Chassis Colour for a '56

[gromit]

I've been working on replacing all the seals in the front axle and replacing the springs on the 1956 'welder' (see the thread 'Series 1 Purchase Advice').
The chassis looked black but when I removed the springs I noticed some bright yellow patches, also the rear crossmember is a pale yellow colour. Anyway I tried some cutting compound on a painted area of the chassis and it is green with a yellow undercoat (etch primer ?).
Does this sound right for a 1956 CKD ?

I need to replace the spring bushes next, what's the best method to remove & replace the chassis bush ?
I guess it's a job for either the hacksaw, gas axe or a slide hammer for removal and a drift or some allstud & washers to insert the new one. Any other suggestions ?


Gromit

[JDNSW]

My memory is that by 1956 all chassis were black, although it was not uncommon for government (DCA, BMR, Geological Survey etc) vehicles to be resprayed yellow or orange overall, and this would have included visible parts of the chassis.

John

[numpty]

As per John, I believe your chassis would be black. AFAIK only the 80" had green chassis ie pre 1954.
As for bushes, I've found the easiest way is to use gas torch to burn out rubber which will expel the inner bush, then use hacksaw to carefully cut through outer bush and remove with hammer and chisel/screwdriver.
Perry

[master chief]

As per John, I believe your chassis would be black. AFAIK only the 80" had green chassis ie pre 1954.
As for bushes, I've found the easiest way is to use gas torch to burn out rubber which will expel the inner bush, then use hacksaw to carefully cut through outer bush and remove with hammer and chisel/screwdriver.
Perry

Numpty most 1954 86" and early 55 86" had green chassis also.the yellow under the paint is most certainly etch.And that is the way to remove bushes.the 56 model would have being a black chassis,but if its an 86" it may have been an old stock chassis laying around and used later,and then painted black.

[gromit]

Thanks Guys,

I was wondering if maybe the chassis had been replaced early in it's life and the owner decided to paint it green. Anyway it's definitely green now (amongst the rust) so the decision will be whether to paint it green or black !

Now to deal with those spring/chassis bushes.......


Thanks, Gromit

[Bitzer55]

We are currently dismantling a 1955 86 inch and have evidence of a green chassis also. At some stage we will need to make a decision on what colour to paint it, but thinking of sticking with the green, since that seems to be what it was when new, even though it seems it should have been black.
There is no evidence that it had ever been painted black over, or under, the green.

[5380]

We are currently dismantling a 1955 86 inch and have evidence of a green chassis also. At some stage we will need to make a decision on what colour to paint it, but thinking of sticking with the green, since that seems to be what it was when new, even though it seems it should have been black.
There is no evidence that it had ever been painted black over, or under, the green.

Bitzer, I'd go for the green chassis on a 1955 86". As per previous posts, 1955 was the last year of green chassis. All of the 3 x 1955 86" S1s I have had in the past had a green chassis. So it's a fairly safe bet that the green on your chassis is original. As per previous posts, there may be a yellow (zinc chromate?) primer showing through in places. Also, Australian CKD 1954 107s had a blue chassis as well as some early 1954 built '55 model 107s. Later '55 models had black chassis.

Rover wasn't too concerned about exported CKD models if they didn't have the latest colours and the local assemblers didn't worry about it much either.
If they had some green or blue chassis left over, they would send them to the colonials! 5380

[5380]

I've been working on replacing all the seals in the front axle and replacing the springs on the 1956 'welder' (see the thread 'Series 1 Purchase Advice').
The chassis looked black but when I removed the springs I noticed some bright yellow patches, also the rear crossmember is a pale yellow colour. Anyway I tried some cutting compound on a painted area of the chassis and it is green with a yellow undercoat (etch primer ?).
Does this sound right for a 1956 CKD ?

I need to replace the spring bushes next, what's the best method to remove & replace the chassis bush ?
I guess it's a job for either the hacksaw, gas axe or a slide hammer for removal and a drift or some allstud & washers to insert the new one. Any other suggestions ?


Gromit

Gromit, if your chassis is the original 1956 model type, with a 1956 chassis number and is painted green, it was most likely green from the beginning. Even right up into the early 2000s Land Rover was never too concerened about minor specification deviations. They were, however, really strict about compliance to motor vehicle legislation in their home and export markets regarding changes to rules about lighting and other safety related items. You will never know, perhaps they had put aside a batch of chassis for an order for a number of welders that was held up for some reason, resulting in some of the units having the "old" green chassis.

If you don't like the smell of burning rubber and scorch marks on your chassis, you can use an appropriated sized (sharp) drill bit to drill the rubber and then finish it off with a thin (also very sharp) thin bladed knife using soapy water as a lubricant, then slit the outer sleeve with a hacksaw and collapse it. I used this method on my 80" because of the condition of the original paint, I had no intention of repainting it. The outer sleeves on the bushes are not hardened and they tend to "mushroom" on the end if bashed or hammered which turns them into rivets. They are a very snug fit and have been rusting away happlily for 50 or 60 years. You can use a a threaded rod and some sockets to pull them in after smearing the chassis tube and bush outer sleeve with an anti-seize compound. If you suspect that you may have been supplied with "El-Cheapo Brand" bushes, just make sure that they are the correct O.D. before trying to fit them. Don't forget to leave the shackle and spring eye bush bolts loose until the vehicle is completely assembled and bounced up and down a few times to allow the bush inner sleeves to settle in a neutral, un-twisted state before tightening all the suspension bolts. Also, don't forget to leave a note on the steering wheel to remind you to tighten them before you go on your first test drive!!! 5380




Anyway, the green chassis matches the wheels and body panels and looks better than a daggy black one I reckon! 5380

[gromit]

Gromit, if your chassis is the original 1956 model type, with a 1956 chassis number and is painted green, it was most likely green from the beginning. Even right up into the early 2000s Land Rover was never too concerened about minor specification deviations. They were, however, really strict about compliance to motor vehicle legislation in their home and export markets regarding changes to rules about lighting and other safety related items. You will never know, perhaps they had put aside a batch of chassis for an order for a number of welders that was held up for some reason, resulting in some of the units having the "old" green chassis.

If you don't like the smell of burning rubber and scorch marks on your chassis, you can use an appropriated sized (sharp) drill bit to drill the rubber and then finish it off with a thin (also very sharp) thin bladed knife using soapy water as a lubricant, then slit the outer sleeve with a hacksaw and collapse it. I used this method on my 80" because of the condition of the original paint, I had no intention of repainting it. The outer sleeves on the bushes are not hardened and they tend to "mushroom" on the end if bashed or hammered which turns them into rivets. They are a very snug fit and have been rusting away happlily for 50 or 60 years. You can use a a threaded rod and some sockets to pull them in after smearing the chassis tube and bush outer sleeve with an anti-seize compound. If you suspect that you may have been supplied with "El-Cheapo Brand" bushes, just make sure that they are the correct O.D. before trying to fit them. Don't forget to leave the shackle and spring eye bush bolts loose until the vehicle is completely assembled and bounced up and down a few times to allow the bush inner sleeves to settle in a neutral, un-twisted state before tightening all the suspension bolts. Also, don't forget to leave a note on the steering wheel to remind you to tighten them before you go on your first test drive!!! 5380


Anyway, the green chassis matches the wheels and body panels and looks better than a daggy black one I reckon! 5380

Thanks 5380, all sorted back in 2007/2008.

You can see the green where I was overhauling the steering relay.
DSCN2690 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

I used two coarse blades in the hacksaw to cut through the rubber of the bushes then back to a single fine tooth blade to cut the outer shell.
The father-in-law made an extractor, I just had to source high tensile allthread nuts & washers.
The chassis bushes I removed were two narrow bushes rather than a single long bush.


Colin

[JDNSW]

........... perhaps they had put aside a batch of chassis for an order for a number of welders that was held up for some reason, resulting in some of the units having the "old" green chassis.

...........

You are probably not aware that Colin's welder is not a factory welder, but is a end user conversion of a standard Landrover using a PTO, governor, and an aircraft generator. (It also has a number of other interesting end user made accessories)