Bent Chassis on my MN GRRRRRR

[drover]

Hi Rats
This is a nasty thing to happen to anyone and I hope you do ok but I've seen a story much the same a couple of years ago with a bloke in a Holden Rodeo (last model before the Collardo)while on the Canning stock route he broke the chasis in front of the left spring hanger and the out come was not good.
1. The insurance company would NOT pay.
Reason = The tub back was replaced with a tray and air bags fitted without informing them.
2. GMH would NOT cover warranty.
Reason = Air bags are NOT part of their suspension and the tray was NOT GMH certified.

He took this case through consumer affairs but done no good. (Quote) "He failed to comply"
A lesson to us all "Read the fine print"

[RockoWallaby]

Why I stuck with factory tray and towbar. Annoying, true, and Yes, might have updated the suspension, but at least if anything craps itself due to the factory options, they can't blame anyone else.

Fitted poly airbags (red ones) inside my old Frontera springs. Excellent items.

Then fitted black airbags to my old man's Navara. Jesus, they be scary to see in use. Temperamental arses of things, leaked from fittings, and the pressure they put on the chassis....URK!
In the end, we upgraded extra leaves to factory springs, and he doesn't use the black airbags for anything but a little bit of levelling.

Have to give it to Brendan and the boys at Ultimate. Even towing my widdle offroad van, the factory suspension was pure shite. Sagged the back down, and wallowed all over the place like a drunken Anna Bligh.
Now, with the new suspension, and a pretty heavy ball mass, the back barely sags, and the ride is a million bucks better.
Best upgrade I ever did, that suspension package. Now, just need longer rear brake lines

[griz066]

So how did this end up did Rat Patrol get it fixed under warranty or what was the outcome?????

[Steve9R]

who says Triton chassis' bend ??!



Steve

[mattz]

I'll see your triton and raise you a hilux.

[helicoptercow]

^^^^ I like it how both drivers have that crouched stance... its pretty obvious what happened!

Steve's pic was in the other thread, but now that its larger, you can see its loaded full of ice boxes and they must be full cause its the melted ice water you can see on the pavement behind the car

[GrahamB]

^^^^ I like it how both drivers have that crouched stance... its pretty obvious what happened!

Steve's pic was in the other thread, but now that its larger, you can see its loaded full of ice boxes and they must be full cause its the melted ice water you can see on the pavement behind the car

So, based upon 1.5m x 1.5m x 1.5m = 3.375 cubic metres of water and water being around 1 kilo per litre that blue ute had somewhere around a bouts maybe 3 tonne in it?

Yes?

(I realise water expands when frozen )

[Naff]

Yeah, would be 3 times more than there should be in it on that logic... bad decision.

[61rth]

I'll see your triton and raise you a hilux.

Hey Mattz, is that photo from a book on Birdsville? Can't remember the Author, but it was a good read. True story about a journo form Sydney who went and lived in Birdsville for a year. They had to go out into the desert and recue this couple who had only just started an around Australia trip.

[Kegsy]

Yeah it sure is 61rth, I've seen the book as well. A guy at work was reading it.

[Cage]

Well I've just finished reading the newtriton.net equivalent of 'War & Peace', and there was no happy ending.

Was Rat's ute fixed satisfactorily ? Have Mitsubishi re-engineered the chassis? Will my new MN have the potential to have the same problem?

[Cowboy Dave]

It will have the potential to do precisely the same thing if you fit air bags and misuse them, hand a dual wheel carrier off the back or otherwise overload it, tow something heavy and then with all of the above drive it in some difficult country. But then the same is true of all dual cabs on the market really. It's about having an appreciation of the vehicle's limits and not modifying it to take it outside those limits.

[Cage]

Cheers Dave.

I'm more the under-stressing sort of a bloke than the over-stressing type so I should be fine.

My use will be to get into some places that a conventional vehicle can't go, and if I come across some nasty terrain I'll look for a way around it rather than see if I can break my ute trying to go through it.

[Cowboy Dave]

They'll handle more nasty terrain than you'd expect. Have a look at the wheeny creek trip threads and you'll be like at where some of us take them. They're designed to flex in a particular way and they will flex plenty if you make them. But if you change the loading points with air bags and then weigh down the back more than they're meant to then you've introduced a whole new pivot point and you've changed the whole dynamics of the thing.

[snowman]

My use will be to get into some places that a conventional vehicle can't go, and if I come across some nasty terrain I'll look for a way around it rather than see if I can break my ute trying to go through it.

mate if that is your concern trust me you wont bend a chassis from hard terrain.

you will only bend it from an accident or a combination of the following; excessive overloading of the tray / over-inflated airbags / excessive ball weight / rear wheel carriers.

if you think hard terrain will bend it i can assure you you will have plenty of other damage to your car first.

Don't let this thread scare you off unless your plan is to carry excessive weight, in which case i would direct you away from ALL dual cabs.

[geoduck]

My use will be to get into some places that a conventional vehicle can't go, and if I come across some nasty terrain I'll look for a way around it rather than see if I can break my ute trying to go through it.

mate if that is your concern trust me you wont bend a chassis from hard terrain.

you will only bend it from an accident or a combination of the following; excessive overloading of the tray / over-inflated airbags / excessive ball weight / rear wheel carriers.

if you think hard terrain will bend it i can assure you you will have plenty of other damage to your car first.

Don't let this thread scare you off unless your plan is to carry excessive weight, in which case i would direct you away from ALL dual cabs.

Sounds painful!
From what I've read its over loading the tray and causing the centre of gravity at the back to move from the factory settings.

[Cage]

@ CowboyDave.....Had a look at the Wheeny Creek thread. You guys sure pushed your utes to the max and although you all got through, it wasn't totally unscathed. Don't see me looking to do that sort of stuff unless it's some sort of an emergency, but it's nice to know what the Tritons are capable of.

@ snowman.........Thanks for the input. I've had Patrols and used them effectively when I was selling rural real estate years ago. It would seem that those who break their utes have far exceeded the intended parameters of the vehicle and also appear not to have had an understanding of good loading principles.

I've ordered my new GLX with the Ironman Protector Bull Bar and the factory tow bar (apparently not the best for clearance after reading various threads) and my only concern is that I've probably already lost 10-15mm of clearance. I asked the dealer about lift kits and the reply was "if if doesn't cause any associated problems it's OK". Very reassuring, not! I also got the dealer to fit a Safari snorkel and I went with the dealer fitted accessories because of the warranty and to maybe give me a bit more leverage if I do have any warranty problems.

Anyway should pick up my new toy this week and am counting the sleeps.

[Longranger1]

[quote="Cage
I've ordered my new GLX with the Ironman Protector Bull Bar and the factory tow bar (apparently not the best for clearance after reading various threads) and my only concern is that I've probably already lost 10-15mm of clearance. I asked the dealer about lift kits and the reply was "if if doesn't cause any associated problems it's OK". Very reassuring, not! I also got the dealer to fit a Safari snorkel and I went with the dealer fitted accessories because of the warranty and to maybe give me a bit more leverage if I do have any warranty problems.

Anyway should pick up my new toy this week and am counting the sleeps.[/quote]


The factory towbar kills the departure angle (already compromised) and I ended up changing mine to an ARB rear bar and gained a lot in the way of departure angle.

The factory rear protection bar is hopeless (not to mention ugly) and would be useless off road. You don't see many around and to put it kindly, only the uninformed would buy one...

[NowForThe5th]

From what I've read its over loading the tray and causing the centre of gravity at the back to move from the factory settings.

Not quite. You can move the centre of gravity and all you'll do is change the axle loadings. This excludes ridiculous gross overloading such as that blue club cab above. What breaks chassis is the introduction of an additional component such as air bags which do two things.

Firstly they put load on the chassis where it's not designed to be i.e. the top of the arch where the air bag mounting point is. The factory engineers intended the load to be on the chassis at the points where the leaf springs attach.

Secondly, once the air bag has fully compressed under load the chassis/leaf spring/air bag forms what is basically a truss (shaped like <|>) making that whole section solid and transferring the point of flex to just in front of the truss, which is where they invariably break.

Even in the most extreme four wheel driving a Triton which is not overloaded will not break the chassis because the chassis will flex the way it's designed to. Worst that will happen is some dents in the back of the cab where the tub has flexed up.

[Cage]

Cheers Longranger1.

I actually saw an ARB rear bar for the first time yesterday and thought how much more practical it looked. It's sometimes hard to get a good handle on products from looking at them on the internet because I didn't realise that the tub protection was looped and not just a straight tube.

And yes, I'm uninformed, and probably the main reason why I joined this forum. Oh, and no offense taken either.

[geoduck]

From what I've read its over loading the tray and causing the centre of gravity at the back to move from the factory settings.

Not quite. You can move the centre of gravity and all you'll do is change the axle loadings. This excludes ridiculous gross overloading such as that blue club cab above. What breaks chassis is the introduction of an additional component such as air bags which do two things.

Firstly they put load on the chassis where it's not designed to be i.e. the top of the arch where the air bag mounting point is. The factory engineers intended the load to be on the chassis at the points where the leaf springs attach.

Secondly, once the air bag has fully compressed under load the chassis/leaf spring/air bag forms what is basically a truss (shaped like <|>) making that whole section solid and transferring the point of flex to just in front of the truss, which is where they invariably break.

Even in the most extreme four wheel driving a Triton which is not overloaded will not break the chassis because the chassis will flex the way it's designed to. Worst that will happen is some dents in the back of the cab where the tub has flexed up.

Thanks for that, made it much clearer for me to understand, i can see how airbags can help coil springs if fitted inside the coil.
It does not seem to be something that is reported much here in the UK though.

[WJD]

I have a 2009 MN dual cab with canopy, draw system, fridge set up etc - also wanting to carry another spare above canopy and tow a small van BUT concerned about chassis weakness.

Does anyone know of a reputable operator in and around Brisbane that can do mod certifiable fishplating to strengthen?

Any good guidance would be appreciated.

Cheers, Wayne

[GLX58]

Maybe slightly off topic but does anyone have pics of damage to the cab from chassis flex from extreme 4x4ing? interested to see what these 'badges of honour' look like?

[NowForThe5th]

Search "tub dents". Plenty of pics, mostly in older posts.

[mrtuaniiex]

Maybe slightly off topic but does anyone have pics of damage to the cab from chassis flex from extreme 4x4ing? interested to see what these 'badges of honour' look like?

Got cab damage from tub on my first outing in the triton
Was pretty annnoyed at first and considered PDR but like you said the other part of me wanted to keep these "badge of honour"