got clearance to return to work in two weeks, and get my driving license back next week

, so i'll have to start lifting heavy stuff again.
When i bought it, i couldn't get down to inspect the chassis properly, i relied on pictures sent me and what i could see through the bodywork.
it looked like this originally,

The chassis under the body looked OK, I knew about the chassis rot/snap around the torsion bar outrigger, but was surprised how bad it all was.
Good job I got it for peanuts really, otherwise I would be downhearted about it.