Can you buy a new SIII chassis?

[Chicken Drumstick]

Ok slight swerve ball here. I know places like Richard Chassis' sell a nice galvanised one. But it's well over £1000, in fact I think nearer to £1500 with VAT and so on.

But my question is, can you not buy a more budget chassis, a non galvanised one any longer?

Looking at Paddocks website they sell a rear half chassis for £249 and a front cross member for £169. Well that's almost and entire chassis, its just missing a bit to join them together and be sold as a single finished item.

I know these aren't as good, but between these two bits it's almost an entire chassis. Does anyone sell a chassis of this grade but complete? Based on the Paddocks prices it would seem that it should cost well under £600, sadly Paddocks don't list one though.

I know such a chassis won't be as good, but the original has lasted 35 years. If a replacement could do the same I'd be more than happy.

Thanks.

[Gazzar]

That's a fair question, but there is quite a bit between the front and the back. Not much metal, but a fair bit of work, including the engine mount parts, the bulkhead riggers and gearbox parts. There is a fair bit of internal bracing and crush tubes in that area.

Still, it should be possible to have the price come in at £600 point. Though quality would suffer a bit, which wouldn't be good.

I wonder how much it would cost to get the main chassis rails etc laser cut? The steel would be longer than the standard sheets, I suppose.

You'd need a press brake to fold the crossmembers and 'riggers.

A few jigs would be needed, and a decent welder.

The costs are kind of adding up, when you think about it. But if you spread it over a couple of dozen chassis....

Maybe it is a bit of a step from the shorter parts to the longer parts?

Don't know.

[Chicken Drumstick]

You see, my problem is my Series could really do with a new chassis. But one I don't really have £1500 to spend on one. And I really don't think the vehicle is worth enough to spend £1500+ on it. It certainly won't add £1500 to the value.

However I'd happily spend £600-700 to fix it properly. Just seems like chasing your tail to keep patching up the existing chassis. Been quoted £400 just to sort something fairly simple out welding wise. Nuts and bolts are fine, I can manage those and would do a chassis swap myself. But I can't weld sadly.

[Gazzar]

So, what's the middle like?

Time to buy a MIG!

I'm going to fix up a lightweight chassis this weekend, weather permitting, main rails are good, but all riggers will be replaced, rear crossmember and post gearbox member.

G.

[oneandtwo]

You used to be able to get basic chassis from Richards for around £600 galv, they deleted the middle crossmember and replaced it with box section with no PTO hole, I think the steel was slightly thinner guage. I bought two of them once.

[Guest]

I did wonder about this myself, I came to the conclusion that the best way would be to acquire a part built/abandoned project with either the chassis changed or a decent chassis but the rest of it a basket case. Clearly you would have the IVA/SVA issues and would probably need to swap ID's if you used an original chassis to keep it legal. That aside you often see S3's going for £1000 mark as projects and could sell some of the bits to make your money back or even weigh it in as scrap is fetching a fair penny at the moment.

Jason.

[FridgeFreezer]

If you're going to the trouble of a chassis swap, I'd say it's a no-brainer to buy a galv one as it will increase the value of the vehicle a fair bit - more than enough to make it worth it.

You used to be able to buy a chassis ungalv'd from the usual places, or even bare - Jen did this with her 88 as she wanted to modify it before getting it galv'd. Can't remember who she bought it from though.

[Snagger]

You have to consider more than just the final vehicle value when weighing up the financial viability of a bew chassis. It's fair comment that a new chassis might not add its full price to the vehicle's resale value, but it's also clear that it's cheaper in the long run than patching the chassis every year (and considerably safter), and it's cheaper than buying a vehicle new enough to have many years before it need chassis welding (you'd be looking at a fairly new Defender for that).

At the same time, though, you need to remember that other issues will rear their heads as the strip down occurs - body panels with rotten mountings, rotten bulkheads, mechanical faults like bad suspension springs and dampers, wiring issues and so on. The cost of a rebuild can be meagre or massive, depending on how you chose to do it; I spent a small fortune because I made a raft of modifications and wanted excellent bodywork too, but if you can stick to just a chassis swap and have little else to worry about, then the cost is certainly worthwhile.

[Chicken Drumstick]

If you're going to the trouble of a chassis swap, I'd say it's a no-brainer to buy a galv one as it will increase the value of the vehicle a fair bit - more than enough to make it worth it.

True, but you would only see this value if you sold it. If you don't, or at least not immediately, it'd just cost you more money.

I'm certainly not saying a galv chassis isn't the way, but it's a cost I cannot afford at this time, so isn't an option regardless.

[Chicken Drumstick]

You have to consider more than just the final vehicle value when weighing up the financial viability of a bew chassis. It's fair comment that a new chassis might not add its full price to the vehicle's resale value, but it's also clear that it's cheaper in the long run than patching the chassis every year (and considerably safter), and it's cheaper than buying a vehicle new enough to have many years before it need chassis welding (you'd be looking at a fairly new Defender for that).

I agree, hence wanting a replacement. But £1500 is a bit rich for my tastes, pockets and current bank balance. I know a non galv would eventually rot, but I'd treat it and paint it. I seriously can't see it failing in only a couple of years. 15-20 years would be more than sufficient.

At the same time, though, you need to remember that other issues will rear their heads as the strip down occurs - body panels with rotten mountings, rotten bulkheads, mechanical faults like bad suspension springs and dampers, wiring issues and so on. The cost of a rebuild can be meagre or massive, depending on how you chose to do it; I spent a small fortune because I made a raft of modifications and wanted excellent bodywork too, but if you can stick to just a chassis swap and have little else to worry about, then the cost is certainly worthwhile.

The rest of the Landy is ok, axles and gearbox are fine. Engine runs very sweet. Body work is quite tidy (although a long long way from mint). Bulkhead a little scruffy, but solid. And it had a full suspension refresh with parabolics about 4/5 years ago. New steering box too. It really is only the chassis that lets it down.

[Snagger]

In that case, it's worth a new chassis. If you can't stretch to a galvanised one, then Paddocks used to sell standard ones for about £800. They were built in batches by Marsland, and it was the batching and bulk buying that brought the prices down so far. I don't know if Paddocks still sell them, but it's worth a call...

As long as you thoroughly wax the inside of the chassis (Dinitrol are the best products) and give several generous coatings to the outside with Schutz or similar, then it should last very well. If you can stretch to a galvanised, though, then it should last indefinitely if also waxed and schutzed.

[iomlt]

the price of 2nd hand SII and SIII have rocketed. you wont loose if you fit a new chassis if you ever came to sell her.

[discomikey]

might be worth speaking to mr marsland of marland chassis, as he is a relatively small buisness (ex farmer) and seems to want to please. maybe he would sell a series chassis untreated, for a cheaper than usual price.

[stuck]

You can't weld?

I'll bet you could if you tried, many many people have learn't to mig weld in an attempt to keep cars on the road...

Practice, practice.

Having said that I can mig & tig but i've just ordered a new S1 chassis as it's too far gone

[Gazzar]

Yes, MIG is a fairly friendly process, once you have a well set up machine. I'm self taught on a secondhand cheapo Clarke, and really struggled until I got the set-up right.

There is a good UK forum dedicated to mig welding - google it.

G.