Disco 2 Chassis

Grahame of the shires · Jul 4, 2018

Just found out that I have the rust gremlins on my chassis. The cost of putting on a galvanised chassis on doesn't seem to make financial sense on a 15 year old vehicle.
Does anyone know of someone that makes bog standard steel ones which maybe cheaper?
TIA

Turboman · Jul 4, 2018

Grahame of the shires said:
Just found out that I have the rust gremlins on my chassis. The cost of putting on a galvanised chassis on doesn't seem to make financial sense on a 15 year old vehicle.
Does anyone know of someone that makes bog standard steel ones which maybe cheaper?
TIA

Not offhand, and I doubt if they would be much cheaper either, especially because they would be a low volume product, almost all that are sold are galvanised.
I presume you could buy one from landrover, but it would be arms and legs.
Galvanising probably only adds a hundred quid to the cost on top of the fabrication of the chassis itself, and makes the chassis much longer lasting.

Bantam1 · Jul 4, 2018

Turboman said:
Not offhand, and I doubt if they would be much cheaper either, especially because they would be a low volume product, almost all that are sold are galvanised.
I presume you could buy one from landrover, but it would be arms and legs.
Galvanising probably only adds a hundred quid to the cost on top of the fabrication of the chassis itself, and makes the chassis much longer lasting.

Yeah its the labour cost of doing the swap that hurts, unless of course you do it yourself.
Whether doing it yourself or not you will add value if you use galvanised.

Turboman · Jul 4, 2018

Bantam1 said:
Yeah its the labour cost of doing the swap that hurts, unless of course you do it yourself.
Whether doing it yourself or not you will add value if you use galvanised.

That is the way I would look at it. The cost of the chassis is fairly low compared to the cost of paying someone else to do it, or the weeks of work to do it yourself.

Disco1BFG · Jul 4, 2018

Grahame of the shires said:
Just found out that I have the rust gremlins on my chassis. The cost of putting on a galvanised chassis on doesn't seem to make financial sense on a 15 year old vehicle.
Does anyone know of someone that makes bog standard steel ones which maybe cheaper?
TIA

This comes up quite a bit on here, and it really depends on your lifestyle, and how much electronic carp you " need" in your life....

D2's are a sound vehicle, and for the most part, rust is pretty much confined to the rear chassis. There are exceptions though

, so have a good look around. IF the body is in good order then a galv chassis makes perfect sense as the vehicle will, with proper maintenance, effectively last forever.

Used chassis do come up on eblag occasionally, but, IMHO it is simply not worth fitting an unknown non galv chassis ... nor, frankly a known non galv chassis...

Then there's the point of what are you going to get instead ? ( think worms, can of

)

meego · Jul 5, 2018

As @Turboman says, galvanising is not expensive. They charge by weight. Weigh it before it goes in the tank and weigh it when it comes out and charge accordingly. One chassis would be inexpensive to get done. You would also need your head looked at if you fitted a bare steel one instead of a galv one.

resto_d1 · Jul 5, 2018

How bad is the rust? Nothing makes economical sense with these. That's why you have to use man maths and not economics

Interceptorxj · Jul 5, 2018

And I would take all your carpets out and thoroughly inspect all your floors front - rear before committing to the long term investment of a chassis swap. I recently took all mine out due to water ingress from the sunroofs / leaking windscreen and managed to catch all my floors just in time to prevent some major body repairs not too far down the line.

resto_d1 · Jul 5, 2018

Interceptorxj said:
And I would take all your carpets out and thoroughly inspect all your floors front - rear before committing to the long term investment of a chassis swap. I recently took all mine out due to water ingress from the sunroofs / leaking windscreen and managed to catch all my floors just in time to prevent some major body repairs not too far down the line.

THIS! The rule is unfortunately, the rust will always be worse than you thought. I'm wondering is this your daily and is it a possibility to weld her up? I assume the rust is all in the rear? Don't a lot of D2 owners buy a new rear section from Paddocks or similar?

Rodeo Joe · Jul 5, 2018

Get a defender

Interceptorxj · Jul 6, 2018

Rodeo Joe said:
Get a defender

Which rust even more!

Rodeo Joe · Jul 6, 2018

But are much , much, much easier to work on

Interceptorxj · Jul 6, 2018

Rodeo Joe said:
But are much , much, much easier to work on

Not sure about that either, I've had 5 defenders and 3 Discos and I recon D2 is as easy to work on. Axle work i.e hubs / wheel bearings etc are easier on the D2, rear air suspension is a doddle , engine and box the same??? Heater motors/box easier on the Defender maybe ; -)

Rodeo Joe · Jul 6, 2018

My 1992 200Tdi will still be on the road long after all the D1 and D2's have disintegrated into a pile of non descript red oxide

Bantam1 · Jul 7, 2018

Rodeo Joe said:
My 1992 200Tdi will still be on the road long after all the D1 and D2's have disintegrated into a pile of non descript red oxide

Well I still miss my Defender a little but my D2 is far superior in my opinion. It drives better, is more comfortable, etc, etc, and as for rust that's just about waxoyling, which I did every 2 or 3 years on the defender.
No doubt I would buy another 90 if one came up for right money, or even a series, buy it wouldn't be because it was a better vehicle.

Rodeo Joe · Jul 7, 2018

There is no question that the disco is better to drive in most respects but there's no denying that even if you galvanise the chassis the body will still eventually give up the ghost..... inner wings, firewall, footwells, sills, boot floor, boot side walls(which are pretty hard to access unless you start removing panels) rear arches..................Sad but true

Its not just a case of replacement panels that bolt on.

Bantam1 · Jul 7, 2018

Rodeo Joe said:
There is no question that the disco is better to drive in most respects but there's no denying that even if you galvanise the chassis the body will still eventually give up the ghost..... inner wings, firewall, footwells, sills, boot floor, boot side walls(which are pretty hard to access unless you start removing panels) rear arches..................Sad but true
Its not just a case of replacement panels that bolt on.

Yeah but the same for most vehicles really. What I would say is that my D2 is a low spec, specifically no sunroof.
The body in the usual places, for D2s with sunroofs and other bolt on bits, is perfect and its a 1998.

Disco 2 Chassis

Grahame of the shires

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Turboman

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meego

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