Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have had the great pleasure to discover this crack today , it's right in between the steerbox and the panhard bracket.

It looks like it's the panhard bracket ripping itself off the chassis, but not sure.

What comments do you guys have about this????
Would you patch/strengthen or just grind and weld on top of the crack????

It's my cruiser btw (80series).







Ulises

This is a common problem with lifted 80's, the only way I've seen it fixed is to plate the chassis.

TSL wrote:This is a common problem with lifted 80's, the only way I've seen it fixed is to plate the chassis.

And I thought I knew everything about the cruiser.

Looks like I will have to unbolt the steerbox, grind off the panhard bracket, and plate around the chassis... I hope it's that easy.

Ulises

Drilling and stopping of the crack would also be advisable wouldn't it?

that could cause the crack to go faster.. that only works on windscreens lol

yeah plate it and weld it

the same thing happened to my old
his pan hard mount brok completly off and the power steering box was ripping the metal off around the box

and apparently the mechanic who fixed it said 70% of the 80series that come in that have been off road lifter or not have a small crack or worse

not sure how much it cost but the mech we went to is a little expensive but very good work

cheers
elliot

seen same thing on a nissan they stoped it by having a bracket thats bolts to the panhard bracket and to the side of the chassis to stop it from flexing on hard use.

UDM, I thought I'd have a quick squiz at mine after I saw your photo, and strike me lucky, guess who also has a cracked chassis in exactly the same spot??

Dave.

UDM, I thought I'd have a quick squiz at mine after I saw your photo, and strike me lucky, guess who also has a cracked chassis in exactly the same spot??

Dave.

4x4Monkey wrote:that could cause the crack to go faster.. that only works on windscreens lol

yeah plate it and weld it

no

while a whole drilled acts as a stress consentrator, a crack has very high strain levels which cause the crack to keep growing

and if you'd like i can grab out my books and show you how a crack is always worse than a hole (stress concentrator)

But other than that i agree, plate and weld is the best fix

I new of this problem when building my 80UTE years ago as i had repaired a few lifted 80's. The panard mount is made up of 2 pieces and where they join on the chassis the bracket isnt welded to the chassis or either are the 2 parts of the bracket. I fully welded all connection/intersections and have not had a problem here and on repairs i have done. An other area where problems can start is on the steering box bolts, there are crush tubes on each of the 4 bolts that hold the steering box to the chassis these protrude on the inside of the chassis rail 10-15mm and the nut tightens up on the tube. Each tube is held in place with 2 small stitch welds on either side of the tube, with flexing of the chassis and big tyre loads these stitch weld fail/crack and the crack will keep traveling along the rail. I have full welded the end of the crush tubes to the inner rail and have not had any problems here either. When repairing the rails i use a rotary high speed grinder with a 1/4 " ball end rotary carbide burr and follow the crack to the end and slighly past the end of the crack. I grind it out about 2.0mm deep as the chassis is only 3.0mm thick so you dont want it too thin and blow a hole through when welding. I do a single pass with the mig and leave all weld material for good reinforcement. If your not a good welder clean it up to neaten but dont grind back to flush. When welding on the underside gravity works against you so dont let it get too hot and end up with a big hole. This type of repair is better if attemped by a good welder b/maker to ensure it done well as most of the welding is done out of good welding position .

Wally

Thanks everybody... I might get into it on the weekend, i'll keep you all posted with the outcome (pics and everything).

Cheers
Ulises

normally cruiser owners are too proud to say that something has gone with their truck, AGAIN.

80UTE wrote:I new of this problem when building my 80UTE years ago as i had repaired a few lifted 80's. The panard mount is made up of 2 pieces and where they join on the chassis the bracket isnt welded to the chassis or either are the 2 parts of the bracket. I fully welded all connection/intersections and have not had a problem here and on repairs i have done. An other area where problems can start is on the steering box bolts, there are crush tubes on each of the 4 bolts that hold the steering box to the chassis these protrude on the inside of the chassis rail 10-15mm and the nut tightens up on the tube. Each tube is held in place with 2 small stitch welds on either side of the tube, with flexing of the chassis and big tyre loads these stitch weld fail/crack and the crack will keep traveling along the rail. I have full welded the end of the crush tubes to the inner rail and have not had any problems here either. When repairing the rails i use a rotary high speed grinder with a 1/4 " ball end rotary carbide burr and follow the crack to the end and slighly past the end of the crack. I grind it out about 2.0mm deep as the chassis is only 3.0mm thick so you dont want it too thin and blow a hole through when welding. I do a single pass with the mig and leave all weld material for good reinforcement. If your not a good welder clean it up to neaten but dont grind back to flush. When welding on the underside gravity works against you so dont let it get too hot and end up with a big hole. This type of repair is better if attemped by a good welder b/maker to ensure it done well as most of the welding is done out of good welding position .

Wally

Great post with good advice. would be worth making a bible of chassis damage/cracks etc on all rigs?

beally wrote:normally cruiser owners are too proud to say that something has gone with their truck, AGAIN.

Very helpfull comment...

could you un bolt it all, grind out the crack as best ya can then weld it up , redrill it ,

or wack a plate between the steering box and chasi after you done the above

i donno just asking

Hi all, we fixed the cracks on "both" cars .... yeh, we found out that the other car had the same problem

Got some pics www.ozsigns.com/aussie/fj80tohzj80/chassis_repair

udm wrote:Hi all, we fixed the cracks on "both" cars

Nice job

udm wrote:Hi all, we fixed the cracks on "both" cars .... yeh, we found out that the other car had the same problem

Got some pics www.ozsigns.com/aussie/fj80tohzj80/chassis_repair

great stuff, example of how valuable forums can be

quick question, should the plate be filled behind prior to welding? like sikaflex or something to stop water collecting/rust? I really have no idea, just asking...

I have a chassis crack on a Disco 2 to repair shortly, apparently a common problem on some early ones, from underneath and in front of the steering box, next to the panhard rod support. This one is bad and has already been repaired once. This time some plates will have to be made and the steering box removed. I've also heard of some LR warranty claims involving this problem, a really bad one got a new chassis apparently!!
The problem comes from the fact that the early disco2 up to 2000 had some stupid SQUARE holes stamped out of the underside of the chassis in this area, about 10mm square. Presumably to take a nylon nut for self tapping screws or similar. The cracks started in the corners and worked their way around...

Wish me luck with the mig...
JC

I have a chassis crack on a Disco 2 to repair shortly, apparently a common problem on some early ones, from underneath and in front of the steering box, next to the panhard rod support. This one is bad and has already been repaired once. This time some plates will have to be made and the steering box removed. I've also heard of some LR warranty claims involving this problem, a really bad one got a new chassis apparently!!
The problem comes from the fact that the early disco2 up to 2000 had some stupid SQUARE holes stamped out of the underside of the chassis in this area, about 10mm square. Presumably to take a nylon nut for self tapping screws or similar. The cracks started in the corners and worked their way around...

Wish me luck with the mig...
JC

grazza wrote:should the plate be filled behind prior to welding? like sikaflex or something to stop water collecting/rust?

The welding has covered every angle of the plates, and we painted it with a very very thick 2pack epoxy kinda stuff that really did seal everything, and its hard as, wont get scratched anytime soon

PS, now I know where the death wobbles came from... chassis flexing. Everything feels so tight now.

Ulises

justinC wrote:I have a chassis crack on a Disco 2 to repair shortly, apparently a common problem on some early ones, from underneath and in front of the steering box, next to the panhard rod support. This one is bad and has already been repaired once. This time some plates will have to be made and the steering box removed. I've also heard of some LR warranty claims involving this problem, a really bad one got a new chassis apparently!!
The problem comes from the fact that the early disco2 up to 2000 had some stupid SQUARE holes stamped out of the underside of the chassis in this area, about 10mm square. Presumably to take a nylon nut for self tapping screws or similar. The cracks started in the corners and worked their way around...

Wish me luck with the mig...
JC

We do wish you luck mate, the job really was a pain in the butt. But hey, we did 2 cars in 2 days, you should be done in only 1 day

the plate should have had a diamond shape to it not a square shape like in the pic i have attached.

as ben has suggested it's bad to weld perpendicular to the chassis - it can create a heat affected zone next to the weld which is either soft or brittle, and can cause or contribute to future cracking. when I repair these I cut a 40mm circular hole near the front of the plate and do half a plug weld - weld across the top and bottom of the hole. at the back of the outer plate I make the weld over the top of the suspension mount weld that is already there. at the back I do like wally and finish the welds areound the crush sleeves but otherwise generally leave it alone. did DX80's one recently, he can post a pic if he wants.

Sorry about the dirt and crud in the picture. She's still dirty from Blackrat.

Dave.

Thanks, but too late now for advice ... anyway, we wrapped/boxed the chassis all around (sides, top, bottom) with 6mm plates, the 4 tubes were welded properly to both side plates.
The 4 tubes and the top and bottom plates won't allow the side plates to flex.

Im not worried at all about the job we have done... but if something happens... we will just fix it.

Ulises

dumbdunce wrote:did DX80's one recently

Did you only plate 1 side of the rail? What about the other side of the rail?, and the top? and the bottom? Cause one of our cars was cracked on the steer/box side and the other one was cracked on the panhard mount side, hence the boxing of the whole rail.

PS. When are we gonna turbo the 1hz?

Ulises

udm wrote:

dumbdunce wrote:did DX80's one recently

Did you only plate 1 side of the rail? What about the other side of the rail?, and the top? and the bottom? Cause one of our cars was cracked on the steer/box side and the other one was cracked on the panhard mount side, hence the boxing of the whole rail.

yes only the outside, the cracks weren't that bad. The chassis needs to be able to twist and bend - it's not perfectly regid, so unless the cracking is severe (ie the front is about to fall off) then it's not sucha great idea to go all the way around.

PS. When are we gonna turbo the 1hz?

I thought you bought a full kit from a 1HD-T to bolt on? no time now anyway, I got a proper job :(