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Rechassising - options


JST

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Right then, found some small holes in the chassis today whilst checking the vehicle over (for cobwebs and the such like!)

Anyway the rear half of the chassis has a fair few patches on it added over the last 3 years (suspension areas etc) the latest ones are not going to be the easiest to fix and maybe the time has come to replace the whole chassis anyway.

I like the truck and despite the comments here and its limited use want to keep it. The issue i have is not having much time to get the job done (ie upto end Nov realistically) plus there are a few things like cage, wing bar and winch mounts that will need welding onto the new chassis too which i am not upto doing myself.

So if i went the rechassis route (and do the bulkhead at the same time) whats a reaslistic man hours scale

next who has personal recommendations for Chassis suppliers and why - think 200tdi 90 - now with the cage mount etc to go on do i go galvanised or not?

Grateful for your thoughts (less the non constructive ones (Walfy!))

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is there a significant price difference for a non-galved new chassis?

Think someone on here had their existing chassis dipped at cost of only 200 quid or so. If that were the case, could be worth getting a chassis, having whatever welded onto it and then sending it off for dipping afterwards?

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Right then, found some small holes in the chassis today whilst checking the vehicle over (for cobwebs and the such like!)

Anyway the rear half of the chassis has a fair few patches on it added over the last 3 years (suspension areas etc) the latest ones are not going to be the easiest to fix and maybe the time has come to replace the whole chassis anyway.

I like the truck and despite the comments here and its limited use want to keep it. The issue i have is not having much time to get the job done (ie upto end Nov realistically) plus there are a few things like cage, wing bar and winch mounts that will need welding onto the new chassis too which i am not upto doing myself.

So if i went the rechassis route (and do the bulkhead at the same time) whats a reaslistic man hours scale

next who has personal recommendations for Chassis suppliers and why - think 200tdi 90 - now with the cage mount etc to go on do i go galvanised or not?

Grateful for your thoughts (less the non constructive ones (Walfy!))

could you not persuade the supplier of the chassis to fix you existing cage and extra brackets to it before galvanising ?

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Local galvanising i was going to look into for post additions, out of interestwould it really matter if the extra bits weren't galvanised? i mean a non galvansised chassis has lasted 20years so far. in fact do i need to get it galvanised?

What about Hot zinc coating is that worth it?

Paul - i was going to ask that question to suppliers, depending on who was recommended here.

thank you for the points though.

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Local galvanising i was going to look into for post additions, out of interestwould it really matter if the extra bits weren't galvanised? i mean a non galvansised chassis has lasted 20years so far. in fact do i need to get it galvanised?

The difficulty with welding parts to a galvanised chassis is the dangerous fumes given off.

You are not doing the welding yourself, and you may find others won't do it either. If you do find somebody then you are going to have to pay extra manhours for them to grind the zinc off, and even then they cannot get to any zinc inside the chassis, which will still burn and fume.

Realistically, your option is to buy a non-galvanised chassis, have the modifications done, then have it coated in whatever is advised. I have no suggestions as to what.

A couple of questions to think about:

Can your modifications be done without a body being fitted - and still be in the correct position?

Have you looked at delivery timescales from Richards, or Marsland, or Paddock Spares (who source from Marsland, but whose delivery may be quicker)?

In mid 2008 a friend was quoted 6 weeks from Richards, for a Series 2, but do check yourself. Your chassis may be so common they have them hanging from the rafters. OTOH, you may find ungalvanised means it's a special build.

Off the cuff, I'd say you do not have time to complete the re-chassis, especially including a bulkhead rebuild, between now and the end November 2008, which is 11 weeks away.

Unless that is you find a chassis that can be delivered in less than 6 weeks, and a fabrication welder who can start as soon as the chassis arrives.

I'm assuming you have a day job, that eats into your free time. :-)

Sorry, not a positive outlook, when viewed against your aspirations.

Perhaps patch one last time for this year, re-chassis next year.

Good Luck

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James,

I guess it depends if you want the nut&bolt restorations that abound in the magazines, with every part lovingly painted and allowed to dry before assembly. For a friend's farm hack Series truck we didn't have the time or justification for that, so he bought a IIA rolling chassis and we used a silage handler to lift the body clear (by the roofrack!), an engine crane to move the engine/box across, and then dropped the body back onto the mounts. He did replace some of the essentials like all the brake pipes, but he was able to do that on the chassis as it sat, before we took the old one off the road.

There were some minor alignment issues afterwards but nothing a jack and blocks of wood couldn't resolve. Overall, a chassis change in a day (albeit a 14 hour grafting day for three people).

As David says above, you need a way to specify exactly where you want the cage feet to land, because a 12.5mm clearance hole for an M12 bolt doesn't leave much wiggle room.

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I rechassis'd a 200tdi 90 2 years ago, took 8 weeks of weekends and odd evenings. It was summer which helped. I bought a richards chassis which was spot on. Worth bearing in mind richards are used to adding cage mounts and they do some work with North Off Road to add mounts. Depends where you got your cage I guess.

In terms of time three of us stripped the 90 to the chassis in a day or so, the bulkhead swop took some time and was fiddly. I put a different rear axle on, new doors, new suspension etc on at the same time which didn't help. Fiddly bits are lining up the bulkhead/doors/rear tub and the wiring. I gave up trying to feed the rear loom through the chassis as it kept getting caught. P clipped it to the rear tub instead. Plan for lots of small part replacements, allow £500 for bits and bobs that you may as well replace while its in bits, new brake lines, connectors, bushes.....

I didn't think my old chassis was that bad but once removed it was frightening where it had rotted away. I had an Iceland trip planned and didn't want any chassis failure when being snatched out of a river!

The best bit is not having to dread the annual MOT!

Doug

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James

If you are going to the trouble of fitting all those bits to a new chassis I see no point in anything other than a galvanised chassis. For the additional cost it's worth it. Corrosion usually starts inside the chassis, however much waxoyl gets squirted inside, so fit and forget a galvanised chassis. Good selling point also :lol:

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I would recommend Richards Chassis - having personal experience of their stuff.

Les.

Another vote for Richards Chassis, superb workmanship.

Once had a Chassis from another well known supplier and spent the best part of a day redoing some of the welds, they were atrocious.

Regards

Keith

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i have emailed Richard Chassis and am also contemplating the patch option again having just seen the prices!!!

take a look at some of the ex mod websites. pa blanchard had a new LR chassis the other day - which if it were the right price I would just fit that and weld what you like to it. I have heard rumours that you need to be careful when galvanising to prevent distortion - but that may only apply to thinner gauge stuff like bulkheads - I'm sure somebody can expand on this rumour...

I would then grab the free axles currently available in the for sale section and then at least you can move it around and build a fair bit of it up whilst still having yours roadworthy - of course for the legal reasons you would nee dto put your axles on eventually...

I used a galvanised series chassis from marslands, of course there were a few changes as it was s3 and i wanted s2, but otherwise the workmanship is good. They have just started 90 chassis apparently.

The other option is there is a guy on eblag who sells galv chassis - but i think they are galvanised previously used chassis - so I am not sure how good they are?

extract from blanchard website:

NRC 4664 Chassis Complete.Lightweight £695.00

BLR 2008/N Chassis Leg. Front. N/Side. II/III £26.50

BLR 2000/O Chassis Leg. Front. Offside £26.50

NRC 0236E Chassis Member with Extention £42.00

NRC 0236 Chassis Member. Rear. II.III £36.50

NRC 2622 Chassis. 109"V8. RHD. Genuine £495.00

NRC 4642G Chassis. Galvanised. 88" £795.00

NRC 6841 Chassis. Military Lightweight. £695.00

NRC 3313 Chassis.109"Heavy Duty.LHD.Military £695.00

NTC 7806 Chassis.90" £895.00

NRC 2055 Chassis.Military.109".RHD/LHD.Gen £895.00

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Guest diesel_jim
I have heard rumours that you need to be careful when galvanising to prevent distortion - but that may only apply to thinner gauge stuff like bulkheads - I'm sure somebody can expand on this rumour...

I've hd 2 chassis dipped, no distortions at all. i think it's only thin stuff (like you mention on bulkheads) that can sometimes cause problems

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Time wise, I did a series 3 rechassis with a friends help, we started off with a weeks holiday spent on it followed by as much time in the weekends as we could for 2 months.

We did have a few extra bits to do (new brake lines, rebuild of brakes, various jobs on engine (new shells - head off to have glow plug removed) ) New Diff pan welded on, and we rubbed down the body for respraying.

We started on Boxing day and it was MOT'd on the 7th of March - all sprayed up etc. If you are just doing the chassis you should be able to do it quicker

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reading the posts and my own experience it is never just the chassis that ends up taking the time. Swapping the chassis is relatively simple, its all the new bushes,brake lines,bolts,lights etc that actually add all the time to the job.

If it was me i would start with a new chassis and replacement/new bulkhead. Get some axles ideally the same as the ones taking off or better. build up the rolling chassis with bushes, brake lines, cage mounts etc then consider doing the "body"and engine swap to the new chassis. That way the old beast keeps running for as long as possible and the down time is significantly reduced. Once done the axles swap from old to new wont take that long

paul

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Grateful for your thoughts (less the non constructive ones (Walfy!))

I don't know what you mean James :P . Are not all of my comments constructive???

Why not go the Gen route. Mine had a gen chassis fitted just before I got it. Body waslifted off in 1, so no big strip down. Then you just have to transfer over the drivetrain. An engine lift/hoist should see that done in 2 days. Then fit your body back. Another day. Then fitting the cage back on. I reckon 5-7 hard days and it should be back on the road again. If you can get someone to help you out. Sure Tim and Tony could spare a few hrs each. Puggers may come along now he has no vapour truck not to build :P:rolleyes:

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I fitted the chassis to Walfys truck when i origionally rebuilt it. After some investigations I went the genuine route fitting a TD5 chassis as it came with all the brackets, mountings and plastic clips for wiring etc that you needed to re chassis a 90. All I had to tell them was what the doner car origionally was so the required parts were sent. It was also delivered to the door via some distribution company so no need to collect it from a dealer.

With regard to cost excluding VAT the chassis if i remember correctly was something in the region of £1200.

Personally if I was doing a re chassis again I would go down this route obviously depending on cost!!

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How bad are the holes?

Your vehicle is easy to whip the rear tub off and the front wings so unless we are talking less chassis more holes it would be easier to repair.

Buy a welder and do a Bish - the job he has done on his 90 is top dog (just don't tell him I said so) and I would imagine very cost effective

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