Thread: Legalities of repairing chassis

Originally Posted by debruiser

I was wondering about the legalities of repairing a chassis. I am not a boilermaker or engineer. IF i was to purchase a series that needed some repairs, could I just cut up a donor chassis (obviously good parts) and weld them on. OR will I get into trouble when it comes to getting it registered in QLD? will I need engineering done? or some stupid cert from a boily?

There are a lot of issues regarding welding truck chassis because of the steel they use. Not sure whether this really applies to an old Land Rover chassis.
Plus I guess each State will be different.

Colin

I wish there was some sort of certification for welding done on chassis.

AlexH and myself picked up a heap of Series ones and parts at the weekend, the very original running S1 88" is a beauty, but definitely needs the LHS dumbiron replacing after the original was botched.
.

There are actually welding guidelines issued by the RMS or DOTARS that suggest that you cant weld a chassis in exactly the same way that Land Rover build their chassis.

Go figure.

It mostly relates to welding straight across the chassis or vertically up the chassis from bottom to top. It is probably good advice for a "C" section chassis.

99.99% of series Landrovers out there would have needed some weld repairs on their chassis by now.

Many would have been done before current regulations existed.

As long as you are a competenet welder, and are confident of doing a neat, strong, "tradesmanlike" job, then the easiest path is probably to assert that you bought it like that...

As Diana says, many of the OE brackets - including the gearbox crossmember, do not adhere to currrent welding/repair guidelines...

Originally Posted by debruiser

I was wondering about the legalities of repairing a chassis. I am not a boilermaker or engineer. IF i was to purchase a series that needed some repairs, could I just cut up a donor chassis (obviously good parts) and weld them on. OR will I get into trouble when it comes to getting it registered in QLD? will I need engineering done? or some stupid cert from a boily?

If the repairs don't look "factory" there is a possibility of it being rejected by the registration authorities.

Sometimes it is better to find a local welder who will do odd jobs to come and do it. I've had jobs done for $20-$50 dollars and occasionally a slab of beer.

The job will usually be very professional and cheaper if you do the preparation yourself, but talk to the welder first.

Many Land Rover parts vendors sell chassis repair sections and in some cases parts can be made out of plate/sheet. If repairing suspension points, it may be necessary to make a jig on the original part before removing it so the new one sits back in exactly the right place.

had a Toyota with a crash repair-it was sent out and 1/4 of the chasis was replaced.

a few specialist around that repair air bag type vehicle chasis.

we hoped it was a write off,but it only needed chasis and front axle.

When I was at vicroads trying to get Willy my series 3 registered I sat patiently for about an hour while 3 of the muppets argued amongst themselves about welds on the rear of his chassis. One young male accusing me of chopping and rebirthing the chassis (******) liking my loved willy to a written off commodore!!
In the end one of the two lovely girls he was dribbling away to was sick of the argument, asked me how much I purchased him for and simply said to the dribbler that it was only a 4k land rover not a 100k Porsche.! and he was registered.
None of those chassis repairs were done by me although I have done some welding since. That experience has made me uneasy about repairing the chassis myself. I am planning a full rebuild for Willy at the moment and I know there is more work to be done on the chassis.
I've read about people grinding their welds down to make the repair unobvious and then to the other end of the scale people welding the chassis up then welding triangle patches to add strength. This to me sounds like a good strong repair but then making the repairs obvious to people like my dribbler friend at vicroads.

Well !!!! l recently bent my chassis on a trip to the Kimberley's and put a small crack in one of the chassis rails, it has taken the NRMA 9 weeks to get an answer from Land Rover which is you cannot weld or add weld to a land rover chassis, so the NRMA are organising a new chassis from the UK another 12 - 14 wks plus the rebuild. l wonder how many land rovers are running around with welded chassis that may void their insurance!.