Thread: Chassis Cracking/Failures 130s

Managed to break the chasis on my 2004 130 dual cab. Not quite as spectacular as the photos you have.

Broke in much the same place - but from the top down - not bottom up. I am a little puzzled as the lift legs should have stabilised the chassis when in use - wondering if the issue is the load on the chassis when travelling rather than in use?????

My problem due to heavy loads on the tray (not ute tub) and heavy towing. The tray itself is quite heavy, with tool boxes and a spare tyre underneath at the back.

I built the tray not to flex - was sick of cracked tray mounts on previous vehicles - and maybe overdid it a bit.

But there were complications - landrover have a factory weld directly across the top of the chassis - and this is where it cracked first. And the steel on the side that broke first was much thinner than the other side. Only obvious when welding it up.

alanw

I know of plenty of 130's that crack the chassis where the loads feed into it from the upper rear suspension, (just at the leading edge of the large cross member/gusseting) and it's HCPU's as well as tray backs, but that crack you've linked to is further forward than the ones I'm talking of.

Have to wonder how strict they are with loading the basket on the arm and how religiously they set the feet of the picker.

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Have to wonder how strict they are with loading the basket on the arm and how religiously they set the feet of the picker.

When you think about the loads and dynamics involved you would have to consider it is not about the actual opperation of the lift as the legs SHOULD totally support the load and the bottom rail of the chassis would be in compression with the load of the engine / front of vehicle somewhat lifted so less or no lower rail tension load if front suspnded.
When lowering the legs even if the front legs are completly lifted before the rear is lowered, the chassis bottom unit is in tension but at at a static load unless dropped, but even if so, the dynamic loads are no where what it would be under when travelling over any rough surface and particularly when bottoming out.

The fact that the lift boom is forward also has a multiplyer effect on loads when the front hits a bump, it acts as a lever and I suspect this is the main cause of the failure.
( front wheels hit a bump suspension absorbs initial force up, load of boom is levered back to rear and the bottom of chassis is in major tension, front comes back down reducing tension but probably never to point of putting top rail in tension and then the rear wheels hit same bump and the cycle goes on)

The mounting/flexability of the lift structure will cause some concentration of forces and in this case it finds the weakest point in that zone and eventially it fails, no different to overloading really.

Originally Posted by alanw

Managed to break the chasis on my 2004 130 dual cab. Not quite as spectacular as the photos you have.

Broke in much the same place - but from the top down - not bottom up. I am a little puzzled as the lift legs should have stabilised the chassis when in use - wondering if the issue is the load on the chassis when travelling rather than in use?????

My problem due to heavy loads on the tray (not ute tub) and heavy towing. The tray itself is quite heavy, with tool boxes and a spare tyre underneath at the back.

I built the tray not to flex - was sick of cracked tray mounts on previous vehicles - and maybe overdid it a bit.

But there were complications - landrover have a factory weld directly across the top of the chassis - and this is where it cracked first. And the steel on the side that broke first was much thinner than the other side. Only obvious when welding it up.

alanw

Yours sounds like the load was too far rear of the rear axle and putting the top rail in tension / compression cycle and the weld point across the chassis introduces a altered zone causing a weaker point to fail at.
Removeing flex in the tray causes loss of flex in the chassis and concentration in the chassis rails in front of the mounting point.
changed flex is a major problem if operating in rough offroad conditions.

Bit of a trade really cracked tray mounts or cracked chassis ! emmmm
neither would be ideal, but I opt for the first

This is why there are standards and certification for truck body and crane mounts on chassis in Australia.

Maybe a 3 point mount with load distribution would be better or flex mounts other than the rears.

The thinner side plate is interesting as you would expect the QA process would be quite rigorous in this area. Did you bring it to the attention of LR?

Any Pics???

What was your fix ... doubler plate? Shape? size? weld zones? Did it work out well or did you trade out soon after??

Here's a pic of a very similar looking picker -

From the link in the OP the reach is 12m.

Pic from here.

Ray,
Ive played abit with cracked 130s and IMHO you have nailed it with
"Removeing flex in the tray causes loss of flex in the chassis and concentration in the chassis rails in front of the mounting point."

My tray is alloy with only 4 mounting points, I have cracked those mounts a couple of times but chassis is good. I think the mounts crack as the ally flexes slightly differently to the chassis. A solid tray structure with solid mounts onto s flexy chassis and somethings gotta give.

If you have the time/inclination have a look on the EarthCruiser website converting zuzu trucks to luxobarges... obviuously extreme case but the twist in their chassis rails is huge, to counter this the mounted cabin has some funky spring & rubber mounts.

All interesting, but in relation to the above case... that lift really should be mounted on a proper truck chassis, I imagine it was stuck on a poor fender because of vehicle tax implications in Europe?

S

I saw similar chassis cracking on two defender traybacks being used to carry a broadacre boomspray abut 1999 or 2000. Fairly well loaded at times and driven at reasonable speeds ( not flogged ) on preploughed broadacre paddocks.

Cracks were just behind the cab