roachy Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Is there any reason why a chassis has to have holes in it? i'm thinking along the lines of welding up all the holes and welding in tubes for the bolt holes, then chuck some silica gel in before weldin up the last hole. this would stop ant water or mud traps inside the chassis. or even chuck a few litres of oil in before welding up? any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landmannnn Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 What are you trying to achieve, more strength or reduced corrosion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roachy Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Reduced corrosion, i just find when offroading it fills up with so much carp and holds water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I'd go the other way and drill some bigger holes at the low points. Then you can wash out any debris easier. The mud and sand holds the moisture and salt and rots the tin quicker. I use a compressor to inject waxoyl dinitrol into chassis every 12 months. A pressure washer / hosepipe when its been off road until clean. There's not much point trying to seal a landrover against water ingress, Landrover hasn't been sucessfull in over 60 years! Besides old BLMC cars used to have their petrol tanks drop in half after 15-20 years as the owners who left the tanks around half full/empty had no idea the condensation on bare steel created a perfect seam of rust just above the petrol. I'll never forget my mates allagro when he forgot his tank was on it's last legs and filled it right up at the garage, 5 mins after the bottom fell out of it quicker than the housing market. Along with 8 gallon of fuel JMHO Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roachy Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 I see your point especially with this point, however they havent tried to seal the chassis as far as im aware. the thing with the petrol tank is there is a constant supply of wet air so you get the condensation, if sealed air tight there won't be any more (hence the silica gel) moisture getting in. Just trying to save some of the hastle with cleaning and waxoiling inside a chassis. There's not much point trying to seal a landrover against water ingress, Landrover hasn't been sucessfull in over 60 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shox Dr Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I did this to my new 90 chassis, only leaving the loom holes, these I plated over fixing with rivets, so I could inspect the inside, if I wished. Time will tell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard14 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Is there any reason why a chassis has to have holes in it? i'm thinking along the lines of welding up all the holes and welding in tubes for the bolt holes, then chuck some silica gel in before weldin up the last hole. this would stop ant water or mud traps inside the chassis. or even chuck a few litres of oil in before welding up?any thoughts? HI roachy. Pretty intelligent thinking, mainly because I have been considering something like this myself! I may well weld on a 12mm nut at the lowest point of each chassis leg to act as a drain plug, and do the same for other holes as well. When one sees the long term, untreated corrosion inside these legs it's hard to ignore. In a 'newish' chassis Waxoil will work as well as it is applied, but on crusty scale something 'wetter' and more penetrating (I think) is needed. There are some problems though; I belive L.R. intend the chassis and out-riggers to fill-up with water so that they do not provide unwanted buoyancy that reduced traction. For my part I would never take one of mine 'wading' because of all the extra work, and the reduced corrosion life that would ensue. However, If it's 'sport' or 'combat' you are engaged in, you wont mind that... I am presently 'plating' a 96Def chassis, that was allmost given to me. I allready had one the same age, that I had owned for the last nine years. This first one has been treated by me every year or so and is pretty much ok. The second one has always been 'garage maintained' and is very poor. I am lucky enough to have a four poster ramp under cover so I can do extensive welding as a sort of art form, If I choose to. I have been doing this work slowly over the last few months, and have been able to observe the effect of temperature changes on the chassis steel on a daily basis. If it 'warms up' overnight by four or five degrees, then the bare metal of the chassis is 'running wet' as as if the gnomes had sprayed it with a garden spray. Even the rusty crust INSIDE THE CHASSIS. It's an old problem... So I thought 'fill it full of foam' then I thought 'no it's rusty that won't help. A new one maybe would like it, if you dont mind floating'. One way or the other it's going to get a lot of 'oilyness' inside there, sealing the dumbiron may be difficult, I dont want to dump oil on the road under heavy braking!!! On the law of diminishing returns, anything you do to slow down corrosion will have enormous benefits, compared too nothing! But some folk wont see the point... Best regards. Howard. 2x300TdiDef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 It will take more than a chassis full of expanding foam to make a LR not sink like a stone and that foam stuff goes manky after a few years and holds moisture. LR can't make a gearbox that holds oil never mind a chassis that's water-tight and I suspect trying to seal it would be more hassle than it's worth, there are joins, holes, and seams which you wouldn't find without dismantling the vehicle (and even then you'd miss a few) by which point you may as well spend the extra 5 minutes to bolt a galvanised chassis on. Either galvanise it, waxoyl it (if that won't soak into rust nothing will), or just start saving a few quid per month for a galvanised chassis in a few years time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I decided to repair a chassis after stripping it before cutting it up to scrap and altho a few weak spots and rotten b/hd out riggers i was suprised how sound it was and ended up adding some extra strengthening plates where i thought it needed it It took about a week to clean all the mud, stones, shale and sand out of it with a jet wash thru 6mm air hose to get into everywhere after cutting some 2" access holes Anyway after this i thought like someones already said, why not put some access/drain holes in so i made 4 round chamfered collars with 1 3/4" BSP threads in, welded them on the chassis and fitted some plugs to allow me to hose it out and stop any major build up of carp. As yet the projects not finished but i can't see why it shouldn't work as the rings are about 10mm thick and not quite on the lowest points of the chassis altho low enough to drain out when on ramps. I'm also planning to use them to waxoyl it but when its abit warmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard14 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I decided to repair a chassis after stripping it before cutting it up to scrap and altho a few weak spots and rotten b/hd out riggers i was suprised how sound it was and ended up adding some extra strengthening plates where i thought it needed itIt took about a week to clean all the mud, stones, shale and sand out of it with a jet wash thru 6mm air hose to get into everywhere after cutting some 2" access holes Anyway after this i thought like someones already said, why not put some access/drain holes in so i made 4 round chamfered collars with 1 3/4" BSP threads in, welded them on the chassis and fitted some plugs to allow me to hose it out and stop any major build up of carp. As yet the projects not finished but i can't see why it shouldn't work as the rings are about 10mm thick and not quite on the lowest points of the chassis altho low enough to drain out when on ramps. I'm also planning to use them to waxoyl it but when its abit warmer. HI mel. Brilliant.. Best of luck. Howard. 2x300TdiDef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Badger Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I had a plan of just filling the top holes, and not the bottom. As water always falls down, holes in the top mean water can just flow in, holes in the bottom means water has to be pushed up into it, which is allot harder, also holes in the bottom mean that it can still drain. Well it could work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I'd go the other way and drill some bigger holes at the low points. Then you can wash out any debris easier. I thought the same and opened all the underside holes up. In reality the larger holes just seem to let even more mud n crud in there. The gearbox x-member looks like it's packed solid. This now takes even longer to wash out I've just bought a drain jetting hose to go on my pressure washer to try and clean the chassis out. Just need the hose pipe to thaw out so I can use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajh Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 If you do this, add some large diameter vent tubes up to somewhere dry and the drains at low points. There's a fair volume of air inside a chassis and no matter what you do you won't get all the holes so heating/cooling will suck moist air in and this will give it an 'easier' path in and out. I'd also do the waxoyl on the inside as this will help block any pinholes and help ensure the 'breathing' happens from the dry area instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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