Land Rover Restoration
Starting on Front Hangers
The cutting and flappy sanding discs arrived in the post. I also collected a pair of sturdy over-pit platforms which the local engineering workshop made me for jacking and supporting the chassis on axle stands. Here they are in all their gloriousness:
This means I can now get on with more welding. I decided to make a start on the front-hangers. After some effort spent getting the springs and shock absorbers off, I cut the nearside front hanger off and discovered a worse situation than I expected …
It turns out the thin sheet welder has struck again, this time on the underside of the main rail between the spring mounting points. As usual, there’s been no effort to cut out the bad rust before plating and the rust has spread to some lower parts of the sides. This fine example which I cut out shows what remains of the original rusty, pin-holed underside covered by the newer thin sheet:
I’ve started on cutting back to good metal - of which there is still some, thankfully.
Before I continue, I’ve got to order a larger piece of mild steel plate so, next time, I’ll be back on the smaller patches on top of the rails. One piece of good news: I’ve been able to see inside the front crossmember and my welds have definitely penetrated well.
Posted on 28 February 2015
