Chassis break at Durba Springs - A big thankyou to all who helped

Submitted: Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 13:55

ThreadID: 87831 Views:8085 Replies:11 FollowUps:19

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Member - Geoff M (VIC)

This is a very big thank you to all the fabulous people who were in Durba Springs last month (June) and assisted with the temporary repair on the chassis of my BT50. Your generosity of spirit, provision of equipment and skills in assisting was amazing.

A believe it was a miracle that all the right people with all the right equipment and expertise were at Durba Springs in my time of need. I would like to particularly thank Dave who had the welding equipment and spent over four hours doing the welding - thanks mate!

I got out from Durba OK through Jigalong and into Newman (via Puttawarri Track), had the vehicle assessed (thanks Terry) and surprisingly no additional repairs were needed for us to continue on our trip. More permanent repairs are now underway.

There are plenty of terrific people around our country, many who frequent this site, and I am very grateful to all generously helped me out in my time of need.

To the cause of the chassis failure, well that is up to speculation. I was carrying well under the ute's capacity (load < 600kg), and under the total GVM rating, distributed the load as central as I could, and did not have airbags. Maybe its just that the current crop of ute's are not able to withstand the constant pounding they get on the rough outback tracks.

Cheers, Geoff

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Reply By: Member - John (Vic) - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 14:11

Reply By: Robert K3 - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 14:27

Reply By: Bill BD - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 16:29

Reply By: Crackles - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 17:30

Reply By: workhorse - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 17:53

Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 18:00

Reply By: landed eagle - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 22:24

Reply By: Member - Murray R (VIC) - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 22:29

Thursday, Jul 28, 2011 at 22:29

Geoff
Good to hear that your mobile again thanks to the assistance of good willed people with the knowledge and know how to fix the chassis. I had a Bravo extra cab with a slide on camper and was always concerned about the chassis cracking as all the weight was behind the axle and heaps of over hang, touch wood I didn't have any problems like you. Now Iv'e got a Ranger cab chassis and the camper sits central over the axle and I find that the car drives and handles much better. I do miss the extra cabin space though.

cheers Murray

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AnswerID: 461199

Follow Up By: Member - Geoff M (VIC) - Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 08:00

Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 08:00

Hi Murray,

Thanks for your reply. The weight and overhang has always been a concern for me, but we really like the Extra Cab space for carrying everything from extra luggage, our dog on some trips, extra fridge, etc. The recent trips we have made would not have been possible without the extra space provided in the extra cab.

I am really hoping that the repairs will make the vehicle stronger and enable us to get a few more years travelling out of it, but after this incident I am obviously a bit gun-shy. My previous vehicle to the Mazda I kept for 15 years, I don't think this one (or other modern equivalents) will last as long.

Cheers, Geoff

FollowupID: 734900

Follow Up By: member - mazcan - Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 14:19

Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 14:19

hi geoff
it was a nasty event to occur out the at durba spring that nobody wants
but its great that you had the right people there and they were willing with the true aussie spririt to assist in such an efficent manner

i am interested in what year yr bt50 is and did you buy it new or was it someone elses that you bought s/hnd
i have owned a mazda bravo since 1997 with aug/ 1996 build date done 140000km's and
just went and had a thorough look at the chassis with a brite light and a magnifing glass to be sure and found no cracks or hints of any in the same or any location

despite the d/cab carrring heavy loads plus towing caravans and loaded trailers plus its own load over many rough tracks
including rocky outcrops loads of rocks /blue metal and sand and wood too these loads were
on a daily bassis to/from the farm i had
it has also done the csr and many other rough and horregated tracks all around w.a and if any chassis should have cracked i would expect mine to have a problem but not the case
so i have a friend up the street with a 2009 ranger so will be keen to measure and compare the chassis metal thickness to see if ford/mazda have made the newer ones out of thinner steel ?
there must be an engineering reason why this is occuring on many brand names recently
???is the steel quality worst and thinner ??
cheers barry

FollowupID: 734924

Follow Up By: Member - Geoff M (VIC) - Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 15:22

Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 15:22

Hi Barry,

I bought the BT50 new in 2007 and it has now done 104,000 km's. It has a steel tray, and I carry a Trayon Camper which weights 380kg unladen.

After seeing many horror stories on the web, I have always been concerned with chassis cracks and have tried to minimise wieght as much as possible. Having a freestyle (extra) cab also means that I have a greater overhang at the back. Also I have regularly checked, but none of this did me any good in the end.

Here are a couple of more pictures of the crack/s. Both chassis rails had cracked on both sides and at the bottom. Also both cracks were in identical places on each chassis rail, on the cabin side on the rear spring holder.

Cheers, Geoff

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FollowupID: 734930

Reply By: Wayne (NSW) - Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 16:02

Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 20:32

Reply By: Muntoo - Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 23:29

Friday, Jul 29, 2011 at 23:29

Just out of curiosity, what springs and shocks have you got fitted. Those leaves look heavy duty.

It is a real bummer, would hate for that to happen mate, especially on such a great trip. I have a BT50 also, but will never have that much weight on it as i dont have a camper.

Maybe the steel they use these days just cant cope with our corrugations.

AnswerID: 461307

Follow Up By: Fatso - Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 08:21

Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 08:21

7 leaves in view + probably a helper or 2 could be out of view.
I would guess this vehicle is well overloaded to start with & the load is badly positioned. Then on top of that the driving techniques applied were not conducive to the conditions.
The vehicle is only a tool.
The Mazda is good value for money, but it is not a Unimog.
If you make a comparison between packing a boat & packing a vehicle there is a huge difference in the mental approach. This is driven by the fear of drowning.
My dinghy is rated for 5 people in smooth water. Not for 5 people in open water in a southerly buster. No man would contemplate going out in rough sea conditions in an overloaded dinghy because of fear. We all know you can drown out there.
But come to your average car driver loading his 4x4 for a trip up bush & its another story. Unlike the dinghy, the drivers are not being as diligent to scrutinise the weight distribution. Probably because they are not as afraid of the outcome & when the sh-t hits the fan it was the cars fault anyway.
Vessel failure at sea is another area all together. Everything that goes wrong is the skippers fault.
I think if some of the marine responsibility standards were brought over to the road rules the roads would be a much safer place.

FollowupID: 734978

Follow Up By: Member - Geoff M (VIC) - Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 12:52

Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 12:52

Hi Muntoo,

The springs are Ironman heavy duty. I too believe the chassis steel isn't up to job nowadays. As stated elsewhere in the post, the load carried was well under the GVM and positioned as well as possible.

Cheers, Geoff

FollowupID: 735000

Follow Up By: Robert K3 - Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 15:27

Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 15:27

I would say that there lies 95% of your problem. Why did you need heavy duty springs if you weren't overloaded. Heavy duty springs like that means that far more stresses are put on the chassis as the bumps are not adsorbed by the softer spring rating. It is far better to use standard springs and use top of the line shocks with progressive dampening.

Just look at off road race cars, they have very soft spring rates and then four piston progressive shocks and they practically float across the bumps.

Also have you weighed the truck front and rear just to see what weight you are carrying over the back axle. It would be interesting to see.

FollowupID: 735004

Follow Up By: Member - Geoff M (VIC) - Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 16:27

Saturday, Jul 30, 2011 at 16:27

Thanks for your comments robert. The springs were recommended and installed by Ironman after consultation.
Maybe when I get the chassis fixed I'll re-look at the springs and shocks. Any particular recommendations?

Cheers, Geoff

FollowupID: 735008