HD Rear Cross Member from Pressbrake

tombardier said:

His fabrications? Is he some sort of compulsive liar?

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only to the mrs

I had a crossmember fitted by Clive (Pressbrake) yesterday and I am really happy with the result. It is a superior product to any others I have seen, well priced and importantly for me, I was happy paying my money to a grafter and a very skilled bloke. All too often you get the feeling you are being ripped off these days. This was just the opposite.
For anyone wanting a crossmember I am very happy to recommend him.
Thanks to Shifty etc for writing the initial reviews and letting me know where to look.

Hello all,
I just wanted to add my feedback to this thread after having my crossmember replaced by Clive (aka pressbrake) at Black Sheep Offroad, yesterday. After my local garage quoted around £1400 to supply and fit a genuine Land Rover crossmember, and after reading the excellent feedback on this thread, I contacted pressbrake to ask for a quote to supply and fit one of his HD crossmembers (I had originally planned to try to get it installed locally but, after discovering that pressbrake loves nothing more than to spend his weekends fitting crossmembers, I decided to take a trip to Essex to get it done properly!

As is customary, I have taken some before and after photos which I'm sure will speak for themselves, but I want to add that both the quality of the crossmember and Mr pressbrake's work are extremely impressive. Quite why anyone would pay the extortionate price for a genuine Land Rover part or, heaven forbid, purchase a BritPart crossmember, is beyond me!

Without further ado, here are the photos:

Before (this if after taking off the chequer plate that was seemingly fitted to hide this monstrosoty of a cross-member!):



Old crossmember off:



Old crossmember in all its glory (it's as if it was designed to rust to pieces!):



Various work-in-progress pictures:











The finished product:



After seeing this, I'm sure you will agree that this is an impressive piece of work

If you are reading this thread wondering whether to purchase a crossmember from Black Sheep Offroad, I highly recommend that you do, and if you are wondering where to have it fitted, I can't recommend Clive strongly enough; it's a long day but really worth the trip as Clive is a really nice and genuine guy and it was nothing short of a pleasure to sit back (I wasn't at all helpful) and watch the work progress.

Mr pressbrake, if you are reading this, thank you once again for all of your time and effort yesterday.

Chris

another good review.

I was going to commission clive to do some work on my 90 but have decided to go in a different direction.

I have to ask why your signature says RIP blacksheep offroad though Clive?

thanks chris, Ive copied your pics for my ebay advert!

pressbrake said:

thanks chris, Ive copied your pics for my ebay advert!

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i hope yu asked?

pressbrake said:

thanks chris, Ive copied your pics for my ebay advert!

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No problem. Just remember that we discussed the cost of each of my very professional photographs!

First of all a quick thank you to fellow Landyzone contributors for leading me to Clive, AKA Pressbrake, of Black Sheep Offroad.

I cant really add much on the 'technical front' to Chris's excellent and very informative post above of 15th April.

But, Clive deserves another mention for the brilliant job he has just done replacing the Crossmember on my cherished 17 year old 300 Tdi Defender 90.

Don't be deterred if you experience Clive's initial gruff telephone manner on first contact - its most probably provoked by frequent interruptions of visitors and telephone calls he has to field.

Clive only sees a continuous stream of 'rotten' land rovers which somewhat colours his view of life, he half jokingly claims they are the 'bane of his life'.

Well, of course they are to most of us but he misses out on the balancing joy of owning and driving one - No Clive, a late model Discovery 3 doesn't count.

Nevertheless, Clive was unfailingly courteous to me and it soon became clear he has a very professional attitude and takes considerably pride in producing work of a high standard.

During his thorough initial examination of the chassis he quickly spotted some 'slight bulging' of the chassis and took time to carefully explain to me that the corrosion wasn't limited to the Crossmember.

After making initial cuts to remove the old Crossmember he showed me how through capillary action between the double skinned chassis water and of course the inevitable ingress of mud had caused severe internal corrosion and the rot was almost back to the rear spring mounts.

Forgive me if most of you know about such innocent looking 'bulging' with no associated sign of external corrosion - The point here is if you spot it don't delay replacing the Crossmember - if you do delay it may cost you a new chassis.

I found this discovery alarming and very dispiriting but Clive just took it in his stride, moved up a gear, quickly modified his approach to the job, cut the chassis back to solid metal with a plasma torch, cut alternative steel fixing plates from stock steel and then just got on with job.

If you need a replacement I hope you will seek out Clive and end up, like me, a very satisfied customer with a bespoke made and fitted 6mm steel replacement rear Crossmember at a reasonable price, and most probably less than you might pay elsewhere for a less substantial 'off the shelf' 2-3mm inferior pattern alternative.

Thanks again Clive.

Just a slight word of warning regarding Clive's products: I had a crossmember and a HD bumper fitted to my Defender. Turns out they were actually too good: someone else liked them so much that they stole the Defender they were attached to. :violent:

wish i was still in London

So is "Clive" AKA Pressbreak still in business? There seems to be some question. For a guy with such a good reputation we the Landyzoners need to know if his services are still available. (Time to move to Yorkshire anyway Essex is too far away)

waldershelf said:

So is "Clive" AKA Pressbreak still in business? There seems to be some question. For a guy with such a good reputation we the Landyzoners need to know if his services are still available. (Time to move to Yorkshire anyway Essex is too far away)

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Crossmembers and odds and sods but no cages (except spaceframes)

Pressbrake,

I contacted you in Jan about a rear cross member but my Land Rover was not able to make the journey at the time. She is now good to go so I wanted to make an appointment for that and to fill a small hole on the front of the chassis. What is the best way to schedule an appointment for the cross member fitting. I would like the jacking points as well as the holes for the hitch if possible. no need for the mud flap or rear bumper holes.

Thanks again,
Doug

swgeek said:

Pressbrake,

I contacted you in Jan about a rear cross member but my Land Rover was not able to make the journey at the time. She is now good to go so I wanted to make an appointment for that and to fill a small hole on the front of the chassis. What is the best way to schedule an appointment for the cross member fitting. I would like the jacking points as well as the holes for the hitch if possible. no need for the mud flap or rear bumper holes.

Thanks again,
Doug

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You'd do better to PM Clive, rather than post on here. He may not look at this thread!

Thank you Trewey, I should have done that in the first place. Have a good one.

Cheers,
Doug

swgeek said:

Pressbrake,

I contacted you in Jan about a rear cross member but my Land Rover was not able to make the journey at the time. She is now good to go so I wanted to make an appointment for that and to fill a small hole on the front of the chassis. What is the best way to schedule an appointment for the cross member fitting. I would like the jacking points as well as the holes for the hitch if possible. no need for the mud flap or rear bumper holes.

Thanks again,
Doug

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Hi Doug,

From my recent experience its quicker to contact Clive during the early evening on his mobile number which is available from his blacksheepoffroad web site. I got the distinct impression he prefers this to any other method of communication.

berryfive said:

Hi Doug,

From my recent experience its quicker to contact Clive during the early evening on his mobile number which is available from his blacksheepoffroad web site. I got the distinct impression he prefers this to any other method of communication.

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Thats because he's a Luddite Lol !!!

A luddite who does amazing fabrication!

Shifty1962 said:

Thats because he's a Luddite Lol !!!

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I love machines! I hate scrambling to the phone to find its ppi bs

pressbrake said:

I love machines! I hate scrambling to the phone to find its ppi bs

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Amen to that! Nothing more annoying.