front chassis legs

Post by **stag36587** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:35 am

Here's a picture of a previous repair where a chassis leg has had a repair section welded into the middle then a small repair patch added on top, in front of the gearbox crossmember whose bolts have also been welded in place. I don't really want to replace all this and would rather just replace the very rotten first 26 inches or so of the leg. Opinions?

Also where joints have joggled flanges is it good practice to spot weld the flanges as well as seam weld or is that just overkill?

thanks<br>

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Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:57 pm

It looks solid enough at the moment - so you could just leave it be until there is a pressing need to do something about it. Spot welding would just be to hold the part in place - while you weld the seams. No harm in it - but you need access to both sides for proper spot welds. You can of course just drill a small hole in the outer panel - and weld through.

Post by **emmerson** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 7:04 pm

Guess you'd struggle to get the gearbox out though!

Post by **les** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 7:16 pm

You ask for opinions, you probably won't like this one. Renew the complete leg, that patch looks atrocious, and as for welding the bolts---the mind boggles! I wonder what the excuse for that was. Maybe to stop anyone pinching the gearbox!

Post by **minor_hickup** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:11 pm

I'd just cut out the repair and see what's underneath, probably the rotten bit still. If the rest of the leg seems ok then a properly let in repair would be fine.

On mine there was a 'solid looking' repair, which on inspection turned out to be a very bad repair brazed into place!

Post by **alainmoran** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:45 pm

I'd go for replacing the whole lot ...if you didnt do the repair yourself then there is no knowing what is hidden behind it, and the fact that the bolts have been welded up doesnt bode well for the quality of what may be behind that patch.

I would have expected that if someone had let new metal in to replace rot that they cut out then they wouldnt have bothered with the patch over the top?

Post by **youngun** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:45 pm

Hack it out and start again, then you have peace of mind knowing its all solid and not covering anything nasty

Yg

Post by **MGFmad** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:44 pm

minor_hickup wrote:I'd just cut out the repair and see what's underneath, probably the rotten bit still. If the rest of the leg seems ok then a properly let in repair would be fine.

On mine there was a 'solid looking' repair, which on inspection turned out to be a very bad repair brazed into place!

That was what my chassis legs were like, the patched repairs looked solid until I tried to jack the car up and it all started to creak

I went for the new chassis leg option - at least I know they will be solid for a good few years now.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:24 am

Same here - replace the lot.
I've had to repair cars where previous work had been done with 'cut down' repair sections (e.g. shortened centre crossmember end piece).
When the next bit along fails, not only do you have to do the job properly but you also have to remove the very nearly new cut down repair section -> Highly frustrating!!

A flange joint is designed to be spot welded. If you just seam weld the outer lip of a chassis leg flange you won't create the box section how it was designed and it's not as stiff. I don't think you'll tell the difference but personally I plug weld them (using an 8mm drill to make lots of holes before assembling)