Looks like the rear cross member on my Range Rover Classic has succumbed to rust. I'll take off the towing hitch and bumper to have a proper look, but the outriggers that hold up the rear body are completely rotten.
It doesn't seem to make much sense to spend 4 or 500 quid having it done by a garage.
Assuming I have to replace the whole lot, what kind of a job is it? Looks like the bumper, tailgate and rear floor need to come out, probably the fuel tank? What about the rear body? Anything else?
If nothing else, it's an excuse to finally get to grips with the MIG welder!
Before we come up with suggestions can you clarify if it is the crossmember above the two rubber mounts (i.e. the bit that is actually part of the body) or the crossmember that is below the two rubber mounts (and which is part of the chassis) that you are describing?
My apologies. It is the rear body crossmember, the part that sits above the two rubber mounts. The chassis and the mounting brackets themselves are solid.
Very good question! On my 'Y' reg RRC the bottom half of the rear frame, i.e. the bit above the rubber mounts, rotted. Boy, was it a game patching that. I /very/ briefly toyed with the idea of replacing the frame and then found a /very/ good welder.
It is a pig of a job. You either do it the official way, and remove the entire squarish frame, which means removing little things like the roof, or you can use one of the repair sections that Paddock and the rest sell. There are then several problems: if you remove enough of the old one to fit all the new piece, there's still a hell of a lot of dismantling to get access to weld it, or you can chop the new one around so that it splices into the old one at the ends - if there's enough left to weld to. In both cases, you have to prop the rear of the body to make sure the tailgate aperture stays the same shape and size. You'll need to remove the rear floor and petrol tank, and those jobs can reveal more problems. Don't forget to buy new bolts, washers, and mounting rubbers.
My present one is crumbling somewhat, and I'm contemplating an alternative approach. Would it be feasible to weld the body solidly to the chassis in this area, bypassing the rubber mounts completely? I'm never going to want to remove the body, and I'll put up with a bit more vibration transmission if it enables me to avoid this miserable job. Yet another possibility: choose your garage right, and it's not an MoT failure, so perhaps it can be left to rust in peace - after all, the body is held on in at least 8 more places.
But my welder made up dozens of little plates and welded them into place without any dismantling at all. You couldn't see them without carefull peering. He really is a really good welder!
Thanks for the information. I think it's probably more than I can take on at the moment.
Hm. This brings back happy memories of the tester who failed it a couple of years ago because the rust on the inner wing was supposedly within a foot of the top shock absorber mount.
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