Series 3 Chassis repairs - advice needed

Hi All. My '74 series 3 failed its MOT today - chassis corrosion. The main problems are:
The front spring shackles.
The areas under the front bump stops have holes in
the rear chassis, near the spring hangers.
Can someone give me some advice on how to go about fixing this? I've no experience with welding, but I'm up for learning - is this something I should be attempting or should I be looking for a professional repair?

The good news is everything else passed!

Depends on how much time you have

Depends on whether you have a decent dry and safe work place


#######


This sounds like a long term project - especially if you want to make the vehicle a safe vehicle.


#######

If you want to learn to weld I strongly suggest you don't start with MIG - most people will tell you otherwise - but MMA / stick / arc welding really teaches you how to make decent welds (this is after all why you'll start off doing this type of welding if you do a proper course at college).

MIG welding is "great" - but it is so easy to just lay something on top of something else and for it to have no strength what so ever.

i'm not against DIY what so ever as i cut my teeth restoring a 1984 landy myself, however, know the fabrication skill and amount of time it takes to get ok, i would not like to learn to weld on structurally significant areas of a land rover.

the bumpstop areas would also required upside down welding which is an absolute bitch even for half decent hobbiest.

DarrenHS3 said:

i'm not against DIY what so ever as i cut my teeth restoring a 1984 landy myself, however, know the fabrication skill and amount of time it takes to get ok, i would not like to learn to weld on structurally significant areas of a land rover.

the bumpstop areas would also required upside down welding which is an absolute bitch even for half decent hobbiest.

Click to expand...

Along for the rest of us. Perfect sense written here - maybe worth getting a pro in for this job! Good luck

Trouble is.... what you can see NOW is likely to be the thin end of the wedge (almost all the bits that rust on a landrover start rusting from inside....
what you can see now has been festering away for some time)
By all means repair/have repaired BUT expect more to need attention than you can see to get back to anything like solid metal.

Ultimately anything can be repaired BUT hand on heart replacement galvanised chassis is THE only guarantee that you'll not be expecting the worst come MOT time each year.

Great work

Mine is a similar age to yours and looked like this once I got everything off.









The outriggers were pretty crusty too and there were some really crappy repairs to it so it now looks like this



and I bought this

X1 don't try that work as a novice. The front dumbells and rear sections can be bought. Get the work done by a reputable independent landy garage that specifically know how to do S3 chassis repairs. Have a good look underneath, check the out riggers they usually rot too.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I am not going to attempt this myself. I now have a tough choice to make - new chassis or profesional repair. Either way, I'm going to have to save up. Landrovers, don't you just love em.

Herald said:

Thanks everyone for your advice. I am not going to attempt this myself. I now have a tough choice to make - new chassis or profesional repair. Either way, I'm going to have to save up. Landrovers, don't you just love em.

Click to expand...

Have a really good look at the rest of the vehicle

Be critical - look for more rust especially on the bulkhead. Look for powdery white corrosion on the Birmabright

You might think because it is "just like Mechano" it will come to pieces easily and just bolt back on to a replacement chassis - have a look in the project / members vehicle section of this forum to see how that rarely seems to play out to plan...

BUT - don't be put off by us! You go for it - but - make sure you have fun doing it.

My expensive new chassis is currently doing service as quite a good pond! I am really surprised at how much water the tarp has held.

Stretch said:

Have a really good look at the rest of the vehicle

Be critical - look for more rust especially on the bulkhead. Look for powdery white corrosion on the Birmabright

You might think because it is "just like Mechano" it will come to pieces easily and just bolt back on to a replacement chassis - have a look in the project / members vehicle section of this forum to see how that rarely seems to play out to plan...

Click to expand...

I went for a simple 're-chassis' and am now 3 and a bit years in

It is on the way back together mind

To be honest IF the bulkhead is in decent order I'd prefer to do a chassis swap by lifting the body off in one.
with some prep (pre fitting new brake lines and refurbished axles) and a two post lift/hoists it's doable in a weekend .

myself and a couple of mates did an 88" with ease.

With hindsight, I would do the same

get the chassis cleaned thoroughly and then do a good check on the chassis and if you see a lot of rot all over the chassis then maybe a replacement would be good, and if you buy a galv one get the outside painted to prevent the salt and high or low alkaline dirts and ferts breaking down the zinc on it, and get the inside sprayed with a good penetrating oil, remember galv only prolongs the life of the steel underneath but it wont give the steel a lifetime corrosion free, cause as many should know the glav is a sacrifcial and will break down, id rather repair it if not so bad and get a good coating of a type of sealing say waxoyl or a good expoxy marine based paint and always keep an eye on it as anything will get corrosion if looked after and keep an eye on.

Tony.