Mossberg wrote:

Just an update on this, just incase anyone finds the thread in the future.

I asked on a few forums about what type of crossmember to use and I was lucky to be offered a used galvanised one for free. As my chassis is not far away from its 30th birthday, keeping costs to a minimum will help with the purchase of a galvanised chassis in the future, so the offer was greafully accepted.

The crossmember had previously been fitted for 7 years on a vehicle used for towing a horse trailer but was still in very good order. If that is not an advertisement for galvanised crossmembers I don't know what is.

Removing the old chassis bits from the extensions was a pain, but after a few hours the bits were removed and cleaned up. The previous repair had welded the end of the extensions but also had plug welds. I used a slightly larger holes away to remove these welds and this also provided a good basis to plugwelded when refitting. I opened up the extensions to go over my chassis.

This was the first time I had done a rear crossmember, so cautious cutting of the old chassis meant getting it to the right length was a bit of a faff due to about 3 trial fits as I gradually got it where I wanted it.

Doing all this while the truck is on axle stands is a pain. Contorting yourself into position whilst wearing a welding screen can be challenging. I used a Lidl true colour large screen welding helmet which allowed me to see what I needed too without having to have my head perfectly positioned and with the aid of a light I could see clearly what was in front of me before arcing up.

With the replacement fixed to the tub I welded it in and painted it Bonda Rust Primer and a black top coat. I also repainted the rear face of the crossmember.

When I removed the wiring loom before cutting off the rear crossmember, I had to cut it to get it out it had already been cut before (possibly when the crossmember had been replaced previously), and the fact the loom was 30 years old helped me decide to use a 13 core trailer cable to replace it.

The original loom had 10 wires, two of which were for the rear fuel tank, which my truck does not have. The other 8 wires are paired to standard trailer colours do whilst I am not sticking to land rover wiring colours, the international colours used on trailer wiring means the wire colours used are easily identified - probably easier to identify than land rover colours!

I bought the heavy duty cable with wire thicknesses either 1.5 or 2.5mm2, so thicker than the standard loom. This gives a decent section so I am happy with the strength of the cable overall. However I wanted added protection as I have fitted the loom to the top of the chassis rather than through it. This will allow future chassis repairs without worrying about damaging the loom when welding. I was about to purchase some trunking but spied some garden hose and decided to try a piece of that to use as a gauge for the size before ordering. It turned out to be a perfect fit and decided to use a length of this rather than convoluted trunking. It worked a treat and the cable feels solid and protected. It's now fitted using heavy duty cable ties to the chassis and brackets.

I left some spare on the end of the cable as a "just in case" option and also used a length of the same cable to go from right to left at the rear.

I would have preferred to keep the land rover wiring colours, but to be honest I feel the trailer cable seems better protected than individual wires held together by wrapping them in tape.



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