HELP - Chassis and bulkhead don't fit!

Jon uttered summat worrerz funny about:

First thoughts, cut off the body item which is spot welded to the bottom of the bulkhead and reposition equally both sides til it fits.

I'm sure that the mounts are cuttable and reweldable without actually frigging around with the door pillars assuming your door pillars are good to start with.... if you do go this way you may need to redrill the holes for the sill mounts too.

All most odd though... Richards have a good reputation as far as I'm aware, or perhaphs most of us here are too busy bodging patches on so we wouldn't know... h'mmm.

Lee D

Thanks Lee, The bulkhead bracket extends about 6" into the pillar - is there anyway to retfit it after extracting it whole, i.e. without cutting it flush - would a flush fit weaken the bracket mounts? The bulkhead is an ex-military, never fitted item is is in as new condition - having said that there was still a bit of corrosion in the corner of the footwell. Six months ago I had four bulkheads and three chassis so I could have determined what was out. The other thing is I can't weld...... Hence why I'm surrounded by new bits!

Jon uttered summat worrerz funny about:

I fear it's spot welded in which means finding them and drilling them out, could be a pig to do and would need rewelding back in there new place. Where are you?

Lee D

Ive always used the big lever/ratchet strap/ropes+pulleys/lots of mates approach to get bulkheads lined up. You can twist it a fair bit to get stuff lined up.

Before you start cutting and welding it would be better to ascertain what the measurements should be. I used to have the bottom bolt centres measurements written down in case I repaired a bulkhead off the motor. I have also got the workshop manual in front of me now but it doesn't give this particular distance, everything else but. I would ring Richards and ask and also ring Marslands to check, (I've always used Marslands and never had any problems). I would think it highly unlikely that the bulkhead outriggers are wrong but it happens a lot that the door pillars can move as the welding cools down. 3/8ths of an inch isn't a great deal to be out and if the chassis measurement is correct I would spring the door pillars to fit either way as Tom suggests. If you can't find out what it should be, I can measure my series 2 chassis tomorrow because it should be the same as series

3 and the outriggers are original.

Martin

Amongst all the wrong dimensions in the 90/110 manuals there's one of

750.9 mm either side of the centre line which sounds about right. Needless to say I have no idea if the Series dimension was the same.

I've never fitted one but I've removed a couple without difficulty - are they normally a pig to get on? I thought of using my 30t bottle jack on the chassis rails to spread them enough to get the bolt in - any tips for doing this? Thanks, Jon

I'm in Surrey! (It's still warm down here)

Martin, Yes - the distance that the bolt holes are apart would be a great help. I've searched using Google, but there's nothing obvious. Thanks, Jon

That's unlikely to work in this case, I think. Don't you have a welded in crossmember just forward of the relevant outriggers? That'll keep the chassis rails where they are!

Yes - The gearbox one - I'd forgot about that!

A defender bulkhead will fit a series vehicle - just need to change the windscreen mounts. Just to confirm that's 750.9mm from bolt centre to bolt centre? Thanks, Jon

It sounds like the bulkhead holes are too wide if you're talking of spreading the chassis rails. SPREAD THE CHASSIS RAILS???. Jeez man, pull the door pillars in, as Tom says with a ratchet strap or summat but don't spread the chassis,

Martin

No, twice that 2 x 750.9 = 1501.8 mm. There will a tolerance of about plus/minus 3 mm on that.

Just don't do anything drastic if yours don't match. The manuals had so many wrong and mixed up dimensions that I'd be looking for confirmation from elsewhere.

Thanks - point noted. Do I need ratchets or could I use rope and a stick to twist in tension? Jon

That'll do nicely!

OK - I'll check the dimentions first before trying this new technique to remove bits of my anatomy....

OK - the ROM says 1530mm for the rear x-member so 1501.8 sounds about right. Thanks, Jon

Might be better with a Hi-Lift jack to pull the door pillars together with a bit of wood on the outsides to stop damage. You will need one of the longer ones. I can't see why a good rope and bar wouldn't pull it in that much though.

Martin