Chassis repair

knickerbocker

Hi folks,
Would anyone have any advice or suggestion regarding chassis repair?
At the moment I don't have the time to do the repair myself, and can't seem to find anyone willing to undertake cutting out about an 18" section and welding in a new piece.
It's a Mitsubishi Pajero, the rest of the jeep is in great condition for it's age (1999).

All suggestions welcome.
Thanks.

Silent Shrill

Hi, not knowing the reason why it needs cutting out makes be go for......rot! Have you considered welding over it? i.e. grind out/off most of the crud, bash inwards at old chassis part to allow for new piece. You can weld as many plates as you need, as long as the weld is good. Finish off with a quick grind, and underbody seal it with schutz.
If you wanted to be as neat as possible, butt weld in the pieces. I'm assuming no-one wants to do it because you want it cut out first, and that's a pain in the proverbial!

knickerbocker

Thanks for the reply Silent Shrill.
Rot is correct, in one section it's on one side and the top...... did have one guy who was prepared to do it, but he has just moved shop and has not yet installed a lift, so that ruled him out.
Have decided to just do it my self at this stage. Have a few other area's that need patching too. Have got a later date for test so that gives me an extra few weeks to sort it out.
Will post a few pics when the job is done.
Thanks for your help.

4odh4n

knickerbocker wrote: »

Hi folks,
Would anyone have any advice or suggestion regarding chassis repair?
At the moment I don't have the time to do the repair myself, and can't seem to find anyone willing to undertake cutting out about an 18" section and welding in a new piece.
It's a Mitsubishi Pajero, the rest of the jeep is in great condition for it's age (1999).

All suggestions welcome.
Thanks.

just as a note, i repaired the chassis on my 95 shogun a few years ago but when it went for the test they looked for an engineers report on the repair before they passed it, the report cost 150€ and has to be from a qualified/registered 'automotive engineer' i think they called it!

two years later the jeep needed more attention from the welder (floor/sills this time), no report needed for it, but it was the beginning of the end, even though after the very first first repair i stripped back the whole under side and re-sealed and at the time there appeared to be no signs of what was too come, but once 'tin-worm' takes hold there seems to be no stopping it. The old girl has been retired to field work around the farm now

Silent Shrill

4odh4n wrote: »

just as a note, i repaired the chassis on my 95 shogun a few years ago but when it went for the test they looked for an engineers report on the repair before they passed it, the report cost 150€ and has to be from a qualified/registered 'automotive engineer' i think they called it!

two years later the jeep needed more attention from the welder (floor/sills this time), no report needed for it, but it was the beginning of the end, even though after the very first first repair i stripped back the whole under side and re-sealed and at the time there appeared to be no signs of what was too come, but once 'tin-worm' takes hold there seems to be no stopping it. The old girl has been retired to field work around the farm now

I'm guessing that the repair was as clear as daylight to anyone under the vehicle. The whole idea of repair is to make it look like original. If the repair was butt welded, then excess weld ground off, and a good underbody schutz put on, no-one would know any difference.
I remember a car I had many moons ago failed because the tester said, "the brake pipes are corroded and it needs new ones"......so under I go to take a look, corroded my arse! a bit of top rust on them as on any other car. So I get a wire brush, clean them up, get a black aerosol can, and painted them. The car passed the next day.
The whole idea is to cover it up so it looks good.
And besides all that, the testing centres pass vehicles that should not pass, because of 1 reason or another. And the doe certs for trucks etc., that's another fiddle. I worked in a doe test centre here and 40 footers passed that should not have,.....reason, "he brings all his trucks here"!

knickerbocker

Plan to butt weld in pieces, grind weld back and the whole underside will be sealed with schutz or similar. The rotten parts are consistant with wheel spay..... that's winter salting of the roads for you.
Hope to get another few years out of it yet.

4odh4n

repair was done perfectly, by a professional, it was because the test centre had found the corrosion during the test so they knew it had to be welded to be repaired.

Test centres must be up to a similar standard over the water, this jeep had been imported and had just done its mot three months earlier so it was assumed all would be in pretty good nick, obvious stuff checked and sent for the test after conversion, there was a good two foot of the chassis corroded around the back wheels on both sides and had been hidden behind layers upon layers of stone chip!!

Silent Shrill

4odh4n wrote: »

repair was done perfectly, by a professional, it was because the test centre had found the corrosion during the test so they knew it had to be welded to be repaired.

Test centres must be up to a similar standard over the water, this jeep had been imported and had just done its mot three months earlier so it was assumed all would be in pretty good nick, obvious stuff checked and sent for the test after conversion, there was a good two foot of the chassis corroded around the back wheels on both sides and had been hidden behind layers upon layers of stone chip!!

In all fairness Shogun's are not known for their "anti-rust" capabilities. The mot in the UK is not the same as here. Over there you only need to know the person doing the test and they'll pass it, (and the same goes for here!), and it's not as rigorous.
Never "assume" a vehicle is in good nick because it passed the mot/nct. Your naivety cost you grief. Not only that, but the nct centres here require the vehicle to be cleaned underneath, which if you had done, would have shown the rot. If you get a chassis welded in the uk, then put it through the mot, no engineers report is needed. The tester is supposed to be knowledgeable enough to know if it's ok. Unfortunately, here is different. The testers will not even pick up a spanner to tighten a bleed valve which may have just needed tweaking, so they'll fail it. The nct here is a rip off. It's an organisation run by a foreign company, raking in millions which leaves the country. Absolutely of no use to the country or it's citizens.
It's also becoming of no monetary value to buy a vehicle in the UK, import it, nct it, pay ott road tax, and find it's worth no more than one you'd pick up here. Anyone that can afford to pay 1500 a year in road tax don't get any sympathy from me.
My suggestion for anyone thinking of doing the same is to get the aa/rac/or similar to give it the once over.....at least you'll get the report before you hand over good money.