OK, very annoyed about this. I can’t fit the tub. The alignment between tub and bulkhead was miles out, so I started to take a close look around. The tub is also well out of line with the flanges on the centre outriggers.
The new floor is as straight as a die, the lateral braces and their rubber pads are all fitted correctly and the tub is square. The front of the tub sits very high, so that with a string line run along the corner of the body radius to the bulkhead, the string meets the rhs of the bulkhead about 5mm too high, and the lhs about 12mm too high.
Close inspection also showed that the front tub mountings are 10mm out on the left, a little less on the right, that some of the chassis’ tub supports are not contacting the tub’s rubber pads, and that the gap between the top of the dampers is not equal from side to side. Muddy also noticed a difference in chassis rail-top to tub-support top distance from l-r. The result is that the tub floor supports have been fitted incorrectly, and all will have to be cut down and re-set.
The plan is to remove the tub and aft fuel tank, cut away the tops of all 12 supports, fit the tub aligned vertically with the bulkhead, then mark, trim and tackweld the front and rearmost support pairs. The tub will then come off again for the front and rear supports to be fully welded. A length of box section will then be clamped unto the supports to provide a “jig” by which to resize and weld the remaining supports.
A lot of extra work. Not impressed, given the price of the chassis.
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.