Advantages of a rollover jig

Post by **DCat** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:50 pm

Hi just wanted to post a pic of my morris on the roll over jig. I'd just finished prepping the underside ready to remove the rear valence, which was replaced about 16 years ago when we did the timber, this time I had more room and time to complete it. Mind you the car has been off the road since '95, must get moving.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:54 pm

Very nice indeed - and room to do it indoors too.
Any chance of some constructional pics of the jig ??

Post by **rayofleamington** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:19 pm

off the road since 95? terrible...
One of mine has been off the road since 1971!!

Post by **DCat** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:54 pm

Sounds like you need a prod in the right direction too... As my wife told me, 'it's been sitting there too long, fix it or get rid of it', seems to have had the desired effect, now she can't keep me out of the garage!!

Post by **stag36587** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:06 pm

That will be me to then. I have the Green rusty Moggy, I have the rollover jig, I have the garage. My wife has just said "you need to get on with 'that car' otherwise get rid of it". Plenty of coffee, rust, welding wire and elbow grease then....

Post by **DCat** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:39 pm

This is how it used to look!! Amazing what was hidden underneath!! The wife can't moan too much, she was the one using it for work and returned home and said 'there's a funny noise coming from the rear' the car not hers, the leaf spring mounting had disappeared under the rear seat. OOps!

Post by **Steve_PFJ** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:26 pm

Just thought I'd add these for bmcecosse as I figure the request for constructional photos is because you're thinking of making one. I've just finished making this for my restoration. Slightly simpler design than the others but very effective.

Post by **DCat** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:27 pm

Our 'Chassis Tilter' came from NBN back in '95, it does allow you to fit it to most cars that have some sort of bumber mount. You can fit it to the car with wheels on and then jack it up on the screw threads to the desired height and turn to any angle. It's excellent for welding and stripping the paint off those inaccessible places.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:40 pm

Thanks Lads - I've just made myself a jig that bolts to the hubs for rolling the car on it's side - I will start to accumulate parts to make one like yours Steve - I see you used the engine mount towers rather than the bumper bar mounts. I assume it worked ok ?

Post by **Bluesman** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:19 am

Hmm. Both these require the chassis legs and surrounding metal to be strong. When changing those bits, the jig would be super handy, but with metal as strong as gingerbread--- Why not use the front crossmember as a fixture point instead? And maybe the wall between passenger seat backrest and boot? Just an idea.

Cheers /Richard

Post by **alex_holden** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:35 pm

Bluesman wrote:And maybe the wall between passenger seat backrest and boot?

The Travellers don't have a bulkhead there.

Post by **Robins** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:50 pm

I'm not keen on a role over jig, they can't really do the car any good if the rot has set in. There's no way to get the car level and straight, would be a shame to do loads of welding and realise the body has twisted. And how many bumper mounts are strong enough to hold it up?

I've just tacken my traveller apart to do some surgery that I wish I'd done first time round. You know how it is when you look back at stuff you did 6 or 7 years ago and think "wish i'd known back then what I do know" still it was my first real restoration and experiance was low. Just replaced with all new panels, both full front chassis legs, both front bubble shape inner arches and both front flat inner arches, hinge piller reinforcing. All done with some tall axle stand, who needs a roleover jig

Looking darn fine now even if I do say so myself.

Post by **DCat** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:14 pm

"There's no way to get the car level and straight, would be a shame to do loads of welding and realise the body has twisted"
I agree that your mounting points have to be sound before attempting to fit a jig, but there are ways and means to keep a chassis straight and prevent twisting. Once you have your car on it's side with a jig, you can lower it to the ground to support the weight and prevent any twisting. A car can even twist and become untrue if it isn't braced correctly even when its the right way up on its's wheels! especially if you are cutting away sills.

Yep its all a big learning curve, thats whats life is all about.

Post by **dunketh** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:32 pm

I'd love one of these but I'm not sure what the council would think when I start using it in the municipal carpark that forms my 'open air workshop' at weekends.

Post by **Steve_PFJ** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:46 pm

The engine mounts seem strong enough. I was more sure of them, what with being mounted to the chassis legs, than i was of the bumper mounts but I supose it will very from car to car depending on the issues it has.

My initial plan had been to just use the bolt holes to attach to them but even with a flange down the fronts of the mounts I couldn't stop the jig pivoting on the bolt, so it ended up welded to them aswell.

I have considered the possibility of twisting the shell, especially when I start having to remove more substantial chunks of chassis. I figure I can always and temporary bracing before hand if needs be.

Post by **IaininTenbury** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:31 pm

I use both types at work - the hub mount type and the NBN bumper mount type (supplied by CJ Autos, Rochdale). Both have their advantages and uses. The old type hub mount one will turn virtually any car (MGB at the moment) wheras the bumper mount one needs the brackets to fit the car so tends to get used on Minors only.

The last traveller I used on that was too rotten for bumper mounts, so I made up brackets to bolt to the engine mount area of the chassis leg which worked fine till one chassis leg started to break off. At that point I carefully wound the jig down and laid it on its side on the floor....
Even really rotten ones dont bend much and its easy / common sense to measure and check to see if its still square before you weld.

Post by **alanworland** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:48 pm

But wont you miss all those welding bits sizzling away in your ears?

Post by **IaininTenbury** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:57 pm

Like a hole in the head...

Best thing I ever bought!