rear cross member - tub wiring question

hi all, due to failed mot iv to replace my rear x member on my defender 90.

so i ordered one with extensions as the chassis legs werent up to much either.

i decided id have to remove tub to do it properly with the extensions and my limited welding skills.

i now have the roof off, tub undone etc. the only thing holding it on is the wiring in the rear offside of the tub, there are more wires going up there than i expected and im afraid to just chop them incase i cant get them reconnected properly as it may be a few weeks before its goin back together! (im limited to sunday afternoons wit col and work)

Any recommendations for removing these??

thanks Larry

Hi Larry
I had same problem, What i did was to cut the wire straight through the black sheathing, That way it was a clean cut though all the wires and its easy to join them back up, just join colour to corresponding colour, easy.
Also when you want to cut off the rear Xmember the wire goes through the chassis. Well no problem attach, securely, some 5mm poly propelene rope to the cut end that dissapears into the chassis and find the other end, nera the engine, remove those rubber plugs and pull the wire, might help if somone feeds the rope through at the same time, hey presto you have replaced the wire with rope, so noe when you cut you dont chop the wire in an annoying place in the chassis, also when welding the wires dont melt, now when you cut it off, try to avoid cutting the rope, so as you dont need to reattach it,
and when job is done and before welding you fed rope through the xmember designated hole, you can pull the rope, gently, and you have re-wired you chassis
Or you could pull it out and cable tye it to the chassis

lovely thanks for that! as it happens i got impatient with my limited time and started choppin anyway luckily i did it as you described! cheers for the rope tip!

When ah did mine, ah just disconnected all the wires at the bullet connectors and unscrewed the earth wires. Once they were free ah pushed them down through the hole in the tub. My fuel tank needed to come out as it's rear mounted and from there ah just lifted the wires from the clips on the old crossmember. Once all the wires were removed from the tub ah just taped some fencin' wire to the loom and pulled it through from the front (not all the way out). Then it was just a case of cuttin' the old chassis and crossmember, fittin' the new one and pullin' the loom back through and reconnectin' it.

larrynumber1 said:

lovely thanks for that! as it happens i got impatient with my limited time and started choppin anyway luckily i did it as you described! cheers for the rope tip!

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No probs good luck.
one thing I wished Id done before getting it tacked on was make sure it fits to the tub before final welding. Doesn't matter how many times you check measure fek about ect its not right.
I mean sit the tub where it goes and attach the rXm to the tub so you know the tub will sit right.
I didn't do this and ended up with my doors not fitting properly:doh:
I had to re drill the bulkhead securing plate and ratchet the bulkhead forward to get it square.
Will post some pic

See the second pic..stupid rXm holes don't line up. grrr had to get me chainsaw file out and make the things fit

Forgot tae say when ah did mine ah kept the tub on...

















When ye do come to weld the new chassis legs on, drill some holes down each side, stick a plate inside and fill the holes with weld, drill some holes in new chassis legs and fit over the plates, fill holes with weld then weld the seams for extra strength

I had to re drill the bulkhead securing plate and ratchet the bulkhead forward to get it square.

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Uh that don't sound fun! my doors are dodgy enough without me doin that to them!

well i have the tub off now but thats all i'll get done today.. its back to the books for the evenin im afraid

i think i'll park her up on a good level part of the yard and make two supports to stand under either end of the current x-mem, that way when i place the new one on top of these it'll not be off by much.

i'll still match up first as vagrent says tho!

When ye do come to weld the new chassis legs on, drill some holes down each side, stick a plate inside and fill the holes with weld, drill some holes in new chassis legs and fit over the plates, fill holes with weld then weld the seams for extra strength

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thanks for that buster! sounds like a gud'un

larrynumber1 said:

Uh that don't sound fun! my doors are dodgy enough without me doin that to them!

well i have the tub off now but thats all i'll get done today.. its back to the books for the evenin im afraid

i think i'll park her up on a good level part of the yard and make two supports to stand under either end of the current x-mem, that way when i place the new one on top of these it'll not be off by much.

i'll still match up first as vagrent says tho!



thanks for that buster! sounds like a gud'un

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Nae wurries Ye can see what ah was on about with drillin' the holes in the photie with the legs welded to the crossmember.
Might be an idea to clamp a couple of pieces of angle iron or summit on top of the chassis as well and measure any distances to the top of the crossmember

Another thing you can do is weld some Datum points off your chassis to your cross member before you cut it off as stands can move .....

One other thing is give the cross member that the A frame bolts to (as the tubs off ) a bloody good clean with a wire brush on a drill then paint it , as mud and crap loves to sit there .