Thread: Mitsubishi Broken Chassis

Originally Posted by PAT303

Personally I think the biggest problem is that people have been led to believe that they need all the offroad crap that suppliers sell to travel across Australia like twin carriers and bigger bars and side steps and lift kits etc etc that do nothing but add weight and make the vehicle more unstable.You only need to browse through 4WD action to see all the rubbish they sprouk and mods they get done from companys they then write about to see why people are misled.Len Beadel drove all over this side of this country with nothing more than a series landy and a few petrol tins of fuel. Pat

Last Kimberley trip I carried a tyre carcass as an extra spare to save weight. 8500 Ks without a flat, but it was cheap insurance.

Originally Posted by Ace

I find it hard to fathom how Mitsubishi can void his warranty because he put different springs in it.

a warranty covers the vehicle in its standard specification or modified with the manufacturers approved accessories, if joe bloggs wants to go changing things away from standard specification, why should the manufacturer be expected to garuntee it will work in its modified state? the manufacturer hasnt tested aftermarket accessories, the manufacturer hasnt engineered the vehicle to cater for uprated springs, airbags, rear tyre carriers or for some clown to go lugging a heavy camper traler over sandhills

just say you pumped up the boost in your 300TDi to well, 20 PSI, would you whinge when the engine dies earlier than it should?

Originally Posted by Ace

I cant see how the new springs would affect the chassis

the chassis, suspension and driveline are designed to work together as a package, if the standard springs arent up to the task of supporting your load adequately, you've more than likely overloaded the vehicle

changing the springs to carry more weight is going to overstress the chassis, not only in point loadings but will increase the amount the chassis flexes to counter the stiffer suspension

think about it, raising the spring rate means that you need to exert more pressure to keep any particular tyre on the road on anything but a perfectly flat, level surface, too stiff and instead of the suspension flexing, the chassis will flex instead

the problem in the case of the triton is that its been modified beyond standard specifications to achieve a result, and unfortunately, the unmodified chassis wasnt able to keep up with the modifications when it really mattered

now, the photos make it obvious that he has 2 spare tyres, possibly a third underneath, an aftermarket rear bar and dual spare wheel carrier, god alone knows how much crap in the tray, a good 60-70kg+ of canopy and potentially a long range tank

add to this the owner says he was cresting a sand dune in 2nd low, the camper trailer, possibly 1000-1500kg or more wouldve been a downward pull on the towbar, and now you have possibly up to 2 tons pulling straight down on what is the rearmost point of the vehicle, and over a ton or more radiating forwards from the fulcrum point of the rear axle

the chassis and suspension might be able to withstand that loading spaced evenly across the chassis and suspension, but point loading like that will damage anything not designed for it

even without the aftermarket modifications, IMO Mitisubishi is well within thier rights to tell this guy to get stuffed, either on the grounds of exceeding thier off road towing limit, or by grossly overloading the rear axle

Originally Posted by Ace

I feel sorry for the bloke

i dont, he's an idiot, he didnt play by the rules and he got bitten badly, unfortunately his insurance company is coming to the party to cover that cretins stupidity, something which you can be assured, we will all be paying for when we next pay our car insurance bill

btw, just because a dealer is willing to fit aftermarket accessories doesnt mean those accessories are legal, or are covered by the manufacturers warranty

Interesting that manufactures supposedly keep supplying what the customer wants. Rocket ships that carries, tows, and goes where you point it...it does everything.
After market suppliers and makers largely focus on looks and just their little bit of engineering.
Magazines tend to give the impression you need every accessory like it's a shopping list. Even though there personal cars don't reflect this.

This Mitsi guy has asked a vehicle and each accessory to do what on paper says it probably can, but holistically is a very big and apparently over demanding call to do.

A good stand back and ask what am I being sold here, what is realistic, and what I have to accept if I wish to do certain things could have helped.

My view is
I think Mits and the accessory guys are in the clear.
Insurance pays cause that is what it's for and the guy has made a bad call, but not intentionally.
We all learn from this.

Interestingly - once again that all pervading paranoia that insurance companies will use ANYTHING to get out of a claim is shown to be unfounded...

Despite what the interweb will tell you insurance companies generally dont cancel your insurance if your tyres are 15.2mm larger diameter than OEM by some calculator from metric to imperial to timbuktoo. They just do their job of looking after customers...

I am certain that this vehicle would have numerous aspects which technically the insurance company could have used but they choose not to.

Also found the story interesting that the chassis could be cold pulled to repair but not welded. Is that a hanger on from high tensile truck chassis or is it that the steel is of unknown alloy such that the repairer does not know the correct welding procedure. Ben would be the man on this but once steel has plastically deformed, to get it back to "normal" requires further plastic deformation which will then fatigue the area and lead to failure at much lower loads in the future.

Anyways thats all I have to add

Steve

Originally Posted by Sprint

btw, just because a dealer is willing to fit aftermarket accessories doesnt mean those accessories are legal, or are covered by the manufacturers warranty

Refer to my earlier post.

If the accessories were fitted prior to the customer paying for and picking up the vehicle, then legally they are covered.

Originally Posted by Sprint

a warranty covers the vehicle in its standard specification or modified with the manufacturers approved accessories, if joe bloggs wants to go changing things away from standard specification, why should the manufacturer be expected to garuntee it will work in its modified state?

We need to be aware that there is a legal difference between a warranty and a guarantee. A guarantee is just someone saying something like "We believe that our product will give the good service for the next 2 years" or whatever. A warranty is where the seller/manufacturer will actually do something about it if it goes wrong.

it still raises the question of why the manufacturer should do anything if someone modifies it with aftermarket accessories

Originally Posted by Sprint

btw, just because a dealer is willing to fit aftermarket accessories doesnt mean those accessories are legal, or are covered by the manufacturers warranty

Agreed, but you would think the dealer would at least make the customer aware that this may be the case. He may be a bit stupid for expecting it to last forever the way he had it and how he was using it, but I think he is justified at being dirty with the dealer on this.