Land Rover Restoration
Offside Front Rail Repairs (Day 6)
The aim for today was to finish the remaining patch on the front crossmember, finish the welds on the offside rail, fit the offside hanger and temporarily re-fit the front axle so I can remove the engine.
First, the remaining patch. I made up a cardboard template, transferred it to some 2.5mm plate, cut it out and welded it in place. Fits like a charm:
Next, I finished the welds on the underside of the rail and ground everything flat with the angle grinder. Once it was cleaned up, I offered the replacement hanger up to the rail and marked out any changes. As with the nearside one, it ended up needing some adjustment to the height to make it fit flush then I clamped it tightly in place, tacked, measured again and, finally, welded everything as much as possible.
The bumper is nice and level. The holes look to be a couple of mm out but that could be as much to do with the badly bent fitting tabs on the bumber as the alignment of the hangers. Whichever it turns out to be, it’s nothing which can’t be fixed with a round file.
There’s some cleanup to do when I’ve got the chassis back on stands without the engine and some more work to do on the underside when I can get better access to that, but it’s good enough to take its own weight. The springs went back in without too much effort, it’s back on the ground and everything’s now ready to remove the engine when my hoist turns up (hopefully this week).
Posted on 26 April 2015
