A frame's gone south

[minicamper]

Well after a considerable amount of swearing. Alby dropped his pants.

Having removed all the nice original square nuts, I discovered that two of the horizontal bolts were blind and were going to stop me from dropping the steel chassis down, so had to resort to punching them out. Amazingly, every single nut came came off easily with not an ounce of rust lurking in the threads!

So as we lowered the front U bolt nuts down, the chassis started to lower at the front, then stopped

Turns out that the spring bolt stuck out further than the timber chassis and therefore the steel couldn't drop lower and clear the bolt, so with some more swearing , we had to muck around lifting the van one side at a time, a little at a time, until we could undo the spring hanger and clear the chassis.

So with the final mucking around, silence, the cricket chirping in the background, the chassis sat there, half down, looking even more sad, two of us scratching heads

And there it was, a lone bolt, apparently missed, no, that one snapped, i heard it go with the socket wrench...
Well give it a try, I put the socket back on, and now with the weight on it, it started undoing, the chassis started to move ;D
Expecting the inevitable, a was ready to withdraw my hand quickly and then it happened....

A few odd noises and then crash and thud and there it was..

Hoiked up onto the ute for a visit to the Period A Frame Replacement Shop...







Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment...

[JBJ]

Hi Minicamper,


Looks like a relatively simple fabrication ahead of your tradesman.

Remember that if your bolts in your van are fixed & have to be re used as is, you will need to ensure that there is provision, by way of a recessed space of some sort, to be able to fit the nuts back on. This wouldnt happen if you use C section channel, only if you used RHS tube.

I've seen new drawbar built without considering this once. The section of the new bar prevented nuts being refitted. A tube can be fitted from the bottom into the RHS, allowing socket clearance to the nuts.


Hopefully you have already figured that out.

What you are doing is very sensible, & should give the van another 50 years or so of life.

JBJ

[sportsman 1]

Makes me shudder every time I think of this.

I will be interested to see the replacement.

cheers, Leigh.

[minicamper]

Hi JBJ,

I had already run some thoughts on all this through some vacant head space

The two things i came up with were if box section was used, that there'd need to be some compression tubes? so the box didn't squash in when the nuts were tightened and also, how i would reuse the vertical bolts as they are all "blind".

When i discussed all this yesterday, the steel guy agreed that it would be too hard and it was much easier to use C section anyway, so, the plan is this:

Cut off all the boxed in angle iron. We are going to reuse the hitch, move the jockey wheel back so it doesn't hit the ute anymore.
Then run C section back from the existing C section and they are going to put some strengthening plates in as well. It still means joins, but up the front, reinforced and done properly. All i'm waiting on now, is the quote

[Deleted]

Ummmmmm
Just walk into any new caravan sales place... have a look at the C section draw bars with crush tubes in the mounting points under the van and the 4 crush tubes where the tow hitch bolts on to a chunka rectangle plate up front and ..... "Ditto produce"

Jobs done. .

75mm X 50mm X 2mm .. No joins . just one cut either side to form the angle that runs up to the hitch plate at the front. weld it and plate the inside of the c sect for at least 200mm laterally at that weld point... Jobs done... piecea p.

Reddo

[minicamper]

Actually no guys, not silence, just not been back to this yet as I'm still waiting on the trailer place. I must say, I was a little surprised at their approach, but it wasn't entirely explained to me (two people were involved)
It's unfortunately too late to stop them now as they're doing it as we type/read. Guess I'll see what they come up with and deal with it then.

I'll post shots for your opinions as I'm taking advice from wherever available. I'd rather be informed before/if i need to tackle them. The original person i discussed it with was going with our initial chat, but it seems the boss had differing opinions...

Will report back hopefully early next week...

[Deleted]

OOOOOOOOOOooooo ya sure know how ta keep us in suspenders
another week...bugger

Heres a tip.....if the drawbar looks like SH!t when they are finshed with the welder ... just say "Nup... that looks like SH!T"


Then remind 'em its you that is parting with the "hard earned" and it is you that has to tow the the van down the road .....and if it decides ta part company with the van again it will be you that will be losing your life savings and house if it kills someone..
No matter what sorta insurance ya have managed to broker .

Dunno what quals your fabrication guys have got ... but...
Dont pay until someone with a bit of engineering nouse says "Yup... thats up to the task" ..

Then it is upta you to make sure it is bolted back under Alby properly......

only 7 more sleeps.... Here's hoping.. fingers crossed .

Reddo

[minicamper]

Ok, guys..

Having spent a day under Alby, refitting the chassis and replacing the wiring for the electric brakes, Alby is mobile again.

Chassis wise, not what we were all thinking, but for now it'll have to do. I questioned why they went the route they did and the reply was that it was easier and cheaper
Still, they only charged us for labour, so I'll see how i go.

Their observations were that the weak point was caused by a 15mm gap where it had been originally boxed in AND that it had only been stitched together and had not been done properly, or in sufficient quantities to be remotely strong enough. There were'nt any vertical welds.

What they have done (and i didn't think to get a pic until i'd done up the new bolts) is to repair the vertical "tear" then box the old angle iron in with heavy plate steel from the old extension at the front all the way back, into a triangular box section (like a toblerone) using 1.5 to 2.0" welds with small gaps, apparently so they didn't put too much heat into the steel.

With Alby back on top, it is clearly much stronger as there is no flex in the chassis like there used to be.

Ideal, no. And i'm guessing you guys will be able to offer some opinion on the method, but for now it'll have to do.

See how it goes with a view to replacing the whole thing once funds permit..

Cheers (and thanks for your guidance so far)
Chris

[bobt]

Hi Chris

Glad to hear it is all back together.

Where are you going to take it next (the van that is)

Bob