Reinforced chassis

[NT5224]

Ladies and gents

Can anybody tell me what is meant by the 'chassis reinforcement' that comes with the heavy duty upgrade on the current model? In what way is the 110 chassis reinforced?

Just loving the new Land Rover :)

cheers

Alan

[dobbo]

A county chassis? I'm interested in knowing

[easo]

Me too, what are they advertising and on what model?

[NT5224]

This is what it says:

The 110 Hardtop, Single Cab Chassis and HCPU models have two options; the Boost pack of alloy rims, traction control and ABS, or the Heavy Duty pack of a reinforced chassis, steel rims, Michelin XZL tyres (very strong light-truck mud tyre designed for extremely heavy loads), coil-within-coil rear springs and a GVM increase of 450kg to 3500kg, same as all 130s.

[Bush65]

Possibly bolt-on reinforcement to the inside of the rear crossmember for towing.

[Dervish]

Apologies for digging up this old thread, but I was just cleaning the truck ('97 110 station wagon) and noticed that I have this:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Does that mean I have the "HD" option? Unfortunately the factory wheels and springs were long gone when I bought it, so the obvious signs are gone. I've certainly never noticed anything unusual about the chassis, not that I've been paying attention until now.


Possibly bolt-on reinforcement to the inside of the rear crossmember for towing.

No bolt on reinforcements on the rear crossmember - other than what went on with the HR tow bar. So has anyone established what the "chassis reinforcements" are yet? If not, I'm happy to take photos/measurements of mine for comparison.

[steveG]

I've got a bare standard 110 chassis here that's easy to take photos of for comparison too.
Can you find the serial number on the rear axle housing? Its on the rear of the LH tube a bit above mid point. I'd be guessing its a heavy duty one with thicker tubes like a 130.

Steve

[Bush65]

Dervish, 3500 kg is the GVM with the HD option.

I don't know what difference there is with the chassis, however you will have the HD Salisbury with thicker wall axle tubes (same as 130). The original F & R springs for your HD 110 were also the same as for a 130.

The Land Rover chassis is only 2 mm thick so they have a fair amount of reinforcement inside at points of higher load, such as where there are cross members, body outriggers, suspension mounts and the like. Usually this consists of lengths of 'L' section in the upper and lower corners. They also have 'Z' crush tubes where items bolt to the chassis. As these are not visible, without cutting up the chassis it wouldn't be possible to tell if there were changes internally.

The area I think that would be most likely to receive reinforcement for the greater GVM is around the spring perches, or the rear cross member for higher towing loads.

I would expect if the HD 110 has chassis reinforcement additional to the standard 110 chassis, then it would also be applied to every 130.

I have spent a good deal of time trying to find what reinforcement Land Rover applied to the chassis for the MOD 'Wolf'. After sifting out the usual BS, all I could find was vague information about reinforcement in the vicinity of the body outrigger at the front bulkhead and radius arm mount, and a continuous member above the rear chassis rails to enable closer spaced cross supports/stiffening for the floor of the tub (this was not to strengthen the chassis but to avoid damage to the floor of the tub). Regarding the previously mentioned reinforcement at the body outrigger and radius arm support they later changed to a triangular gusset, if I understand correctly is the same as for the current 110 and 130's.

Edit: I interpret the information on that placard, including the tyre pressures as only relating to a maximum load state. I have known people to stick to the same tyre pressures even running with very light loads off road.

[uninformed]

When Rick had his 98 130 next to my 98 110 trayback, things we noted were some extra webbing/bracing in the TA mount at chassis, and the A frame cross member on his 130

Possibly these are added to the HD110?

[blue_mini]

130 chassis's have an extra plate of steel on top of the 2 main chassis rails that is seam welded for the whole length.
Didnt notice too much else added compared to a 110 chassis.

[NT5224]

Hey, OP here

Thanks for exhuming this old thread Dervish, because I never got to the bottom of it satisfactorily.

I assumed it was probably something along the lines that Bush65 suggests, like some extra plating or hardening around the spring mounts, but probably nothing major. Closer (additional) cross-rails supporting the tub would be awesome!

Bush65 what is the GVM for the Wolf? Most of the military Landrovers I have seen (in Afghanistan) looked massively overladen, so I assumed they must have had an ever higher GVM than the HD civvie. I may be wrong.

Incidentally, whatever they were doing to turn a standard 110 into a 3500kg GVM, they stopped offering it to the public in 2013. Utility company and military 110's were generally built as HDs but not sure if that still happens. I reckon Hector (our MY2012 110) was one of the last to roll off the line.

Cheers

Alan

[Bush65]

Sorry Alan, I wasn't interested in GMV when searching for Wolf chassis information.

It was just that I noticed on a pic of someones chassis up build thread a plate on top of the chassis rail, like blue_mini described, and tried to find any info about areas of possible concern, while I am at a stage where I could do easily address them. That pic wasn't a Wolf, but it made me look into what Land Rover had done for the Wolf's.

[Dervish]

I finally got a chance to crawl around under the Defender today armed with a camera, unfortunately nothing to take any photos of.


The Land Rover chassis is only 2 mm thick so they have a fair amount of reinforcement inside at points of higher load, such as where there are cross members, body outriggers, suspension mounts and the like. Usually this consists of lengths of 'L' section in the upper and lower corners. They also have 'Z' crush tubes where items bolt to the chassis. As these are not visible, without cutting up the chassis it wouldn't be possible to tell if there were changes internally.


As you suggest Bush65, if there is anything done to the chassis it must be internal. No plate on the chassis rails or extra braces etc. So far as I can tell from pictures off the internet, it looks the same as any other 300Tdi 110 chassis.



Can you find the serial number on the rear axle housing? Its on the rear of the LH tube a bit above mid point. I'd be guessing its a heavy duty one with thicker tubes like a 130.

Steve

I did, after much cleaning of crud off the axle, find the serial number - 24S as predicted. That's a worthwhile find :) Not that Sals have a reputation for breaking. Now all I have to do is track down and kick in the dangly bits whoever it was that changed it from the original HD rims to 15" x 7" Sunraysias! It was an expensive exercise getting it back onto Wolfs. :mad:

[dobbo]

I bet you lunch your chassis is not re enforced in any way over a standard vehicle.

[uninformed]

It would be easy to not notice the extra gusseting on the TA and A frame mount...

[Dervish]

Snapped some pics before the trip to work this morning:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Yes, the TA bush is pretty flogged :( but all fairly standard looking to me. If anyone wants photos of anything else I'll get em. I'm just interested in closing the case file on this one.

[Bush65]

In another thread on Anti roll bars, there is a link to a page listing MY2013 Defender options (http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/90-110-130-defender-county/57090d1361674890-anti-roll-bars-defender-90-deefer-list.pdf)

In this list the extra cost is $3820 to have the heavy duty option fitted to a 110 Hardtop or 110 HDPU, raising the GVM to 3500kg.

Now for that much extra, one would expect much more to be done besides having 130 springs fitted. There may be reinforcing in the rear axle housing, the chassis, or both.

It seems we are no closer to the answer, but I would be interested in knowing more.

Edit: the other mods may be reinforcement of the cargo floor area.

[uninformed]

Snapped some pics before the trip to work this morning:

http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad246/OreganoM1/IMG_6560small_zpsc5442a1c.jpg

http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad246/OreganoM1/IMG_6558small_zpsafd8c273.jpg

Yes, the TA bush is pretty flogged :( but all fairly standard looking to me. If anyone wants photos of anything else I'll get em. I'm just interested in closing the case file on this one.

Cant see the front side of TA where the extra little brace is, but the A frame cross member is stock 110.