Rear Cross Member

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DM68

DM68

Active Member
Posts
246
:) Hi everyone on the series section, this is my first post on this part of the forum,usually on the P38 section so be gentle.
Anyway been looking on here and learning over the past few months and have acquired a series 3 that had been in a garage for 10 years and is in need of some TLC. So whilst stripping it down to the chassis for a well overdue makeover i've noticed a few differences to the rear cross member.So the question is ,is there another rear cross member available apart from standard / military because this one is neither,or is it a previous owners special,but i must admit it's in pretty good condition apart from the butchering of towbar angle for the rear silencer.Also someone at some point has welded some 75 x 45 box section to chassis to aid additional ground clearance.
 

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Looks like someone with a bit of fab experience has done that doesnt look too bad, well rusty though innit.
The rear looks like a series front bumper bashed to fit.
Those spring hangers also look a lot longer, they might be fabbed as well.
I have a rear xmember to replace on my s3 lwb, not looking forward to that, I postponed it till I get a load of other work done.
 
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Yep defo a bodge job.. Looks like he has modified the rear part of the tub as it doesn't look like it bolts on as it should [i.e. 5 pairs of bolts staggered]. Doesn't look to bad metal tbh. My chassis certainatly looked worse and i got it back to good metal.

Give it a rub down with a wire brush and see what it's like. It seemed to have been fabricated so much that fitting a standard rearxmember would be alot of work.
Just my first impression though :)

Not bad looking landy m8, but a fair project ;)

tom
 
if that's a shorty, the entire back end of the main chassis rails have been re-fabbed ... it should curve downwards to the rear x-member (then he wouldn't have needed the spring hanger extensions).

I'm guessing it's a shorty as the springs are in line with the rails rather than outboard.
 
Good obs smithy, I think its a shorty too, the diff is a rover as well as the spring hangers being inboard.
The lwb has a sally diff and outboard hangers.
So the ride height might be standard then, the springs are showing cause of the chassis bash.
Personally I'd check the length of the rear spring hangers, and if they are longer then usual I'd bolt a bush in the centre to hold them together, like military hangers on the front are.

Doesnt mean to say its a heap, if the work has been done to an acceptable standard.
 
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Yes its a 88" and it has been heavily modified.As Smiths88 says the main chassis rails have been totally re-fabbed and should dip downwards towards the rear.So he's probably right as to why someones added spring extensions.The rear tub also only attaches at the rear by 4 bolts and at the front (cab area) via 4 bolts but is still very secure.Because of this as 1moley say putting a standard rear cross member back on would be a hell of a job,so making this good is the way to go.I'm just getting it back to bare metal now and its pretty solid and in very good condition,just alot of surface rust. dr pepper what do you mean by "chassis bash" and cheers for the replys
 
Chassis bash = Fabricated to a different design to the original. Usually done by a non-professional. Doesn't mean it's a bad job though. :D
 
Ah right, technical term for bodged or that will do for now.

Now i understand,but as you and others have said,whoever did it certainly intended his work to last. Just getting it to bare metal and am pretty impressed with condition,so will red oxide for now whilst doing other bits n bobs.
The bulkhead needs some work so cutting bits out of it,the usual footwells and door pillars but will get it sorted,could just do with the weather been abit warmer
 
if it offended you enough you could fit a replacement half-chassis which - depending on how back the refabrication goes - would rectify the lot. you'd need a replacement rear tub though and she'd sit tall at the rear on those shackles!

half chassis are sadly not the cheapest thing in the world though ...
Series 2 2A 3 SWB Half Chassis REAR
 
Looks as though its been on a while, so has done its job, so long as its structuraly sound.
You might want to tidy things a little, maybe close up the ends of the box section spring packers, it'd make them stronger too.

And you'd be surprised how may so called pro's do bash jobs.
 
Well its certainly sound and was re-fabbed 14 years ago so its obviously working and judging by the amount of work involved making it standard again, i think it would have to offend me ahelluva lot more before i went down that route,some purists might not agree but if its fit for purpose fair enough,adds a touch of uniqueness. I like the idea of closing up the box section,and like i said previously its been heavily modded because it sits level whilst parked because the previous owner has messed with the front aswell.
 
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