Fuel Tank Cradle

My TD4 has just failed it MOT on brake pipes and track rod ends which were easy enough to fix, however, one of the advisorys which was marked as **DANGEROUS** was the fuel tank cradle being excessively corroded.

In order to replace it, I guess you need to lower the rear subframe. Has anybody done this before and did you:

Lower the subframe?
Remove the driveshafts and suspension links?
Disconnect the exhaust middle section (nuts more or less unrecognisable with rust)

As an aside, the cradle is no longer available from LR but my dealer offered me one for £250 + VAT. Nightmare!

Robbin gits

Mine are like this - oh eck!

Can't you get some metal strapping used in the camper industry for securing water tanks to the under side of campers and attach it somewhere less difficult - after all there is no requirement that I am aware of that requires the original part.

Failing this some Dexion angle iron and some long threaded rods could be made to fit.

for that price I'd buy a Mantec fuel and exhaust guard!!
my dealer quoted me £120 for a cradle I think

I think I've managed to locate a decent cradle from a breakers. May need some rust remedy and stone chip paint but it still leaves me the problem of fitting it though.

If I get time I might take some pictures and post them incase anybody else has the same problem.

The guy at the dealers said that there must have been a shortage of the cradles as they only used to be £70 until a couple of months ago. Thanks for letting me know that "mate"!

jimjp said:

My TD4 has just failed it MOT on brake pipes and track rod ends which were easy enough to fix, however, one of the advisorys which was marked as **DANGEROUS** was the fuel tank cradle being excessively corroded.

In order to replace it, I guess you need to lower the rear subframe. Has anybody done this before and did you:

Lower the subframe?
Remove the driveshafts and suspension links?
Disconnect the exhaust middle section (nuts more or less unrecognisable with rust)

As an aside, the cradle is no longer available from LR but my dealer offered me one for £250 + VAT. Nightmare!

Click to expand...

This is a worry, what year is your TD4??

Are you sure something cannot be made out of say tread plate or similar ?

Just a thought but does the tank fall out without it?

Garagedood, its a 52 plate. Must be all the salt on the roads in Aberdeen. They've started gritting already here!

Angeloc, Its a bit of a complicated shape. I've got the cradle from the scapper. I'll try and stick some photos on. Yes.... onto the prop shaft!

jimjp said:

Garagedood, its a 52 plate. Must be all the salt on the roads in Aberdeen. They've started gritting already here!

Click to expand...

jimjp said:

Have just looked at my December 2003 TD4. Virtually no rust on the tube but a coating of rust on the steel plate. The drivers side being the worse as the nearside is warmed by the exhaust pipe. I sprayed all the cradle with WD40 which will need doing again in a few months. Has anyone any suggestion on something better to use? It needs to be something sprayable from a can.
Based in the soft south so not much salt!

Click to expand...

I remember that cradle now - mine was rusted on the sheet tin stuff so I costed it all and everywhere with black Hammerite paint - it seems to work - been under to look and it's halted it from getting worse.

mine is rusting away nicely.....another few years and there wont be anything left

To answer my own questions in case anybody searches this later on...

Yes, you do need to lower the subframe. Its easy with a trolley jack and just undo the the four bolts.

Drive shaft needs removed, half shafts stay, as do suspension links.

Exhaust must be disconnected at the three bolt flange upstream of the cat and lowered. If the nuts were like mine and unrecognisable, cut them off with angle grinder, heat the flange around the remaining stud with a MAPP torch and then hammer through. Replace with M8 bolts on reassembly.

Watch you don't round off the 8mm bolts that support the hand brake cable. Getting them out is a nightmare.

MOT passed... good to go for another year.

how badly rusted are these ?

This is mine - the supporting tubes don't look too bad but the plate is almost gone in places - has anyone managed to just replace the plate - looks a big job to take the whole thing off.

TimUK said:

how badly rusted are these ?

This is mine - the supporting tubes don't look too bad but the plate is almost gone in places - has anyone managed to just replace the plate - looks a big job to take the whole thing off.

Click to expand...

Wow - get the Hammerite paint out now! Stop it getting worse.

This is good stuff. Just get it as clean and rust-free as you can prior to application.

Rustoleum Cold Galvanising zinc paint for cathodic anti corrosion metal protection

Genuine part has been reinstated the new part no is
The cradle # WFI000010 supersedes to WFZ000010.

WFZ000010 has been recently reinstated due to high requirement.

i amn old school. i spray under my cars with old engine oil and grease mixed ,but now i go posh add some waxoil to the brew, warm it up and spray it everywhere, mess after but none of my cars rust, some mot testers dont like it or wont test my cars but hooray got a mate who is a mot tester. you get dirty working on them after but nuts unbolt and nothing siezes, never had rubbers perish neither for some reason, it creeps well under things.

jimjp said:

My TD4 has just failed it MOT on brake pipes and track rod ends which were easy enough to fix, however, one of the advisorys which was marked as **DANGEROUS** was the fuel tank cradle being excessively corroded.

In order to replace it, I guess you need to lower the rear subframe. Has anybody done this before and did you:

Lower the subframe?
Remove the driveshafts and suspension links?
Disconnect the exhaust middle section (nuts more or less unrecognisable with rust)

As an aside, the cradle is no longer available from LR but my dealer offered me one for £250 + VAT. Nightmare!

Click to expand...

After seeing this thread last year it prompted me to get under the car to sort mine out , took a while to scrape and remove what rust i could i filled a couple of small holes with p38 then painted the full cradle with rust beater from hamerite also did parts of the sub frame , glad its done thanks for the warning

Could you have one fabricated by a blacksmith to MOT Standard

I don't believe there is a standard - as long as what you have stops the tank falling down its acceptable - you could cover it with an alloy shield - MOT testers are not allowed to remove anything to see behind - what they cannot see they cannot fail!