Rusty Chassis.

[rustyrearcrossmember]

Hi,

Inspected closely the under the 90 today and found some quite alarming rust. The lowest parts of the chassis are really very rusty, i could push my finger through in places if i wanted to, currently i have pound signs spinning around in my head. I have posted some photos, the best i could get from uinderneath, i think they pretty much confirm the bad news.

I dont have a great deal of car knowledge but i would imagine this means my defender is not a long way from snapping in half. Its a 300tdi so not ancient. I was wondering what exactly my options are?

Thanks for your help.

[Les Henson]

That can be repaired - in fact if weld repairs are done properly - the chassis life can be extended considerably. You'll have to expect holes to appear elsewhere - most chassis rust comes from the inside. If the rust in your picture is cut away and then a correct thickness plate seam welded on, then the strength of it won't be compromised.

Les.

[bowfinger]

You'd be amazed at how robust the chassis is when everything else is bolted to it. I recently stripped my 1984 110 CSW to do a chassis swap and it was only when everything was off that if fell to bits (and boy did it fall to bits). As long as you aren't chasing holes along stupid lengths then it should be OK to plate it. But if you want to keep you Landy for a long time (in a 'lets-not-use-up-the-worlds-resources-in-ten-minutes-by-buying-a-new-car-every-three-years' kinda way) you should start looking at putting a few quid away every month to eventually swap the chassis because once it has holes it won't get better. Swapping the chassis and looking after it will add at least another 20 years to its life.

[ThreeSheds]

This is based on RRC experience, but should be relevant I think:

When you start digging you will probably find that quite a lot of the bottom of that area is either lace or just rust. Mine started out looking like yours, but in the end I had to take out a section about six inches long and in places upto half an inch up the sides before I found good metal - I then plated it with short sections cut from 2mm wall box section, that way I avoided having to bend anything.

I would rate it as one of the easier welding jobs because it's reasonably thick metal, although since I had to take the fuel tank out to get at the inner chassis areas it did take a while.

Roger