Options when replacing LR90 rear crossmember

Hi All,
I want to solicit advice / opinion on the options open to me for replacing my rear cross member on the 1985 LR90.

I have no welder, nor welding skills so it's a garage job I'm afraid.

I've been offered 3 options:
NB - the prices are all supply / fabricate & fit, inc VAT

1. Standard crossmember - £500-600
2. Heavy duty custom crossmember (reinforced 6mm steel plate for off road recovery) - £700-800
3. Custom winch carrier crossmember (so I could at some stage mount a winch) - £1000

Looking at some threads on LZ I noticed that there seem to be bad quality / fit reports of the standard replacement crossmembers, lacking strength and needing reinforcement, plus needing sometimes extensive hacking to fit each individual vehicle.

I have just started doing a little pay & play off roading and can already see that off road recovery will need something strong.

I haven't quite reached the point of deciding that I need a rear winch but if at some stage I did want one, it's probably better to spend the money up front and get the capable custom cross member rather than later having to spend another £1000 on top of the £700-800 already spent on heavy duty equivalent...

Any advice guys?

Do these prices seem fair? Obviously there will be a bit of variation dependent on the condition of my rear chassis when checked by a professional - it seems to have major rot somewhere up to just behind the rear spring mounts on the offside so quite a long replacement section is in order.

Should I instead consider having a rebuild onto a new chassis - again this being something that I couldn't really take on (time / space / equipment / skills all sadly lacking) and if so, how much would I expect to pay to have the rebuild done on top of the around £1200 that a basic galvanised chassis seems to cost?

Kind of bewildered by the whole thing - these landy's are a black hole for money!

ffs!
my local indy does rear cross member replacement fer £300. and ee makes a damn good job of it too.
yer dunt need a reinforced one for recovery - fit a tow bar or jate rings.
unless yer goin in fer challenge events, yer dunt need a rear winch either.

Treworgey 90 said:

ffs!
my local indy does rear cross member replacement fer £300. and ee makes a damn good job of it too.

Click to expand...

Could you share the details of your local indy?
I'm in Hindhead so not a million miles away from you if you're in Kernow as your sig says. I'd definitely drive that far to save myself a couple of hundred quid!

Trevecca Land Rover
Penhawger, Merrymeet, Liskeard, Cornwall PL14 3LW
Tel: 01579 348864
or
DP Land Rover Services
Temple, Bodmin, Cornwall PL30 4HP.
Tel: 01208 821689

give em a ring and get a quote!
(was about a year ago I last enquired).

No need to drive miles. there will be somewhere local to you that'll do it for 3 or 4 hundred quid. It's not a difficult job for a garage to do with all the equipment to hand. 5-600 quid seems a bit much given that a replacement member with extensions is about 150 quid.

Safari Engineering at Yateley.

Rear winch x member is prob a bit of a luxury to be honest. IF you have everything else then why not! but the money could be put elsewhere. go with standard as everyone says and run jates. I run a Ubolt through my x member which i havent managed to rip out yet, its a land rover part from Craddocks. got a reinforced plate behind it.

G

Have you tried Dunsfold Landrovers? They're only just up the road from you. (No idea of their prices though.)

The Mad Hat Man said:

Safari Engineering at Yateley.

Click to expand...

Do you mean Safari Engineering of Eversley (North Hants) (Safari Engineering Website) ??

yup

for less than £400 you could buy all the tools and the member, including a suitable MIG welder to enable you to DIY - it really isnt a dificult job if you tackle it at a steady pace and arent afraid of getting yer hands dirty and the occasional wound

if you havent got tools it's going to cost you a lot of money to keep your vehicle running in the long term

If you do it yourself its usually best to take the tub off too, ive seen some poor attempts made by people and garages not doing this.

Having just replaced the rear crossmember on mine. I reiterate the last 2 posts. And add make sure it straight and centred. or the rear tub won't go back on.

Wot I done was tacked it in place with the tub on so all the holes lined up properly then removed the tub to complete the welding.

hughesy said:

Wot I done was tacked it in place with the tub on so all the holes lined up properly then removed the tub to complete the welding.

Click to expand...

Snap!

"Take the tub off" - presuming that means removing the body - now that really sounds like a big job and I wouldn't know where to start... unless someone has a picture laden tutorial or something.

In reality, I can spare at most about 2-3 hours over the course of a weekend to do whatever I want to do to the landy before wifey gets angry and I'm told I'm neglecting her and the kids. This doesn't sound like a 2-3 hour job maybe 10 weekends of 2-3 hour jobs and I'd sooner pay the £500 and avoid the headache.

Can someone suggest what welder I should buy if I was going to do this and I'll put my options together and consider it - like one of you said, I probably need all the tools and stuff anyway in the long run.

you don't need to completely remove the tub.
you can undo the rear mountings and jack it up far enough to weld the top half way from each side.

True you don't have to completely remove it but I did mine so I can give the whole chassis and everything else a good looking at while I'm at it. If time was a factor I would have just jacked the arse end up.

gidgrace said:

"Take the tub off" - presuming that means removing the body - now that really sounds like a big job and I wouldn't know where to start... unless someone has a picture laden tutorial or something.

In reality, I can spare at most about 2-3 hours over the course of a weekend to do whatever I want to do to the landy before wifey gets angry and I'm told I'm neglecting her and the kids. This doesn't sound like a 2-3 hour job maybe 10 weekends of 2-3 hour jobs and I'd sooner pay the £500 and avoid the headache.

Can someone suggest what welder I should buy if I was going to do this and I'll put my options together and consider it - like one of you said, I probably need all the tools and stuff anyway in the long run.

Click to expand...

Taking the tub off or loosening enough bolts so you can lift the rear tub is a 2 or 3 hr job. cutting old crossmember off and welding noo one on is anuffer 3hr job. and putting it all back together is another 2 or 3hr job. Just point out to the Doris that you can spend all day and no money on the landy or all day with her and £500 on the landy . She'll soon give you the time off. Get a 140/150 amp Mig welder. If you int welded before have a practise session with some bits of scrap metal of a similar thickness to what your going to be welding. I used fluxed cored gasless wire to weld mine and despite what plenty of people will tell you Gasless is perfectly suited to the job.