Hi everyone,

Do any of you have any idea of the quality of the various galvanised replacement chassis for Defenders on offer. The websites (Designa chassis, Richards Chassis etc) never mention about welding standards. Whilst they might be built from 3mm instead of LR's original 2mm, if the welding is not up to par then I have visions of suspension mounting brackets being ripped off in heavy use. Pernickety I know...

Thanks.....

Andrew.

Hi Andrew, don,t worry about weld quality at all mate. I have had a chassis off both designa chassis and Richards chassis and they are both made by profesionals.
They make them all day every day, so yes they do know how to weld.
If you ask they will stamp your own chassis number onto your new chassis aswell.
My first build (designa chassis) was a coil sprung 88inch for road and offroad use, it was put though some severe punishment but never gave a problem.
My latest build (Richards chassis) is a 130 which i,m currently working on, but struggling against the cold, wet, weather.

Gaz

^^^^ I'm building a 110 on my drive (with an ex military new HD chassis i've had galvanised... i know what you mean about the damn weather!)


I've heard good things about both companies. so i suppose just price comes into it.

I have had some dealing with Designa, for a S2 rebuild. They have always been helpful and friendly.
What weather its lovely and hot, here in Sydney Australia anyway. Sorry couldn't resist.

I'm surprised you needed a new chassis in Australia, was the old one bent?
Looked under my 110 the other day after all the gritting we've had here and was bloody glad I had my galvanised designa chassis, everything else was covered in a furry corrosive mix. It's been on a few years now and I've no issues with it at all and the company was friendly and helpful.
Bye the way I cheated when fitting it and built the rolling chassis up then supported the body by the roofrack, dropped the old chassis down and rolled the new one underneath. (sounds easy now I've forgotten the nights of spanners sticking to my hands with frost.)

Hey Andrew,
let us know how you get on if you buy a new chassis - Im thinking of changing the 90 to a left hooker galv chassis, ready to import it to Canada in 2010 when its 15 years old......

Cheers
Grif

__________________
Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Hi Gaz,
just joined up and saw your post. Wondering how you got on with the 130 chassis? I'm thinking of taking on the same project with mine. Any tips?
I want to rebuild both axles too, would you know of any detailed step, by step guides for these?

Cheers

Dan

Hi Dan the 130 chassis is a big thing to mess with, and soooooo heavy to move around, you will need a good trolley jack or a supply of good mates
Whatever the company tells you about holes being re-tapped before you pick it up forget it, you need to do it yourself (before trying to put the bolts in )
I had a problem with a cross member that runs just behind the seatbox, it fouled the corner of the battery box as it was slightly different to the original shape of x member, I cut the corner of the box and welded it up.
Also when you have to fit the gearbox x member I was concerned about the amount I had to jack the chassis rails apart (nearly25mm), but they didn,t seem bothered when I phoned then.

Apart from those chassis probs most of the rebuild went ok, I was fortunate enough to have a brand new front and rear bulkhead (its a single cab) and its just a matter of keeping the enthusiasm going. If you can buy all new stuff its a lot easier than rebuilding and repairing thins as you go along, but my budget didn,t allow that, so it was a case of strip the old part off the donor vehicle, check it out and fit it as truthfully as you can.
I had my chassis in the garage facing outwards and my donor on the driveway facing it, that seemed to work ok.
When you fit the rear suspension A-frame you need to be real careful lining it up correctly as if you get the one side a couple of mm out of line the leverage and lengths etc will move your axle over by 30-40mm.

I didnt rebuild my axles as I thought they were just too far gone, I sourced a couple of much newer ones off a late model 110and just swapped them over, but I,m sure you can find a nut by nut guide to rebuilding the axles, bearings etc in the Land Rover workshop manual.

Looking like a milk delivery truck=


working on the driveway


Gaz