Triton bent Left to Right

[Enid_Triton]

I have heard of them bending & breaking up or down over the axle from overloading but mine has bent in the middle left to right.
Driving my MN at 110 kph on sealed road unloaded & went round an off-camber corner to the right. No bumps just a raised piece of tar on the edge where the trucks have sort of pushed up the road a little. I went round the corner with bit of a lean and felt the left rear hit the raised section of tar which caused the vehicle to jolt a little to the right, but nothing big and there were no worrying noises. Honestly, it wasn't that bad & there should not have been an issue, but unbeknown to me there sure was.

All of a sudden I could hear air & road noise coming from the left rear of the cab & I checked the rear windows but they were up, so I kept driving. Then about 1Km further on I noticed that the steering wheel was now 1/4 of a turn off center to the right.
I pulled over and had a look but could not see anything wrong. so I went to my mates place because he has more room to look it over & he followed me down his street. When we got there he said that my ute was crabbing like crazy.
So we checked the spring packs to see if one had moved or broken but they & the shocks were OK, we then checked for bend crinkle marks in the chassis in the usual spots but it was OK too.
We then checked the front suspension & everything looked schmick under there.

But just under the left rear door on the chassis just in front of the wheel the black lumpy sealer was cracked and a bit of it missing. On further inspection it looks like the dam chassis has bent sideways. My mate rigged up his dumpy laser leveler on the floor & at a rough guess the rear now looks to be about 20-30 mill off center & to the right and the left rear cabin door no longer seals when its closed.
Being Easter there is not a lot I can do about it for a few days, but it sure looks bent to us. If it is, then it's ridiculous & these things are useless pieces of junk.

[Foo]

What year is it and do you know what country it was made in?

Foo

[NowForThe5th]

What year is it and do you know what country it was made in?

They're all made in Thailand, except for a few made in SA but never sold here.

but it sure looks bent to us. If it is, then it's ridiculous & these things are useless pieces of junk.

That's a big call given that this is the first instance we've had brought to light here. Yes, they can be bent vertically, but so can every other dual cab ute and Mitsubishi have addressed the issue in the MQ. I had a Ranger in the shop recently where one front chassis rail had been bent up, and in, nearly 50mm as a result of hitting a washout. So hitting a sizeable lump in the road at 110km/h is quite likely to do damage.

My guess is that this ( https://www.newtriton.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=106&t=21990&p=554512#p554512 ) is probably related.

With both the chassis and the body bent this is going to be a write off.

[RHKTriton]

Not having any luck Enid.

I'm starting to wonder if your unit has some inherent defects from the production line?

The structural integrity of the chassis rails would be greatly affected if the various members weren't welded together properly and at every designated location.

The state of our roads leaves much to be desired also! For example, a bad section of bitumen that I have to drive over every day was recently "repaired" in sections and I can now get some air on a few of the new bits.


Back on track; As 5th was suggesting, your tub being out of wack and now this failure, maybe, you've ended up with the Thai flavoured Mon or Fri vehicle.

I'd start with getting your situation noted at a dealer and then getting someone qualified to go over the vehicle to assess the chassis, etc for any obvious problems.

By the way, how'd you go with the tub alignment issue?

[Foo]

@NowForThe5th, my reseach says that they were also made in Spain.

Foo

[4wd26]

What is the history of your Triton?
Have you had from new or bought second hand

[NowForThe5th]

@NowForThe5th, my reseach says that they were also made in Spain.

Foo

Some were, yes, for domestic and European consumption. But this is Australia and all Tritons here were manufactured in Thailand. At any rate, where it was made really is irrelevant in this case. Any local production variations will have no impact in this situation. The man has a bent chassis which, it appears, has also twisted the body or at least the area around the rear door. A bent chassis alone is usually grounds for writing off, which is a bit of a shame since the car has very low kilometres is in very nice condition and he's just spent a fairly large amount of money on accessories.

[RHKTriton]

Poking my finger into the chassis rail last week it also strikes me how thin the metal is.


Would it be feasible to reinforce the rails in the area, where failures have occurred, with reinforced epoxy resin?

[NowForThe5th]

Be a waste of time, RHK. No reinforced resin, be it kevlar or carbon fibre, is going to save that. I don't really have any idea what caused the damage, maybe OP can enlighten us or put up some pictures, but it would have taken a big hit. After thinking about it today I'm of the opinion now that even hitting that bump in the road wouldn't have been enough - surely suspension components would have given way before the chassis? Dunno mate. Sometimes, even with cars that come into the shop, I have to scratch my head about how the damage occurred.

[4wd26]

^^^
Is the reason to know/ ask about the history of the vehicle

Was it involved in a previous accident

Or the previous owner had a tray or body lift

Something feels not right

I’ve seen a few tritons been run up the rear, very little “evident damage”

[RHKTriton]

There are stories where stevedores have driven vehicles off the edge of ramps. Maybe the vehicle has had trauma followed by a 'quick' fix before delivery?

[WUNSIE]

Just looking back in your previous posts, March 10 2019, that's a beaut looking Triton in red,
maybe its had past damage in that area of concern, need some pictures bud

[driver080]

For what is worth I saw an MN or ML last week in southern NSW that had a noticeable crab. Badly bent to the right at the front. Really got my attention