Chassis Modifications - Rear

There are a few different ways to mount a Jaguar rear end.  The route I chose was to fabricate a frame to replace the standard Jaguar cage.  This is then welded into the rear end of the chassis to become an integral part.  Here you can see the frame being offered up.  The way that I did this was to initially cut a section out of the bottom rails to fit the frame inside.  Then once in position and levelled the remainder of the bottom rail was removed to clear the centre section where the springs will be located.  

Once the frame was located and tacked into position I decided to turn the chassis over to give better access to be able to weld it in fully. You can also see here the bottom rail section removed.  the last of the 3 pictures here shows the slight notch that I decided to remove to provide increased clearance for the suspension components.  The notch looks to be uneven, but it is cut parallel to the ground.

After the notched section had been removed, I then boxed this in by triangulating the section as you see here.  This makes for a very strong section, (triangles are much stronger than squares).

Here you can see the boxing plates cut for fitting in front and behind the axle mounting frame prior to welding in place.  These are essential to stiffen and strengthen the chassis.

Blanking off the ends of the rails to tidy things up.

The finished triangulated section after grinding, you can see here the increased clearance this provides from the top and bottom.

The finished rear end, all boxed in and ground off neat.

10/11/07

After looking at the rear end of the chassis recently I decided that I needed to tidy it up a little to keep it in line with the rest of the chassis.  I had already decided that I would complete the boxing right to the back but looking at the the rear cross-member it was clear that I would have to do something there too.  It was looking pretty beaten up and it stood out compared to the rest of the rear end. 

This is what the rear cross-member looked like, as you can see it would have taken a lot of work to get it to look neat and tidy, so I decided it had to go.

Here you can see the shape of the boxing plates required cut ready to be welded in place, you can also see the 50 x 50 mm Box section in place that replaces the old cross-member.

The plates welded in place and the edges ground off neat, the rear end looks much nicer now.  As the bed will be a tipper all of this will be seen every time i tip up the bed.