Will it fail MOT - Crossmember

[Mean Green]

A mate just brought his 90 for me to have a look at some damage to the rear cross member.

He has an adjustable drop plate fitted - not a dixon bate type but one that you can adjust by screwing a 30mm bolt on the top, this draws the drop plate up and down a "rail". I have never seen this type before ?? Anyway, that is beside the point -

The bottom of the drop plate has 2 diagonal supports back to the chassis lugs, as per dixon bate hitchs. These have been slightly loose and have allowed the drop plate to twist slightly into the cross member resulting in damage to the cross member - it is now concave (?? bent inwards). The underside of the crossmember has split in a V to a width of about 2mm, and the back face is slightly out of shape.

Assuming the crack is welded up and the back is knocked back into shape successfully is the damage likely to lead to an MOT fail? Is this area of Crossmember considered structural? The rest of the cross member is in very good condition and - apart from one suspect area that could easily be patched - so is the rest of the chassis.

Unfortunatly I did not have a camera to take some pics.

[Les Henson]

Towing equipemt is now part of the MOT, so rust, etc, can now be a fail on that component. Dents won't fail an MOT, but corrosion, splits, etc will do. If the split has been welded and the rear crossmember itself is in good order, then I would guess it would be ok. Welds themselves don't have an MOT standard - nor is there for like-for-like thickness of metal in a repair plate.

I would, however - be worried about the overall strength of the crossmember as it's been over-stressed/split.

Les.

[LandyManLuke]

FWIW, I have exactly the same type of drop plate. It's not fitted to the 90 anymore, as the screw had properly siezed.