Td5 disco... Serious chassis rust?

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West22

New Member
Posts
6
Location
Spain
Hello people, I'm new to this forum. :).
Im Looking to buy this Discovery 2 td5 2001 from the UK. It's just been driven here to Malaga where I live and the guy wants 2000E for it. Everything about it is great other than the rust on the rear end of the chassis, it looks bad but was wondering how much of a problem it is. If it's reparable or if it's terminal problem. Car is perfect other than this. so would like to get opinions on how bad it is? I will link photos so you can see. Thanks Folks... West
DSC_0299.JPG
 
Normal forum etiquette is to introduce yourself, with a bit of background, in the right place before asking questions. :)

You could also do a search on here. :rolleyes:

That said, D2 chassis do rot. and that one has! :eek:
 
Sorry forgive me.. Ive been in a rush to find out.. How rude of me :/. I live in Malaga Spain...i work as a cyclist. I've had a Pajero mk2 1993 swb for 10 years.. It is my first car.. I've loved it. I bought it when I was 16... Now im 26.
It's time for a change. I have always been obsessed with landrovers. I'm now looking to get one to keep for the next 20 years. Td5 is my favourite. :)
 
From what I can see in the pictures, and general nature of D2 chassis ( they are prone to rot, often big style), then the rear of that chassis will almost certainly be knackered. Fixing it is possible, but its not a simple job - if you have to pay someone else to do it.... walk away. ( when I say fixing it - it will need a new half chassis - which IMHO, is not cost effective - better to put a galvanised chassis under it ( if the rest of it is any good ) - especially in a "coastal" location like malaga! )

Seriously, do a search on here - this topic has been covered a thousand times - once recently where some poor sod had been conned into having "some", ahem, "welding" done near the NSR shocker mount - it was truly appalling, pathetic, ridiculous, dangerous, scary..... you get the idea.
 
Marmaduke said:
Also as said that's rot not rust, if you don't know the difference you could be walking into a money pit
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This is good advice. A good D2 will be a fantastic vehicle, if its looked after. that one hasn't been looked after. I'd walk away on the basis of that picture alone... unless its cheap and very low mileage with a service history.....
 
I confess to being puzzled by LR's attitude to steel quality & factory rust-proofing. Historically there have been several periods where 'they' appeared to fallen down on the quality of the steel used such as the later Series 3's, the Disco 1 from it's introduction & 1989 onwards Range Rover (was it the bean-counters or a world shortage of quality steel?). Then when the Disco 2 was produced in '98 they addressed the body corrosion problems of the earlier model but failed to protect the chassis. I know everything is built to a price, but surely proper corrosion protection must only be a small percentage of the vehicle's production cost.
 
norseman said:
I confess to being puzzled by LR's attitude to steel quality & factory rust-proofing. Historically there have been several periods where 'they' appeared to fallen down on the quality of the steel used such as the later Series 3's, the Disco 1 from it's introduction & 1989 onwards Range Rover (was it the bean-counters or a world shortage of quality steel?). Then when the Disco 2 was produced in '98 they addressed the body corrosion problems of the earlier model but failed to protect the chassis. I know everything is built to a price, but surely proper corrosion protection must only be a small percentage of the vehicle's production cost.
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Agreed. bean counters every time. :( I used to work in the auto industry - it was, er, "difficult" on occasion....:rolleyes:

They'd put serious efforts into welding procedures, :)and then not paint it properly :(, and "wonder" why it rusted away :rolleyes::eek:. indirectly, I worked for a few manufacturers - they were all up to it, this cost cutting lark.

I remember a certain little car having a gear linkage that was built like a blinking battleship. Fully welded too. None of us could work out why. Other bits of the same car were effectively made of chocolate. None of us could work out why :D

Thus, I reckon the lunatics take over the asylum every so often...
 
Hello again people.
Just wanted to thank all of you for your information and I appreciate the time put into replying in such detail.

I've been obsessed with td5 discos for a long time now and i really though that this one could be the one for me. Owned one for two years, it had 50,000 miles on the clock, one owner from new. Unfortunately my sister went and had a fight with a 500 year old olive tree.. Turns out they are stronger than landrovers.. But the car saved her life, having hit the tree at 50 mph.. She walked out with not even a bruise.

I have confidence in these trucks and will still continue to look for another one. Being in Spain it's more difficult to find a good one that isn't a stupid price.
I will keep you guys posted.
I am currently selling my 1993 mk2 Jap imp Pajero.. Swb. Just had an offer for 3000 euro. Discovery 2 will be my next vehicle.. They are such lookers, they don't make em like they used to Ay.
Thanks again.. Will post here again, as all of you have been extremely helpful lads.
Thanks West
 

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Sorry it's not a landy.. It has been the next best thing for me the past ten years though. Is my first car at 16 years old now time for an upgrade. New engine OEM mitsubishi 4d56. New gearbox Auto. New transfer box.. Recon radiator.. It's been a love child for me ha.
 

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v8landyman said:
If they had fitted discos and defenders with galvanised chassis they would have lasted almost forever, which is something no volume car manufacturer wants.
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nailed it, fairly and squarely. no other words necessary.

Appalling, completely environmentally unfriendly, but oh so true:(
 
v8landyman said:
If they had fitted discos and defenders with galvanised chassis they would have lasted almost forever, which is something no volume car manufacturer wants.
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In fact you don't need galvanising, just decent steel. Years ago my hobby was WW2 military (American) vehicles with totally unprotected channel chassis that, even after 60 years, had no more that light surface rust & even the sheet-metal (bodywork to us Brits) was usually sound, unless the vehicle had been stored in unsuitable conditions. If you must make a box-section chassis out of cheap steel the least you can do is to adequately protect it, after all there's enough corrosion protection products out there today that were not available to manufactures all those years ago :mad:
 
They are worth repairing if you can get them cheap enough, ive just had the rear chassis replaced with a galvanised one cost me £800 i only paid £1100 for it so i thought it was well worth it as everything else is good, now it should be good for many yrs to come, so its worth considering
 
norseman said:
In fact you don't need galvanising, just decent steel. Years ago my hobby was WW2 military (American) vehicles with totally unprotected channel chassis that, even after 60 years, had no more that light surface rust & even the sheet-metal (bodywork to us Brits) was usually sound, unless the vehicle had been stored in unsuitable conditions. If you must make a box-section chassis out of cheap steel the least you can do is to adequately protect it, after all there's enough corrosion protection products out there today that were not available to manufactures all those years ago :mad:
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I don't disagree with this at all - we've got old stuff which hasn't got much paint on, made of old steel, and, yep it just doesn't rust anything like the same as the modern "stuff" - Also, a whole new industry has grown up around the use of this modern "steel" ( read "crap" IMHO) - this didn't exist before, largely because it didn't need to.

I would venture that decent steel is simply not available today :(

Tis all part of the plan you know :rolleyes:
 
West22 said:
Hello again people.

I've been obsessed with td5 discos for a long time now and i really though that this one could be the one for me. Owned one for two years, it had 50,000 miles on the clock, one owner from new. Unfortunately my sister went and had a fight with a 500 year old olive tree.. Turns out they are stronger than landrovers.. But the car saved her life, having hit the tree at 50 mph.. She walked out with not even a bruise.
Click to expand...

Had your sister been driving the one in the picture I don't think she would have fared as well cos that sir is a rot box:eek: How much was it being sold for?
 
West22 said:
Sorry forgive me.. Ive been in a rush to find out.. How rude of me :/. I live in Malaga Spain...i work as a cyclist. I've had a Pajero mk2 1993 swb for 10 years.. It is my first car.. I've loved it. I bought it when I was 16... Now im 26.
It's time for a change. I have always been obsessed with landrovers. I'm now looking to get one to keep for the next 20 years. Td5 is my favourite. :)
Click to expand...

how do you work as a cyclist? doing what? must pay well if you can afford a rusty disco ?
welcome to the forum your in good hands here, well the hands are ok its the rest of them ya wanna watch out for :)
 
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