[writeup with photos] Replacing both outriggers for the front end of the rearsprings on a Series III 109 (1980) station wagon.

[xychix]

This is a short writeup on how I replaced my rear outriggers on my series III 109 (1980) Station.

This is also my first bigger job, other than this I've only replaced a hydrolic clutch hose (the small flex piece) and replaced a hub seal.

There's a few steps that where already done:
1 - remove the top (roof with sidepanels)
2 - remove the tub (I decided to cut the sil-beams against advice. due to 2 extra tanks under the front seats there were quite a few unreachable bolts avoided by these cuts

I've lifted te truck on the rear with a hi-jack, used wood to support the chassis just behind the front seats. (both ends)
I've put a a stack of rims + some wood under the rear x-member

Now with the weel just touching the ground (can be turned with some force) I removed the nuts (was easy) then the bolts had to come out of the bushes. 1 side was easy, the sh*t came later on that side. The other was stuck.
As the are was hard to reach I decided to first chop off the rotten outriggers.

Using loads of WD-40 and brute force I'd manage to turn the bolt with the rubber of the bush turning IN its outer steel sleeve. Quite a few rounds and I could slowly force the bolt/innerhalf+rubber of the bush out.
Now I didn't own a electric sabre saw (yet) so i used a small electric jigsaw that my wife bought to cut floorpanels. Unfortunately this would only reach halfway in the bush. 
Several hours of destroying with a cold chisel later the bush was out. New polybushes where easy to place when first the poly end where pushed in the spring and the innertube with some grease was placed last.

Thereafter it was time to weld back the outriggers. Offcourse I did scratch the location in the top of the chassis so I could place them in exactly the same spot.


This last photo shows that the top of the chassis was a bit to thin (this was covered by the old outrigger, the new one folds underneath, the old one folded over the top) so I reinforces that with a 3mm plate.

I always tend to seal my welds as I'm using a crappy Ferm 1000 welder with a sort of random wirespeed. welding is a real **** job with that cheap @ss machine.

The other side had a nice complete bush in the spring, however that was just as rusted up. 

After hitting, cutting, cursing, jigsawing etc I bough a proper electric sabre saw, should have done that before starting this job! 15 minutes of cutting and 45 minutes of hitting and it all was out, completely destroyed like the other end. 

The welding is same process for the other side. Springs fell back in place quite easy using a hydrolic jack under the leafs and a few hits with a hammer.
Still waiting for the bolts to arrive so now an old drill keeps it all in place.

Once it really gets under your skin, cool down in a tub filled with ice... (december 2016)

or so some meditation in the snow... (this one is from 2014)

While I was welding away I decided to also patch up that small hole in the rear x-member. More on that in the next post.

Edited December 31, 2016 by xychix

[Les Henson]

Interesting thread. Welding is terrible and why do you think that people on here want to see pictures of you half naked?

 

 

Les

[Bowie69]

Got a hangover, les?

[Arjan]

Mooie klompen...

Keep it coming !

[xychix]

4 hours ago, Les Henson said:

Interesting thread. Welding is terrible and why do you think that people on here want to see pictures of you half naked?

 

 

Les

Cheers to you as well

I know the welds are carp, they appear just ugly but seem strong. If you ever have a Cebora welder for the give I'm more than happy to redo the welds and ritually demolish my Ferm 1000 Mig with the randomness in the wirespeed.

Due to empty battery (no-grid power here, just solar and a generator for heavy tools) I'm still waiting for the photo's of the rear outrigger to by synced.
No more obsceen pictures of me in that post, I promise!

[Les Henson]

Your bad welding is compromising the structural integrity of your vehicle, which potentially could have disastrous results - not only risking yourself, but others. Not being able to do it properly is a poor excuse. There are some parts of the weld that are perfectly fine, so adapting to the available power is all that you need to do (practice makes a good weld).

Bowie69 No, I don't have hangover. You seem to be a perfectionist, so perhaps you can at least appreciate part of my original reply.

 

 

Les

[xychix]

1 hour ago, Les Henson said:

Your bad welding is compromising the structural integrity of your vehicle, which potentially could have disastrous results - not only risking yourself, but others. Not being able to do it properly is a poor excuse. There are some parts of the weld that are perfectly fine, so adapting to the available power is all that you need to do (practice makes a good weld).

Bowie69 No, I don't have hangover. You seem to be a perfectionist, so perhaps you can at least appreciate part of my original reply.

 

 

Les

Hey Les, the issue is that the wirespeed of the machine isn't constant, if the flow seems ok for a little I tend to make a proper weld as long as the speed stays steady. As soon as it starts changing I tend to place points. All the crappy welds are atleast grinded back down, checked and welded a second round in order to make sure the penetration is OK.

Please explain how you think the integrity and with that the safety is compromised? I think I did everything I could to ensure it's solid (although not pretty). If you can explain where you see the heavy risks I might be able to overdo these area's. 

For the record to all readers, dont take my welding as a baseline. Bad wirespeeds, to much or to little power/heat will cause the weld to sit on top of the seam instead of binding the 2 ends together properly. Make sure to always grind down after welding to the height of the two materials in order to ensure the weld has proper penetration (especially if the welding proces was carp!)

I guess this thread shows how we all want our welding to end up:

 

Edited January 1, 2017 by xychix

[Les Henson]

[Les Henson]

In your original post there are clearly holes and poor fusion of the new and old metals ( known as bird $hit  ). there's no need to grind down or fill a weld unless there's a cosmetic requirement) and it only needs your preferred coating (waxoyl, chassis black, etc). Welding clean steel to what was rusty steel always causes a slight problem with getting a perfect weld as you can never usually clean the old metal sufficiently, but a perfectly good weld can still be achieved. Pictures above are an example of that, but the weld is generally good - if a little scruffy

 

 

Les

[Daan]

Hi Xychix,

 

Nice project you have there. I doubt your chassis parts are going to fall off, and judging from the pictures I can see you are on a steep learning curve. 

We appreciate any buildup of our favourite brand and your updates are very welcome. Keep them coming!

 

Daan