Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them

Chassis Rear Crossmember Repair or Replace?

Toxicmasculinity

New Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2016
Messages
21
Country Flag
great_britain
Recently purchased a 1997 Land Cruiser 80 series. Long story short, after having had to cut the spare wheel bracket to get the spare wheel off, as the mechanism was rusted soild, I have found some bad corrosion on the back right portion of the frame rail and the inside of the rear cross member/bumper.

Has anyone had any experience repairing similar damage or replacing the whole of the rear of the chassis? I have spoken with some welders and they're all veering towards repairing instead of repalcing from a donor vehicle.

I am however planning on keeping this vehicle for a long time as they are becoming like rocking horse shit and I am keen to replace the rear crossmember/bumper and the back portion of the RHS frame rail instead of just doing a patch repair.

Can anyone recommend a welder or fabricator West from London who is compitent in carrying out the work, without having to remove the body?

Thank you in advance!

Copy of 20190810_114059.jpg
Copy of 20190810_114119.jpg
Copy of 20190810_114136.jpg
 
Recently purchased a 1997 Land Cruiser 80 series. Long story short, after having had to cut the spare wheel bracket to get the spare wheel off, as the mechanism was rusted soild, I have found some bad corrosion on the back right portion of the frame rail and the inside of the rear cross member/bumper.

Has anyone had any experience repairing similar damage or replacing the whole of the rear of the chassis? I have spoken with some welders and they're all veering towards repairing instead of repalcing from a donor vehicle.

I am however planning on keeping this vehicle for a long time as they are becoming like rocking horse shit and I am keen to replace the rear crossmember/bumper and the back portion of the RHS frame rail instead of just doing a patch repair.

Can anyone recommend a welder or fabricator West from London who is compitent in carrying out the work, without having to remove the body?

Thank you in advance!

View attachment 158022 View attachment 158023 View attachment 158024

Personally I'd repair, if you think about it, a section from a 20+ year old truck would struggle to be any better. With my limited knowledge and experience of 80's I've got to say, this is the first chassis I've ever come across that had corroded from the inside out and I've certainly not had one which needed chassis remedial work in the last 22 years of 80 ownership.
 
If the top and Bottom edge of the Chassis is still nice and solid you will have something to Weld to, and i would personally go for a repair.... The edge of the Chassis is the strongest point.. But when rust is concerned The big Can of Worms will inevitably rear its head... if the edge is nice and strong you can cut out as much of the face as you want and weld in some nice thick 5mm plate... Its a shame the exhaust bracket is on the inside of the Chassis. On the early 80s its on the outside... Unless this is a previous owners handy work...
 
If the top and Bottom edge of the Chassis is still nice and solid you will have something to Weld to, and i would personally go for a repair.... The edge of the Chassis is the strongest point.. But when rust is concerned The big Can of Worms will inevitably rear its head... if the edge is nice and strong you can cut out as much of the face as you want and weld in some nice thick 5mm plate... Its a shame the exhaust bracket is on the inside of the Chassis. On the early 80s its on the outside... Unless this is a previous owners handy work...

Its a 97 so thats where they are Higgy old lad.
 
Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them
Personally I'd repair, if you think about it, a section from a 20+ year old truck would struggle to be any better. With my limited knowledge and experience of 80's I've got to say, this is the first chassis I've ever come across that had corroded from the inside out and I've certainly not had one which needed chassis remedial work in the last 22 years of 80 ownership.
Yeah, I think that spare wheel hadn't seen the light of day for a long time untill I finally removed it. That's probably the root cause of the rust, with it being in such a tight confined space and the silencer blocking anything from getting in or out!
 
Looks like it might have been used as a boat-launch tractor, at some stage. For the rear cross member to be that bad and the rest of the chassis still good, it suggests just that member has had a dunking in the briney.

As above, a neatly folded sheet of 5mm will sit nicely in there after the rotten bits have been cut out.

I’m sure you’ll find a competent welder to do the job, failing that, buy yourself a mig and teach yourself welding, plenty of tutorials on utoob... and it’s not so difficult to learn.
 
I’m sure you’ll find a competent welder to do the job, failing that, buy yourself a mig and teach yourself welding, plenty of tutorials on utoob... and it’s not so difficult to learn.

+1 on learning to DIY weld. Modern MIG welders are relatively easy to use which makes for a quick learning curve and it’s a skill which will serve you well in future. Cutting back to sound metal and preparing it are probably the two most important factors.
 
Looks like it might have been used as a boat-launch tractor, at some stage. For the rear cross member to be that bad and the rest of the chassis still good, it suggests just that member has had a dunking in the briney.

As above, a neatly folded sheet of 5mm will sit nicely in there after the rotten bits have been cut out.

I’m sure you’ll find a competent welder to do the job, failing that, buy yourself a mig and teach yourself welding, plenty of tutorials on utoob... and it’s not so difficult to learn.
That makes perfect sense about it having been used to launch a boat as a prvious owner who had it for 7 years was in Exeter!

Thank you Clive for your insight!

I have got a welder lined up, but I'll do the cleaning and prep work myself to save some money.
 
I never bought it , i ran out of time to build my own bumpers before a trip , but i will be thinking about it again next month so i would be very happy to see your review of it and pics of your efforts if you go for it :thumbup:
 
I'll give that a pass, had enough of the m1 and m42 for a while.
 
Update:

Managed to find a crossmember with very little rust and rear section of the chassis rail, I thought it would be a lot easier to just replace the rusted out section with a piece from another rail as I'm not an experienced fabricator and I intend to replace the spare wheel carrier and the replacement section already have the bolt holes in the right place.

I also managed to pick up a steel rear bumper; that was attatched to the crossmember; which I will be fitting swing outs on to in the future.

Anyone know a good way of stripping powdercoating other than having it media blasted, I can't justify the expense as I will be Raptor lining it and the base doesn't need to be perfect.

20191106_153443.jpg
20191106_153513.jpg
20191106_153602.jpg
 
Back
Top