Thread: Body Cracks

Disco 96 Tdi Is There A Way To Stiffen Chassis To Stop Or Slow Down Cracking In Body ??????

This is all too common on overloaded disco's/ rangies with poor suspension that allows contact repeatedly with the bump stops on rough roads. My RR had both bulkhead mounts broken, and was driven hard by previous owner with disregard over rough tracks at stupid speeds with too much attached to the vehicle.

I have repaired 3 D1's with serious cracking, and an early (XA) D2 with a broken chassis at the steering box stiffener, which is the model LR made the chassis plates for.


All the D1's had this happen due to sustained rough roads, and all were loaded up for big trips. 1 had Konis etc but the springs were way too soft for the application, and caused two of the bumpstops to disintegrate .

After the repairs and stiffening, a trip to LR 'jenny craig', and a spring upgrade I expect these vehicles to last as long as any other.

When I fitted the diesel to my RR, I removed all the front panels and inner guards etc,( I got very good at unpicking spot welds!) some of which were also cracked and I hadn't noticed, and after fully welding the seams around the bulkhead supports I fitted a complete front end from an '81 RR 2 door. I did this so I could bolt on the inner guards instead of welding. I have a suspicion that the material for the early ones is of better quality, as I see more late ones with cracks, and not too many 2 door RR's suffer as badly.

Anyway, after all this and a fair bit of outback travel and offroading at home all seems to be well.

JC