Wing Alignment

Brandog said:

As far as I’m aware it hasn’t. They look old enough to be original but then again it is 31 years old so a lot can happen over the years!

What are dumb irons and where would I look for those? Sorry to sound like a dumb iron

Click to expand...

The dumb iron is the bit the bumper bolts onto. They can be cut off and new ones welded on.

Just thinking now, if you measure from a point on the tub, just behind the rear doors, to a point on the bulkhead, on both sides. Are they equal? I’m wondering if someone has repaired a side frame and ****ed it up by a few mill, and then it’s been made worse by poor bulkhead alignment, and ended up at a difference of 20mm”ish”.

Brandog said:

Don’t get me wrong I’m not looking for perfection! But a difference of 15mm on one side does draw your attention to it so if I can help reduce that even by a few mil that would be something

To be honest I’d have no idea where to start checking those things, I did measure the rear cross member against the body and it’s bang on in the middle.
Is there a guide on how to check alignments?

Thanks

Click to expand...

The location of the body on the chassis is only governed by the various attachment points, which, as has been pointed out^^^^^^^, can be adjusted by packing pieces and washers between the attachment points on the chassis, and the various bits of the body.

As the wings are bolted on to the bulkhead, it follows that where the front of the wings end up is a function of where the actual bits of the chassis are, and how much the bulkhead is spaced from the chassis outriggers.

So your issue could be to do with countless things, a bent chassis, outriggers that aren't quite welded on in the right place, spacers, etc.

You can check chassis straightness by measurement, there are diagrams available to do this, and then re- weld outriggers or put more spacers in to correct the problem.

But to be honest, that sounds like a trivial difference on a vehicle that size and age, so if it was mine, and it drives OK and MOTs, I would probably just leave it.

Brandog said:

Hi mate thanks for your informative reply.
I found the spacers you were talking about, used a wire brush on my drill and cleaned away the crud to expose the washers and from what I can see it looks like 5 washers on each side.

Does that rule out the bulkhead bolts then if they’re equally spaced on each side?

Where would you suggest I look to next?

Click to expand...

Yes, that would rule out the spacing on the bulkhead bolts.
The other guys have covered everything I can think of. The wings are bolted to the A pillar on the bulkhead so the position of the bulkhead is the obvious thing to investigate. mick 1986 has mentioned new outriggers being welded on and that is a perfectly plausible possibility given the age of your Landy. The outriggers fix the location of the bulkhead. The bulkhead can tilt back and forth when you are putting them back on and you need to set them vertically, checking the door shut line gaps and fixing the bulkhead in place with the 'triangulation' brackets that you took pictures of earlier. Are your door shut lines even on both sides of the vehicle? If they are then your bulkhead is probably vertical and would seem to be in the right position. I suppose you are then in to looking at what you are using as a reference to measure against at the front. This is where the replacement dumb iron section of your chassis rails would come in to play. If one was rotten it may have been cut off with a replacement section welded in which might have been made too long or too short! Outriggers tend to go before dumb iron sections of the chassis though.
I agree with doriz though. These vehicles are individuals and so unique. We've all got things on our Landys that we would prefer to be straighter, more even, less blistered, better aligned, etc. But, it is the nature of the beasts we own. Even brand new ones aren't perfect and sometimes you just have to learn to live with the imperfections. Think of it as part of the charm
EDIT
Turboman and I must have been typing at the same time. However, TM has been far more succinct and eloquent

@Brandog

suggestion for you

when you take your pictures do some some side on shots of both sides at a far enough distance away to get the whole vehicle in

possibly a rear view might help as well

would also suggest a head on shot and a side on shot fairly close across the wing bumper from both sides