Paddocks 110 Rear Crossmember

[Les Henson]

Going on Paddocks generally good reputation I advised a customer to get one and I would fit it. To say that the quality is poor is an understatement. The poor welding/spatter, component misalignment, and what should be basic measurements were the worst I've ever seen (and I've fitted a few crossmembers in my time). The crossmember might be a Britpart item - the cardboard wrapping had a BritPart label on it anyway, but then it also had yards of Cillit Bang tape wrapped around it There follows a few pictures of the quality of the crossmember, so you can judge for yourselves if you would buy one or not. I had to make extensive alterations to it - including cutting a lot of it off - just so that it would fit and do the job it's supposed to do. Someone ought to make decent crossmembers - they would clean up the market.

Rear floor support bracket - left side

Same thing - right side

Weld - centre, top

Example of bad welding

One anti-roll bar bracket

The other

Weld spatter.

No clamps available ?

Perhaps it's not necessary to do a complete weld.

Or perhaps on only one side

Weak stitching

Even worse the opposite side.

Main section - weld spatter is everywhere.

The ends - still insufficient welding on my opinion.

I had to complete all the main welds - they should be continuous anyway I think.

Even the body mounting tabs were misaligned.

The crossmember came with the rear floor support brackerts on, but one was 3/4" higher than the other.

I had to cut off the floor supports and part of each chassis leg to get it in a condition that would actually fit, plus doing the welding properly - even removing some welding to get the components straight before re-welding them together.

Both floor supports and around 10-inches of the chassis rails were cut off to get the thing to fit correctly

This is what it looks like now - 3-hours wasted altering something that should go straight on.

Les.

[Happyoldgit]

That's dire.

[OilIT]

OMG

Ive got a 90 cross member in the shed for mine from them - I will take a look at it tomorrow to see if its as bad and report back....

[western]

Blimey, even I could weld better than that & I haven't welded anything since 1975

[Bowie69]

WOW, that's horrid!

When I replaced my Lighweight's one (1/4 chassis actually), the fabrication was a hundred times better than that, all the tabs lined up properly, welding was..... more than acceptable (probably better than mine at the time ) and it slid straight into place with no trimming whatsoever.

Either you have been really unlucky, or they use different suppliers for the Lightweight/Civvy items...

If that had arrived.... I would have been tempted to send it back, granted it's your customer's and therefore more awkward, but in another world!

[roguevogue]

So, what's your problem again?

Sadly this is starting to be typical.

[GBMUD]

That is really poxy, I cannot imagine that anyone could have so little pride as to let that out of their workshop, never mind that Paddocks sent it to a customer. Someone please link Paddocks to this thread and let's see their defence. I guess it is schools work experience week - I saw one looking miserable (on day one!) at Towsure this week.

Chris

[Les Henson]

Sadly this is starting to be typical.

I agree - even as far as saying it's a standard. Sadly I can no longer recommend any parts supplier for chassis components.

Les.

[Scotian]

I was stuck between buying a new cross member or fabricating one from a bit of steel box section myself. This has most certainly swayed me over to the self fabrication route.

[carl hurst]

That must have been made early one monday morning after a heavy weekend with the lads,

Carl.

[siearl]

That looks shocking considering the amount of money you pay for these sort of things you at least expect it to have some sort of quality and at the most line up

[LandyManLuke]

Crikey

Re-enforces my decision to make my own out of box section.

If i'd done welding like that i'd have cut it up and put it in the bin!!

[callum]

i'm afraid that's all you can get.

i went to great lengths not to get abritpart one, but the one i ended up with is not much better than that. very thin steel held together with short bursts of weld, spatter all over the place and bits of wire stuck to it in places. in its defence i carefully measured it and it all seems ot be the correct size and alignment but its still ****. it will have to receive lots of remedial work before going on.

i spoke to a few chassis suppliers when hunting for a non britpart one and they just used pattern parts rather than making their own, so when you get anew chassis, that's what you get attached to the end of it.

[daveturnbull]

Classic s**part - it fits where it touches. If you're lucky.

[Steve King]

Well, own up time, the crossmember is for my 110 . It arrived at work and I more or less dashed home and got my Defender and chucked it in the back. I could see that the welds not covered in Cillit Bang tape were not good, however I didn't imagine that the components would be so misaligned as well. Well I am no welder either but I have done better!

I will e-mail and ring Paddocks and let them know of this thread.

Hmmm the question is Les, would have the overpriced crossmember from Bearmach have been any better?

Steve

[Les Henson]

Bearmach crossmembers - measurement wise were fine the last time I used one, but the stitching was as bad, and that was the reason why I didn't recommend them. Paddocks mostly good reputation was the reason for me recommending using them.

Anyway - too late now Steve

Les

[sgnas]

I fitted a Bearmach one last weekend.

It appears to have batch traceability, so the sticker purports anyway.

It was a lot better than the one Les has.

It was stitch welded, but all good.

Only has extensions on 3 sides, so you have to plate up on the inner rail.

The only (small) issue was that I needed to put an extra piece of rubber (ex mudflap so ~4mm) under the floor supports.

It was about £127+vat, don't know how that compares to Paddocks

These replacements are no where near as thick/strong as the Landrover original. But they have their faults too and are NOT fully welded either!

Best bit. Passed the MOT (re)test on Tuesday

Les, have you cut down the extensions?

Bearmach ones were much longer. Enabled me to hole and puddle weld on the outer rail for extra strength. But made access on the top rail really tight!

edit:

Mine was on a 90.

I managed the whole job in about an hour and a half more than the garage would have charged for. Which isn't bad as getting the wiring out took a LOT longer than expected and I should have borrowed a 9", but then I would have probably needed to repair the loom

[Ryan]

I'm no welder, or mechanic, or anything approaching competent when it comes to Land Rovers, but it looks to me like the pigeons have been having a go at that cross member

[nobber]

thats pants , really.

i suppose if we keep buying this rubbish they will keep selling it.

[Les Henson]

I cut approximately 10-12 inches off the rails, they would have originally gone almost to the spring mount. If I had just removed the floor mounts and left the extensions as they were - they would have been to narrow to fit over the cut end of the chassis - giving this sort of problem.

It should slide on, line-up, and the finished job should look like this -

Les.

[disco tony]

new supplier?

I think these two threads were made for each other?

[mickeyw]

I will e-mail and ring Paddocks and let them know of this thread.

Never mind letting them know about this thread, I think I would be asking for a refund! 'Unmerchantable quality' springs to mind. Please excuse my ignorance if this would be a waste of time.

I don't do a lot of welding but when I do I manage a damn site better than than with my el cheapo SIP welder. What an utter disgrace!

I seem to recall someone on this forum wanting to set up a engineering & fabrication company a few weeks ago. Decent chassis parts, there's something to start with.

Michael

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Going on Paddocks generally good reputation

Read that ...........starting laughing ..............read the thread finished laughing............

Paddocks are Sh*te of the finest poor quality and even worse customer service,

can't belive you got that from them ,

oh and Craddoiks are just as bad the cross member Jon White bought from JC was almost as bad....

Nige

[ciderman]

That must have been made early one monday morning after a heavy weekend with the lads,

Carl.

Or late on a friday in a hurry to get to the pub .

That is disgusting , how do they get away with selling something so badly made as that .

With a lot of talk of SVA testing at the moment regarding chassis mods and replacement chassis parts , Surely it has to be a like for like part and thats nothing like the original rear crossmember in the respect of structure and strength.

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

Les,

Your are going to like this bit even less …………….

That X member looks like an SPI …………. They are reputed to be the best for ‘fit’

I fitted one of these to my 90 in late 2002 …………… I redressed it just as you have, my son took it to his works and the inside was sprayed with some ‘stuff’ they use which is OEM corrosion inhibitor on most vehicles, then it was further treated using waxoil pumped in at high pressure.

Last weekend I was poking about at the rear end (ooooer ) and was able to push my finger right through it in 2 places………..

The section between the chassis rails is fine ………….the outer tapered sections have both rusted badly from the inside, so that the ‘face’ of the X member is now thin in these areas……………….it seems that the quality of the metal is poor as the rot has set in and the metal in these areas seems to have rotted internally within its 2mm thickness !

Fortunately the inner box sections (i.e. the part facing the underside of the vehicle) have not rusted and are in what seems to be good condition…………

So, 5 years old and its scrap ………….I would imagine that an untreated X member, will rot even quicker ………… I guess it keeps you in a job !

I will build the replacement myself (a la HFH) in 5mm ………………….

Ian