Bent cross member on an ‘87 110

Hi all. Is the front cross member supposed to be curved like mine, or straight? It looks suspicious to me…
It’s an ‘87 110.
thanks, Jim

Its bent, prop may touch at times and exhaust may rattle against it.

You can unbolt and replace them but I'm sure it involves jacking apart the chassis rails slightly which doesn't sound fun

the_wolf said:

You can unbolt and replace them but I'm sure it involves jacking apart the chassis rails slightly which doesn't sound fun

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actually easier than you think, bottle jack on its side with wood spreaders and spacers and a couple of strokes of the jack and that is it. You only need to spread them a little bit so that the cross member can go in okay

congo181 said:

Hi all. Is the front cross member supposed to be curved like mine? JimView attachment 247384

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No.

No. Change it. Relatively easy and not expensive.
.

It may well be rusty on chassis rails behind the end plates, clean up, repair if needed and smear area with grease when new one goes on.

tottot said:

It may well be rusty on chassis rails behind the end plates, clean up, repair if needed and smear area with grease when new one goes on.

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a much ignored area and usually only seen on gearbox removal..

Rich.

Zed. said:

a much ignored area and usually only seen on gearbox removal..

Rich.

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I think because people panic about spreading the chassis rails to get it back in

Yeah, that’s seen a little action.

congo181 said:

Yeah, that’s seen a little action.
View attachment 247855 View attachment 247856

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looks too central for damage due to driving, maybe jacking damage?

Rich.

flat said:

actually easier than you think, bottle jack on its side with wood spreaders and spacers and a couple of strokes of the jack and that is it. You only need to spread them a little bit so that the cross member can go in okay

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.....or an acro-prop of the right size.

Stanleysteamer said:

.....or an acro-prop of the right size.

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...acksherly that looks too small for even the smallest acro-prop. EDIT

Stanleysteamer said:

.....or an acro-prop of the right size.

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or 2 horses....



Rich.

Zed. said:

or 2 horses....

Rich.

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Yeee Hah!!!

Zed. said:

looks too central for damage due to driving, maybe jacking damage?

Rich.

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It’s possible, although there’s deffo some damage from hitting stuff in the direction of travel.

I don’t have a bottle jack or horses (and the sheep aren’t going to cut it). My plan it to cut a length of timber very slightly over size and bang it in as a wedge. Only going to need a mm of spread so I’m sure it’ll work.

congo181 said:

It’s possible, although there’s deffo some damage from hitting stuff in the direction of travel.

I don’t have a bottle jack or horses (and the sheep aren’t going to cut it). My plan it to cut a length of timber very slightly over size and bang it in as a wedge. Only going to need a mm of spread so I’m sure it’ll work.

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Agree, that should work.
Or maybe put the old one back in with a wedge and use that to spread it, as you say there will be mms in it, although the damage will have possibly slightly pulled the two side members towards the middle.
Do you not have an old scissor jack lying around? I've used one in the past with bits of wood to straighten things out.
Just sayin!

Stanleysteamer said:

Agree, that should work.
Or maybe put the old one back in with a wedge and use that to spread it, as you say there will be mms in it, although the damage will have possibly slightly pulled the two side members towards the middle.
Do you not have an old scissor jack lying around? I've used one in the past with bits of wood to straighten things out.
Just sayin!

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No scissor or bottle jack weirdly. Only got a trolley and the acro props are 2m ones
It’s amazing what you can make work with a bit of ingenuity.

That looks to have bellied out on a big rock maybe. Belted my old one out with a sledge, after cleaning rust behind the plates and then greasing up I was able to tap replacement into place with lump of wood and hammer.

tottot said:

That looks to have bellied out on a big rock maybe. Belted my old one out with a sledge, after cleaning rust behind the plates and then greasing up I was able to tap replacement into place with lump of wood and hammer.

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I think it’s still structurally sound, just a little ugly. I’m not 100% sure of a replacement as the ones I’ve seen listed that look right are mostly labelled as for TD5. I may try straightening it but I think it’ll be tricky