Maverik Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Just to pull this together into one topic which will hopefully benefit someone else who's looking to do a chassis change on a D2. As I didn’t have access to a lift, I did have a tractor with a front lifter, using the already established method of lifting the body using the side box sills, I devised a lift system that used the same lift points on the body. I made a few mock up lift brackets, did a few calculations to make sure they'd be strong enough, then added 4x as much steel thickness then added some stiffening which further added to its strength as well as stability. Important to note, although I consider my welding pretty good, the main strength of the lift bracket is found in the single piece which is laser cut 4mm mild steel plate. To make sure I had enough clearance for the lift I did some 3d model mock ups to give me confidence everything would fit where it should. Some of my assumptions from a load perspective D2 weighs in at 2100kg. Chassis, engine & axles it was estimated to come in 800-1000kg So body was sitting in around ~1200kg Best case over 4 lift points you'll see 300kg, worst case you'll see 600kg over 2 lift points. We load tested the tractor forks at the planned lift radius and it lifted half the whole truck no problem, we assumed the tractor to be good for a number of ton. I used x4 1t 1.5m endless round slings with x4 3.5t bow shackles to connect to the lift brackets. Steps for removing body: Front bumper off Rear bumper off Air system disconnect AC system disconnect Chassis electrics disconnect Engine Electrics disconnect Water hoses disconnect Clutch pipes disconnect Brake pipes disconnect Steering column disconnect Remove Radiators Fuel filler disconnect Dismantle centre console Drill out rivets for gearstick gaiter plate Moved front seats fwd to get access below carpet for mid body bolts We then found some mostly flat ground and lines up the lifting brackets with the rigging and tractor forks. The forks are standard size so I made some 4mm slide on box sections for the forks, we also load tested the fork extensions to make sure they were happy. With everything disconnected the lift was pretty straight forward vertical upwards, due to the arc of the lift it did move slightly closer to the tractor, my very skilled driver just nudged the tractor fwd as we went to compensate for the shift. We dragged the old chassis and engine into the garage were we started strip down in these steps: Fuel tank off Fuel pipes off Chassis harness off Transfer box off (as it was getting changed out) Gearbox off (due to new clutch) Remove old clutch inc flywheel (with use of a flywheel tooth locking tool from LOF) Removed front pulley (as it was squeaking) Lift engine up with engine crane Remove sump and replace sump gasket Replace front and back engine oil seals Disconnect rear axle Drag chassis out of garage with front axle still attached Instal new chassis back in garage above rear axle and below suspended engine Build up rear axle with new rad arms/bushes shocks and springs Transfer front axle from old chassis to new chassis build up with new suspensions units Lower engine onto new chassis (with new engine mounts*) Build up new clutch Re-instal gear box Instal new transfer box Rebuild brake system with new pipes Re-install chassis fuel pipes Re-instal chassis wiring Re-instal fuel tank Re-install all the small brackets and fitting Re instal anti roll bars Replace PAS pipes At this point the chassis is just about ready to slide back under the body before that I went and fettled the body mounts including replacing the mounting rubbers and big washers and tubes**. *new non factory engine mounts seems to have introduced a good bit of engine vibration ** hidsight unless split or colapsed I would re-use the genuine body mounting rubbers - aftermarket seems to be a harder material. Ready to lift the body back on we re-rigged the lift brackets and lowered the body back onto the chassis - this was surprisingly easy, the tractor and operator had enough skill to do the fine adjustments needed to land it where it needed to go - unfortunately we had to do it 3 times as I messed up pre installing the 2 rear most sill bolts (these are the only 2 bolts you need to install with the rubber bushes out its obvious when you see it.) I then installed the wrong length bolts. There are 2 sizes of body mount bolts - the longer ones are for the x4 sill mounts only., shorter for everything else. With the body back on it was a simple case of just hooking all the previously disconnected bits back up. I installed a new transfer box with a CDL - I used the Ashcroft cable kit for easy of fitting, although I've not yet done the final adjustments, its important to note that on my vehicle (a GS) there was no electrical cable tail for the difflock switch - there is however a spare tail that goes to the gearbox temp warning light, which fits quite well. Luckily next to the handbrake there is a plug termination, and the difflock signal cable does go to this header. It’s a simple case of swapping over the Black/Green trace wire for the Black/Blue trace wire, this then gives you the correct difflock light. All in all the Richards chassis fit very well. I had to cobble together cable and brake line clips as I'd not pre-ordered any, if I was doing it again, I would purchase new: Fuel line clips Brake line clips Loom fixing clips AWR5619 Lockut (these are really difficult to re-use) When lifting the body I rolled the rear seats forward, which puts them on the inside of the lifting brackets, I also popped a x2 20kg lifting weights in each front footwell for good measure to help balance the front end. There was no apparent tendency for the body to want to tip backwards, and the front lift points felt well loaded. It took just over 7 days in total working approximately 167 man hours Chassis cost (inc deliver) £3475 Here are the parts list I replaced. KVH100030 14 Body mount tubes Ordered Received KVF100090 7 Side body rubbers Ordered Received KVF100070 5 Side body rubbers Ordered Received KYG101190 14 Rubber mount bolts Ordered Received RGD100550 1 Watts linkage Ordered Received ANR2938 2 Rear spring isolator Ordered Received 2 Front spring isolator Ordered Received 1 Rear engine oil seal Ordered Received KKB500750 2 Engine mounts Ordered Received Oldman emu 2 Front shock Absorbers Ordered Received Oldman emu 2 Rear shock Absorbers Ordered Received 1 Ac radiator Ordered Received 1 Clutch kit lof powerspec Ordered Received 2 Anti roll bar tie rods front Ordered Received 2 Anti roll bar tie rods rear Ordered Received 2 Anti roll bar bushes front Ordered Received 2 Anti roll bar bushes rear Ordered Received 2 Rear bump stops Ordered Received 2 Front springs TF028 Ordered Received 2 Rear spring TF029 Ordered Received KVF100080 2 Front body rubbers Ordered 6 From radius arm bushes Ordered Received 6 Rear radius arm bushes Ordered Received Suspension bolt kit Ordered Received ESR4549 1 Fuel tank strap Ordered Received WFI100090 1 Fuel tank tray Ordered Received Brake flexi hoses Ordered Received 2 Front radius arms Ordered Received 2 Rear radius arms Ordered Received 1 Transfer box Ordered Received 2 Shock turrets Ordered Received 1 Track Rod Ordered Received 1 Steering Rod Ordered Received 4 Brake calipers F & R Ordered Received 2 Gearbox mounting rubbers Ordered Received 2 Panhard rod bushes and bolts Ordered Received 1 Engine sump gasket Ordered Received 4 Brake caliper carriers 2nd hand Ordered Received 4 Brake caliper slides Ordered Received 8 Brake caliper bolts Ordered Received 2 Rear coil spring mounts Ordered Received Transfer box linkage kit Ordered Received Linkage bushes Ordered Received Ashcroft linkage Ordered Received PAS pipes Ordered Received 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Excellent and informative post. Griff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve b Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 The lift method works very well , worth the effort to plan and fab it all up. As bear says , a very informative and detailed post on "How to" Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowzer Posted 6 hours ago Share Posted 6 hours ago Quality job... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.