REPAIRING THE MAIN CHASSIS RAILS

HAVING A Land Rover chassis shot blasted will cost around £100 and it’s a sure way to find all of the rusted areas. The process often reveals hidden damage that was not known about, or damage that is more extensive than was originally detected. Shot-blasting the complete unit is also essential if the chassis is to be galvanised after the repairs have been made.

Making the actual repairs involves cutting away all of the old steel that has been holed or weakened by rust. When that’s completed, the new steel is cut to size and shape and welded into position – and this new material must be properly seam welded, otherwise the Land Rover will not pass the MOT test.

No two Land Rover chassis will be damaged by rust in exactly the same way. There are indeed some common and well known areas where rust takes hold, for example in the rear crossmember of a Defender, or in the lower part of the chassis rails in a Discovery 2. However, there will probably be several more random areas where rust has made its mark, and only by careful inspection can these be identified and remedial action taken. We searched the whole of the chassis and marked rust damage before going to work.

1

After shot blasting, we found the lower rear chassis rails had been previously repaired, but the repair was poor, and disguised with body sealant.

2

Welds on that repaired section are cut with a 1 mm metal cutting disc on the small angle grinder in order to remove the added metal.

3

A section of the old repair is being separated from the chassis with a hammer and chisel. It was fairly easy to break the welds by this method.

4

The other original parts of the chassis rail structure are reasonably clean with plenty of strong sound metal still in existence. They will galvanise well.

5

A die grinder is a very useful tool for preparing small areas of the chassis. Here it is cleaning out around a rust hole that has formed.

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All the dirt, rust flakes and metal filings are blown out of the chassis rails with a high pressure air line. This is done frequently throughout the work.

7

This side of the chassis is now well prepared for new metal to be welded in. The areas to be jointed are clean, strong and sound.

8

The chassis rail on the other side needs to be similarly worked on, with cutting away of old metal required – both sides have suffered the same.

9

This flap of new metal has been welded over rusty original metal – a quick repair that was either temporary or designed to disguise the damage.

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The rear chassis rails are now well prepared and ready for new metal to be cut to size, tacked in position and then properly welded in.