SLROC Forum

Hello,

  the rear cross-member on my Td5 110 has been bent in by about two inches on the drivers-side since I bought the vehicle.  The previous owner said he'd bent it reversing a trailer.  I've just fitted a new rear door (one of the 100.00 new-build ones being sold on eBay) and it's not as heavily built as a original Td5 door and doesn't look up to carrying the rear wheel (in fact, fitting the rear-wheel carrier to the door doesn't seem possible, due to the way the door's built - it'd have to be mounted so far across to the passengers side, the wheel would hide the opening handle).  So, I want to fit a swing-away wheel carrier, which bolts to the rear-crossmember, but as mine's bent in, I doubt it'd fit properly.

  So...what's the best way of bending my rear cross-member back straight again?  I don't want to replace it, as it's nearly new.  Here are the ideas I've had so far...

    1. bolt a long scaffolding tube to it using u-bolts or similar and lever it back into shape
    2. chain the bent end to a tree and drive forward to bend it back straight - not sure about the amount of twisting involved, though...
    3. wedge a bottle-jack up behind it and bend it back into shape against some other part of the underside (not keen on this one!)


If anybody has any better ideas, I'd be keen to hear them...

Thanks,

Paul

ask a local body shop to do it. they have a special jig for this kind of thing. if they can squeeze it in whenever it shouldnt cost that much.. or as you say, some G clamps and a big tree. just go easy lol.

I bent my bumper, I put a rope to some heavy cradles. Driving slowly just dragged them. So a snatch was the answer to get it fairly straight. (It was a temporary bumper anyway)

Thanks for that - do you know, I genuinely hadn't thought of asking a body shop - there's a crash-repair place just round the corner from me, so I'll see what they say...

Thanks

Paul

hope they are helpfull, i was lucky as i have a cousin who is panel beater. he done this kind of thing on his day off.

I did wonder about tying the back-end to something and then just towing that something behind me instead of straightening the cross-member  
Snatch-straightening definitely sounds like an activity that should be proceeded by somebody saying "Right, stand well back..."

Thanks for that,

Paul

Snatch-straightening definitely sounds like an activity that should be proceeded by somebody saying "Right, stand well back..."

....and is likely to followed by the driver saying " B**ger, over-cooked that....", looking for something solid to push against in order to press the bit back again....followed by a loud crack and a call for a welder....

I had a problem with a Honda where the front end had been bumped and was sitting two inches too far back and the bonnet would not close.
Solution
Put a strap of 4x2 behing the cross brace on the front panel, tied a rope to the 4x2 attached the rope to the winch cable of the Range rover and slowly pulled it out until it popped back into place.

Now if you took a steel bar instead of a 4x2 strap, chcked the wheels of the 110 and had a pal with a winch then you could perhaps execute the straightening in a more controled manner.

Tommy

You realy need to put some heat in the mix or you are going to stress the metal.

you are going to stress the metal.

...says the voice of experience  :-)

Trust you Maxwell, Bill is an expert in reshaping metal

thanks guys   

Hello all,

  thanks for all of your advice - it's very much appreciated.

  It looks like a gas-torch, various braces and a long scaffolding bar are going to be the first attempt - fingers crossed

Paul

Sounds like fun.

I would use oxyaccetoline burner and attach your landrover to a nearby tree or a frends landrover and gently easy it out once you have heated the bend red hot. Don't over do it or you will be in the same pickle but bend the other way.

Have Fun

...and it was fun

I managed to bend it straight by using a 10' 5"x5" fence post as a lever, pivoting against the cross-member in line with the chassis, tied to the bent end of the cross-member with a piece of rope and then driving forward with the end of the lever against a conrete thing that happened to be sticking out of the ground near my house...

I'm not sure how much effect the heating had, to be honest, but nothing gave way (despite the horrible noises it made) and now it's as near as straight as makes no difference...

Despite the pouring rain, I got the wheel-carrier on and it's a dead clever piece of kit, so all in all, a fairly successful weekend.

Thanks for your help/advice/etc,

Paul