Tub crossmember replacement and seat belt mount/anchor

[Megaweasel]

hi everyone - been a really long time but I've now got my replacement tub half-decent and ready to fit. Took the old tub off and actually, chassis doesn't look too bad. Problem I have is that the crossmember that has the two turrets on it that supports the front of the tub and anchors the seat belts is pretty rotten (see photo).

I'm trying to understand if this is a completely different part for the lightweight or if its a standard series 3 cross member with a couple of turrets on it. Is it available anywhere or are the turrets available does anyone know?

cheers

Chris

[AR4412]

Hi Chris,

The No.5 crossmember itself is the same as that used on the SIII 88", apart from the type of tub mounting point, and is available from DDS Metal Services and Emberton Imperial from memory. It comes as a plain crossmember without any tub mountings on it. I'm not aware of anyone producing the Lightweight combined tub/seatbelt mounting, (But, I haven't had a thorough search for any.), so you may have to cut off and reuse your originals if they're good enough and can be saved. Mine was rotted out on it's bottom face, but the rest was solid. So I decided to repair what I had, cut out the rot, and weld in fresh metal on mine.

Rot below PTO hole.JPG (94.17 KiB) Viewed 783 times

DSC01971.JPG (54.99 KiB) Viewed 783 times

DSC02000.JPG (44.79 KiB) Viewed 783 times

DSC01985.JPG (48.85 KiB) Viewed 783 times

Regards,

[Megaweasel]

thanks for that - and that's good to know.

As always, I've spent a couple of days stripping more of it down and found a few more areas of rot. At some time, its had a rear half chassis fitted but was a series one not the air portable one. It has the most crappy welding I've seen and is neither square (checking across the diagonals) or level left-to-right. Absolute pain as I did pay someone to change the rear crossmember from the series one to the lightweight one quite recently and I'm thinking trying to straighten it is going to be a nightmare. Think I'm in for starting the process of repairing the rails from the bulkhead backwards, new crossmember with rescued/ fabricated turrets and then possibly bite the bullet and get a new half chassis and fit it properly.

I only ever wanted to change the seatbelts! hey-ho..

Chris

[AR4412]

Did they forget to turn the gas on?

Regards,

[Megaweasel]

got the chassis front on axle stands and shimmed to get it level - the rails on the old bit are level both at the bulkhead (where the spirit level is) and at the rear of the rails just before where the dodgy 1/2 rear chassis welding job was done. I'll support it at this point on more axle stands before I do anything drastic. I'm going to replace the front R/H bulkhead outrigger as its 15mm too low, and at the same time the front fuel tank outrigger as its bent and patched. I can get the bulkhead outrigger from DDS, but I'm not sure about the fuel tank outrigger. I know the ones on the lightweight are shorter - can I just buy the DA2019O or N one and chop the end off? They seem more triangular but mine is just parallel top and bottom (as in the photo). Any info here would be great before I order any parts.

Welding practice is coming along

Chris

[stuey]

A pic of it being fitted. Clamps are being used to hold it in place as the epoxy dries. The replacement for the rotten side panel has yet to be fitted in this pic.
SAM_1413.JPG


Regards,

Neil,I’m interested in which epoxy you used?

[AR4412]

Hi Stuey,

I used PLIOGRIP 5761B Epoxy.

Regards,

[AR4412]

Hi Chris,

The bulkhead outriggers on the Lightweight are shorter in length between the chassis rail and the bulkhead bolt hole centre, and the bolt hole centre to the outer face than the civilian outriggers, but they can be cut down to suit. IIRC the measurements are 335mm from the chassis rail to the bolt hole centre, and 355mm from the chassis rail to the outrigger outer face. The tank front outriggers are the same as the civilian ones, and the rear tank/tub outriggers are the same apart from the bolt holes for the tub mounting bolts being in different places.

There's some pics and blurb on the fitting of mine in the link. But, you may have to scroll through all the niff-naff and banter to find anything relevant.

viewtopic.php?t=1884&hilit=outrigger&start=1040

Regards,

[stuey]

Hi Stuey,

I used PLIOGRIP 5761B Epoxy.

Regards,

Many thanks