rear crossmember

[JIMBOBLY]

hi all,its getting to that time for the mot again,my rangie needs a fair bit of welding,back arches,front arches,and rear cross member,i can weld fine,but have never done a rear cross member,has anyone got any advice or pictures,any help would be appreciated,jim :-k

[clbarclay]

Get a spot weld drill.

Make a note of the way the tail gate springs go on before you dismantle them.

Plan for it to take half as long again on top of what you expected, its not too complicated, but not a particuarly quick job either.

[JIMBOBLY]

thanks for replying so quick mate,i'll bear that in mind :D

[Range Rover Blues]

Up to a point you can reconstruct the rear crossmember if it's solid above the chassis and just ritten around the body mounts.

Cut the whole thing away in small peices, you need to support the body so do one side at a time and use a jack/long block of wood.

Replace the inner face fists, it's a flat peice of thicker steel, if you can weld this on to the original body then that's half the battle.

Once that's in you have some strength back, you can "make good" on the top faceof the box section, welding form inside the box (tricky but do-able).

I then close the box off with an outside/underside peice bent to shape.

Finally I lift the body half an inch then replace the body mount, often it needs some repair itself.

I've been able to do this on several RRC now without having to take the body panels off the rear wings however if the crossmember is rotten above the chassis then you really are fighting a loosing battle.

[JIMBOBLY]

thankyou for your advice,the only rot in the crossmember is right next to n/s mount,could just patch it,the inner piece that you can see from underneath is not holed,but is getting thin all over,may aswell do the lot realy,cheers mate,jim :D

[Range Rover Blues]

If you decide to repair the ends then it's always worth cutting back into good metal, say a couple of inches, that should leave youplenty of space to make a good repair without the hassle of doing the whole crossmember.