Cleaning chasis

[81 rangie]

someone in the general forum raised the point that the bow section chasis in a rangie is strong, but need to be cleaned out regularily, how do i doo this. All i've done is stick an air compressor and blow the crap out of it

[ISUZUROVER]

The way I usually do it is to stick a garden hose into every hole I can find. Sand and mud generally collect at the lowest points in middle of the chassis, the very front of the chassis, the rear crossmember (around the fuel tank), and the bach of the crossmember the a-frame is attached to (where there are support gussets to the main rails. These are the places that rangie chassis tend to rust if not cleaned out.

[81 rangie]

would the water sit in there for ages then and rust from the inside, and do u some how protect the inside, eg fish oil

[ISUZUROVER]

Most of the water drains out straight away, and if the landie is parked somewhere dry the rest will evaporate pretty quickly (outside on a sunny day is best).

I fishoil the chassis (and other non-gal steel bits) of my landies every 6 months or so.

[F'n_Rover]

i like the idea of sealing the chassis up and filling it with oil.

[ISUZUROVER]

i like the idea of sealing the chassis up and filling it with oil.

I can see a lot of bad points to doing that:

(1) There are a LOT of holes in a chassis

(2) you would find a LOT of pinholes in your welding

(3) Huge amount of extra weight - probably 300-400kg on a LWB even if you use a very low density oil (700kg/m3)

(4) can still rust - seen plenty of fuel tanks rust from inside out when they are left with water in the bottom

(5) very bad for the environment if anything leaks out - especially using sump oil

[F'n_Rover]

good points
but i would imagine you would only need a few liters in each rail as it would splash around a bit.

use fish oil not sump oil.

filling the holes would be a bitch,

at least you'll know if you get a crack in the chassis

put in some detergent with the oil to mix the residual water with the oil - dont know if this is the go or not.

[ISUZUROVER]

use fish oil not sump oil.

put in some detergent with the oil to mix the residual water with the oil - dont know if this is the go or not.

Fish oil eventually sets over time, so you would end up with solid fish oil in your chassis.

Detergent won't allow water to be absorbed (or emulsifies) into oil very well, you would need to add methanol or ethanol to the oil, but this would eventually evaporate out.

[Nick (in the Falklands!)]

...Seen that done too...

You would'nt beleive how much diesel you can get into a Series3 swb chassis....bloody nearly a drum , I think it was...

..It only added about 400 lbs extra weight....which he thought was cool, as it rode better,
......until he had to try to jack it out of a peat bank one night on his own;

..I tell yer, y'get one (at least..!) anywhere you look...