Thread: Plugger and The Camel

And to think I was whingeing about the repairs I had to do! You're certainly getting it sorted quick smart!

Cheers,

Continued...

Still on the right hand side rail I progressed down past the centre cross-member and down towards the rear spring hangers (that rusty area on the gearbox cross-member in the yellow box was repaired but I just didn't bother getting any photos of it). No surprises here in that yes, more corrosion that had to be excised! No before photos unfortunately as I was just trying to get this side finished and move on! It was about 38 degrees in the shed on this day and I was sweltering under the heat - you know its hot when you cant see what your welding because the sweat is dripping off your face onto the welding lens!

Repairs affected:


And again (butted up to another chassis rail repair done by a previous owner):


OK, that was it for the left rail! Now we moved onto the right rail which wasn't nearly so bad. First order of business was to attend to some corroded areas within the left side bulkhead outrigger. Once again no before shots sorry, just the finished area.

Repaired:


The end of the outrigger showed signs of excessive corrosion - how do I know this - well the bulkhead bolt was still inside the crush tube as I had to cut it off to get the bulkhead off. I decided to cut the end completely off and make up a new section. Here is what I found when I cut the end off (what the.....how did all that get in there? Out with the vac):


Cleaned out, treated and repaired:


Continued...

Thanks Tim for the nice comment - but in reality this was all done over two days as you will soon see!

Moving down the rail from the bulkhead outrigger I noticed that the left side rear fuel tank outrigger (not sure if this is what you call it, as there is no fuel tank on this side... or is there???) thingy had some rather large stress cracks in it - man this SWB has had a hard life!!. Unfortunately I forgot to take some after shots of the repairs but in essence the repair on the flange was just welded over from the underside and the weld to the rail was simply re-welded but with a nice fillet and a bit more penetration than would have been done at Solihull.




And while I was at it, I made up a new left side front fuel tank bracket as a mirror of the right side one, and welded that to the frame. Camel is going to run twin tanks to give him some endurance legs that can be switched independently of each other inside the cab and on the go!


That completed the works done to the LHS rail and finally we ended at the rear cross-member, so that was it for the day - it was a long day! Time for a tub and a beer! I was knackered by the end of it...

Cheers and thanks,
Tricky and Plugger

Thats great dedication to the green oval. Most would have called it a day seeing that rust. Just an idea for you, why not modify the gearbox x member while the chassis is so accessable to make the x member removable for easier gearbox removal in the future? Saves removing all the floor and seat box etc if you need to do the clutch.

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-P5110 using AULRO mobile app

Originally Posted by 67hardtop

Thats great dedication to the green oval. Most would have called it a day seeing that rust. Just an idea for you, why not modify the gearbox x member while the chassis is so accessable to make the x member removable for easier gearbox removal in the future? Saves removing all the floor and seat box etc if you need to do the clutch.

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-P5110 using AULRO mobile app

I would second that motion. Nothing worse than having to strip the interior to do a clutch or something.

While I agree that making the cross member removable when you have the chassis in this state, it should be pointed out that it is actually possible to replace the clutch by sliding the gearbox back, without totally removing it. (Did this in the middle of the Simpson in 1966)

John

Bloody 'ek, all that rust would have beaten me... I'd have been looking for another chassis. Well done, you have made a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Young Plugger has a good teacher/mentor there.

Peter.

Hi Guys,

Thanks OneOff for that really nice comment - you try to pass on the knowledge as best you can and give them the tools to do the job themselves - sometimes they get it sometimes they dont!

Debruiser and 67 - never even thought about that. I have finished with the chassis now in reality but that's something that might be done in the future. Damnit wish I had prior knowledge.....

John - how often do you need to change clutches? I guess it depends on the driver and the amount of work the vehicle is doing.

Anyway, onwards and upwards:

Last episode viewers we had repaired the rails and each individual x-member from front to back and this culminated in just the rear x-member to be done. This was going to be a task in itself as it was in really, really terrible condition. It was badly corroded, twisted and the ghetto towbar arrangement from the previous owner had pinched it together in the middle - and the more it degraded the more the previous owner tightened it. Nothing like having a loose towbar I guess.

I started on the passenger side - remembering that the frame is upside down on the chassis table. With this side extension piece two sides of it were completely wasted and these were simply cut away - to reveal more corrosion on the main rail behind the extension. It was a case of cut it out and patch of course. This area was a real PITA to weld - you couldnt get in there to clean the surface properly so the quality of the weld suffered - as long as it was structurally sound I guess was all that mattered but the welds looked like ****...


And repaired:


Then why we were in this location we decided to do something for future works. I discussed with Plugger about carrying a 2nd spare and some emergency fuel for Camel when he is out exploring - just in case. I didn't want him carrying a spare on the roof, or fuel for that matter either, so a swing-away spare wheel carrier with integrated jerrycan holder hanging off the back was the logical solution. To this end, we welded in some 10mm reinforcing plates in the internal space to allow us to drill and tap some fixings for the bottom hinge point - nothing like some forward planning and hidden mounting points:


Then we closed up the passenger side extension - but took it right back to the frame rail to stop water and dirt from getting inside the internal cavity and rusting it out from the inside out like happened this time. I will seal all the welds with black Sika just to make sure and drill some holes to be able to spray the cavity with Tectyl or something and then use rubber bungs to seal the holes:


I finished with an end cap for this side but forgot to take a photo - sorry guys. But it turned out really well and I was happy with the result.

Continued...