Panhard bar mount extension

Well finally back into the garage to start the little jobs that the Certifier noted that needed correcting. First up was the pan hard bar. It was on to much of an angle and was pushing the rear diff assembly to the left when under compression.

So I had to either extend the mount on the diff or the one welded to the frame. I though and played with just extending the one mounted to the diff, but was worried about the strength and that the extra leverage would place on the mounting bolts. There was also that once it was raised it didn't leave a lot of room for the fuel pump and plumbing that are sitting below the fuel tank.

So I went the route of extending the frame mount. I was a much bigger job doing this way, but the best solution. Best of all I could do it without spending any money.

First job was to turn the RattyT around so that it was face the other way so I could get access to the rear end.

As you can see from this shot the angle the pan hard bar was on before I started.

I noce fine even to get out there and start cutting :)

Panhard bar removed to allow the cutting off of the mount. I left plenty of meat on the frame so I have a lot to weld to.

Mount cut off and then trimmed to fit the tune I was going to use to extend the mount with.

Mount be gone

Next can the fab work on the new mount. First I cut a tab out of a 50x20x3mm box tune to slot the trimmed mount into. This gave a lot of extra contact and welds. Above you can see it tacked on.

Next was to cut the top part of the mount to be the right height and fit around the exist mount still on the frame. All the cutting was done with a hacksaw and hand file ......

Test fit for height and fit to the frame. More filing required.

After a lot of test fits, cutting and filling I finally got good fit. Next was to re-add the side tab. This so that the was addition laterial reinforcement for the mount. 

All welded up tidied up.

The next evening I removed the fuel tank to make for easier access to the welding that I was going to need to do. It was going to be a pig of a job. All weld were either vertical or upside-down.

Existing mount cleaned up ready for welding

New extended mount clamped ready for some tack welds.

After numerous welds and grinding the mount is now welded on tp the frame. It is not pretty but sure is strong.

Next job is to get so bump-stops and make some brackets for them and weld to the frame.  That will require some $$ so might have to wait a couple of weeks. That then completes the backend to cert level.