Friday was something of a milestone with the collection of the new galvanised chassis  from a container hub near Basel. After paying the import tax it was off to bay 30, where a friendly old French guy loaded the crate onto the trailer. He was very keen to know what was in it….. With a couple of straps securing everything in place, it was homeward bound.

img_2259
Ready to roll
img_2265
Back home and ready to practice trailer reversing
img_2266
Now the crate needs to be dismantled
img_2268
Chassis ready to be removed. I put the rear axle on the driveway to roll it in behind the chassis
img_2269
Holding the front end of the chassis, it slid easily along the timber crate
img_2270
With a trolly jack under the first cross member, I stood in the middle of the chassis and holding the rails, “rolled” it into the garage. Job done.
img_2271
The rebuild starts here
img_2272
Installing the front axle
img_2274
New Rocky Mountain shackle kit to mount the springs
img_2276
Front axle installed
img_2278
Now onto the rear axle installation
img_2279
It makes life easier if there’s an extra pair of hands. But as extra hands were busy doing important stuff, the trusty farm jack was pressed into service again.
img_2285
Both axles fitted. The shots of the rear axle install didn’t come out very well. The colour contrast between the chassis and the darker parts didn’t work out very well.
img_2297
Next on the list are the shock absorbers. These are from Rocky Mountain (along with the springs) and have longer travel to cope with the extra travel of the springs. Normal Series 2 shocks would bottom out
img_2289
Lower shock mount
img_2290
Shock mounted on the lower spigot with the rubber bushes and new split pin….
img_2293
Split pin rolled back on itself
img_2294
Top fixings for the shock absorbers. The through bolts will be replaced with stainless items but they have yet to arrive
img_2295
Rubber bushes in relation to the top shock mount
img_2296
All bolted up and rock solid

There are ,of course, four shock absorbers but I won’t bore you with the installation of all of them as they are exactly the same procedure.

img_2318
Front the front
img_2320
From the rear
img_2322
From the side… the wheels will be shot blasted, powder coated and new Michelin 7.50 x 16R ZXL’s fitted
img_2324
YES 🙂
img_2326
Back in the garage