Thread: Defender snapped chassis WHAT THE!!!!

Originally Posted by steane

130s appear to be prone to chassis failure. I've heard it can happen when the tray isn't located correctly and prevent's the chassis from flexing. I've also heard that the longer chassis is a bit weaker, something about a section being welded in.

Lots of heavily worked 130's crack, (I've seen a number, including mine) but they don't crack where the extra section is welded in.

They tend to break the tray and body mounts and break the main rails where all the loads from the A frame cross member feeds to the main rails.

FWIW the 130 have extra gussets in certain spots, eg. on some of the suspension brackets and supposedly an extra plate down the main rails, but I've never noticed that.
And it happens a lot, lot less than utes like Trytoo's !
Even GU coil cab utes use to snap the rails off behind the rear axle.

Anyone else notice the twin mount shockies and airbags?

That thing has been overloaded to the hilt

Originally Posted by rick130

Lots of heavily worked 130's crack, (I've seen a number, including mine) but they don't crack where the extra section is welded in.

They tend to break the tray and body mounts and break the main rails where all the loads from the A frame cross member feeds to the main rails.

FWIW the 130 have extra gussets in certain spots, eg. on some of the suspension brackets and supposedly an extra plate down the main rails, but I've never noticed that.
And it happens a lot, lot less than utes like Trytoo's !
Even GU coil cab utes use to snap the rails off behind the rear axle.

I tried to take pics of where it had snapped but they did not come out (using my phone). The chassis had been welded vertically probably due to a crack from some sort of abuse. The weld IMO had further weakened the chassis and snapped. It must have been brown trousers time when it let go!! What I cant understand is why someone would pay to get a right off to Cairns all the way from south Aus?
Chris

Isn't Adelaide River in NT? I'm sure I've been there.

Looks spectacular - but it is only a welding job to fix the chassis.
Take off the tray, line it up and weld and plate. Normal MIG wire and gas and 2 or 3mm mild steel plate. A level concrete floor would help.
And then change the tray mounts and revise loading practises.......
The chassis would be fixable in a day in a basic workshop with good welding skills.
Any collateral damage to the driveline would be additional.

Originally Posted by strangy

I think it is Adelaide River Towing.
Marko66? Maybe he's down from Bamaga or sold his truck.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Isn't Adelaide River in NT? I'm sure I've been there.

Yes it is Ron. 110km south of Darwin.

Marko66 ran Adelaide River Towing and moved to Bamaga on the Cape. I believe he took that truck with him.

Originally Posted by Narangga

Yes it is Ron. 110km south of Darwin.

Marko66 ran Adelaide River Towing and moved to Bamaga on the Cape. I believe he took that truck with him.

My bad, but still a long long way!! Yes it looks fixable, but would it not be a right off as it is fairly new? I would imagine a new chassis would be the only option to do the job properly?
Chris

Originally Posted by rick130

Lots of heavily worked 130's crack, (I've seen a number, including mine) but they don't crack where the extra section is welded in.

They tend to break the tray and body mounts and break the main rails where all the loads from the A frame cross member feeds to the main rails.

FWIW the 130 have extra gussets in certain spots, eg. on some of the suspension brackets and supposedly an extra plate down the main rails, but I've never noticed that.
And it happens a lot, lot less than utes like Trytoo's !
Even GU coil cab utes use to snap the rails off behind the rear axle.

Yeah it's certainly not the issue that it seems to be in other utes but I guess there isn't much that is immune to over-loading and abuse and I bet there was something NQR with the way that one was set-up. Some of the owners of these vehicles are really just reaping what they sow.

When you see how some people drive their grossly overloaded vehicles on rough roads it's easy to understand that things go snap from time to time. Throw in a design fault/weakness like in the Patrols and DC Utes, or some airbags, dual wheel carriers and a trailer and it becomes a pandemic pretty quickly.