Chassis replacement cost?

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Defender90td5

Defender90td5

Active Member
Posts
114
Location
York
Hi all,

As many of you know in the coming months I will be purchasing a Land Rover Defender 90 for my first car. It has been brought to my attention that sometimes the chassis are so rusty they cannot be brought back to life without alot of cost or atleast more than a new chassis all together.

My question is, on average how much would a galvanised chassis replacement be in the UK? I know a Richards chassis is around £2,500 ish give or take a few extras.

Any guidance is appreciated, im just trying to learn as much as i possibly can before I get my own Landy!

Regards,

Robert
 
Defender90td5 said:
Hi all,

As many of you know in the coming months I will be purchasing a Land Rover Defender 90 for my first car. It has been brought to my attention that sometimes the chassis are so rusty they cannot be brought back to life without alot of cost or atleast more than a new chassis all together.

My question is, on average how much would a galvanised chassis replacement be in the UK? I know a Richards chassis is around £2,500 ish give or take a few extras.

Any guidance is appreciated, im just trying to learn as much as i possibly can before I get my own Landy!

Regards,

Robert
Click to expand...

Has the vehicle you are buying got an MOT?
 
Turboman said:
Has the vehicle you are buying got an MOT?
Click to expand...
I havnt actually bought anything yet nor am i going to buy anything until it gets closer to my 17th birthday (end of the year) so im just wanting to know that if a worst case scenario came about for whatever reason i would roughly know how much id be looking at spending. I should of been more specific, my apologies!
 
Marmaduke said:
Who's going to be doing the work? And are you going to get carried away and start replacing other stuff like suspension?
Click to expand...
I dont really have the space or time to do it myself sadly. And i dont think id get carried away with all the suspension stuff etc.
 
Defender90td5 said:
I havnt actually bought anything yet nor am i going to buy anything until it gets closer to my 17th birthday (end of the year) so im just wanting to know that if a worst case scenario came about for whatever reason i would roughly know how much id be looking at spending. I should of been more specific, my apologies!
Click to expand...

You seem to have answered your own question. There are only a few options for replacement chassis, Richards, Marsland, and the Irish people, can't remember what they are called, but opinions are mixed about quality.
So the chassis will set you back at least a couple of grand, and you will need to allow more than that on top to get someone to fit it for you, or several weeks of work if you intend to do it yourself.

Personally, if I buy a vehicle, I want something I can use. So why not just go out and look at them. Take a small hammer, or a large screwdriver, and go over the chassis and bulkhead with them.

Should be quite possible to buy a runner with a years ticket for same or less than a new chassis and fitting. And you get some value for your money straight away.
 
Turboman said:
You seem to have answered your own question. There are only a few options for replacement chassis, Richards, Marsland, and the Irish people, can't remember what they are called, but opinions are mixed about quality.
So the chassis will set you back at least a couple of grand, and you will need to allow more than that on top to get someone to fit it for you, or several weeks of work if you intend to do it yourself.

Personally, if I buy a vehicle, I want something I can use. So why not just go out and look at them. Take a small hammer, or a large screwdriver, and go over the chassis and bulkhead with them.

Should be quite possible to buy a runner with a years ticket for same or less than a new chassis and fitting. And you get some value for your money straight away.
Click to expand...
That is a good point. I just want to know a worst case scenario situation. Do you think £3,500 is around the 'average'?
 
Defender90td5 said:
That is a good point. I just want to know a worst case scenario situation. Do you think £3,500 is around the 'average'?
Click to expand...

My mate just had a local landrover specialist re-chassis his tidy top spec Td5 Defender.
He has a good job, and didn't want to do it himself, although he would be very capable of doing so, he is too busy.
The chassis, labour, and the VAT on both came to £7,500.

You should be able to buy a running Defender with a years ticket for much less than that.
 
Turboman said:
You seem to have answered your own question. There are only a few options for replacement chassis, Richards, Marsland, and the Irish people, can't remember what they are called, but opinions are mixed about quality.
So the chassis will set you back at least a couple of grand, and you will need to allow more than that on top to get someone to fit it for you, or several weeks of work if you intend to do it yourself.

Personally, if I buy a vehicle, I want something I can use. So why not just go out and look at them. Take a small hammer, or a large screwdriver, and go over the chassis and bulkhead with them.

Should be quite possible to buy a runner with a years ticket for same or less than a new chassis and fitting. And you get some value for your money straight away.
Click to expand...

Them Irish are called Shielder Chassis, and should be avoided at ALL cost!
 
Defender90td5 said:
Hi all,

As many of you know in the coming months I will be purchasing a Land Rover Defender 90 for my first car. It has been brought to my attention that sometimes the chassis are so rusty they cannot be brought back to life without alot of cost or atleast more than a new chassis all together.

My question is, on average how much would a galvanised chassis replacement be in the UK? I know a Richards chassis is around £2,500 ish give or take a few extras.

Any guidance is appreciated, im just trying to learn as much as i possibly can before I get my own Landy!

Regards,

Robert
Click to expand...

I rebuilt my 110 onto a galv Marshland chassis this year, well finished it this year is more correct/true.

I wouldn’t dare count up the total on the receipts, but I would bet around £7-8K, maybe £9K. I have done all the work myself, but replaced anything that needed replacing.
 
mick 1986 said:
I certainly won’t be doing mine again. I have just agreed to rechassis 5 different defenders though. Maybe I’m a sucker for punishment!
Click to expand...

Enjoy! :)

The ones I did were both series. And it isn't that difficult, just a matter of careful notes and photos beforehand, and a lot of unbolting and bolting together again.
But it is time consuming, a bit boring second time around, and I don't really see the point if you can go out and buy a vehicle with years of life in it for realistic money.
 
I knew how bad tratter chassis and bulkheads can be so when I was looking for one I headed to the salvage/damage repairable place not too far from me. Picked up a 110 that had had a serious smack up the rear that had bent the chassis and rear tub for £600 around 18 years ago. Spent a year sourcing a new chassis , brand new td5 one for £200 and a mint bulkhead for £100, had both chemically dipped then galvanized. Picked up as new side frames (SW) from an lro show for £80 ,got them halved too.
Got good tub off eBay £150 plus 4 new doors, rears £100 each fronts I think we're 150 each then started the rebuild. Everything was new or recommend, did it all myself but shockingly still cost 14k.
Still got her now , never failed to get me home, in clouds of smoke twice, but still got me home:)
Point I'm trying poorly to make is to consider a rotted chassis purchase at a greatly reduced price rather than a heavily patched example that has just scraped through and won't survive another mot.
The piece of mind is lovely when you have a galv chassis and bulkhead.
 
Flossie said:
I knew how bad tratter chassis and bulkheads can be so when I was looking for one I headed to the salvage/damage repairable place not too far from me. Picked up a 110 that had had a serious smack up the rear that had bent the chassis and rear tub for £600 around 18 years ago. Spent a year sourcing a new chassis , brand new td5 one for £200 and a mint bulkhead for £100, had both chemically dipped then galvanized. Picked up as new side frames (SW) from an lro show for £80 ,got them halved too.
Got good tub off eBay £150 plus 4 new doors, rears £100 each fronts I think we're 150 each then started the rebuild. Everything was new or recommend, did it all myself but shockingly still cost 14k.
Still got her now , never failed to get me home, in clouds of smoke twice, but still got me home:)
Point I'm trying poorly to make is to consider a rotted chassis purchase at a greatly reduced price rather than a heavily patched example that has just scraped through and won't survive another mot.
The piece of mind is lovely when you have a galv chassis and bulkhead.
Click to expand...

Peace of mind and spending 14k on a vehicle don't go together in my mind! :eek::D
 
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