More chassis cracks.

[garrytre]

I don't know if I got the car that was made out of a billet of cheap steel.

One could try to make a case for "I must have treated it roughly" but the bumpy roads I take it over, and the speeds, and the loading, are commensurate with lots of Toyota Prados & Hiluxes, and Ford 4WD utes, and Nissan 4WD's, and Tritons. So I doubt my rough treatment. And a 2" lift? Every second 4WD has a 2" lift, so I doubt that's it. Hmm, don't know

The LHS suspension hanger broke off from the chassis rail as I was going up a flat suburban bitumen road. Just before xmas. We waited more than a month for the insurance to say it wasn't covered (no surprise, but worth a try). Then ordered parts from Isuzu, all turned up OK except one that needed to come from overseas, so the Isuzu guy didn't order it. (!!) Anyway, now, big $$$ are flying around the chassis shop.

Big decision / big gamble, sell it for parts, or spend $10,000 to regain my $20,000 car with my kit already set up, and hope nothing else happens. Offloading it to some other poor bastard isn't an option.

So If it all goes well, I've got my specially kitted out $20,000 car, and if it doesn't, I've got ??$5,000 of parts.

And covering all bases, I'm looking at a Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series, which is a big step up, and unavailable, but hopefully wouldn't break.

Pix below.
oops, turns out that I can only get 3 pix on here, so the rest are in a 'reply'

[garrytre]

oops, looks like max 3 images. Here's the rest.

[Mike C]

This comes down to whether replacing the suspension hangers will fix the problem permanently. Would there be any way of reinforcing the cracked area with a plate ? I've done this on My old Triumph TR6 chassis rails- they're notorious for cracking near the diff hangers.

I'd also drill a 6mm hole right at the tip of that fatigue crack in the last photo to stop it propagating.

The other question I'd consider is how much I wanted to keep the car.

[mydmax]

Gary
The hangers should be able to be ground out and welded and then plated to provide additional strength. The shock tower mount can be welded ok but possibly add a gusset plate originating from the centreline of the inner chassis face and up to the towers inner side face. That is what I would do. With regard to the panel crack, are your front or centre body mounts still ok? or squashed/sagged and stressing the panel by not supporting the bodywork properly. Fairly common. It isn't fatigue, but panel stretch opening the gap at a weak hole. Mig weld it and then plate the area. Drilling a hole isn't going to hold the forces involved IMO.

[garrytre]

Funny thing.
I hadn't seen anything like mine on this forum, but a colleague here (outback SA) has had exactly the same thing happen to his 2018 D-Max, same side, same hanger. Lucky for him he argued the point with his insurance company- a clause about 'sudden unexpected failure'. I'll bet they're deleting that one now.
But anyway, what's the chances his & mine are the only ones? Why haven't we heard of it before?

[brian.bozo]

Hi garrytre

check out a Youtuber channel "Wild Touring". His Dmax developed cracks and provided some information. It's been ages since I saw the episode, so the content may not be relevant to your situation.
Cheers
Brian

[garrytre]

will do, ta

[mydmax]

This is just an observation.
There has been some rear axle crack failures near spring seats. This. thread deals with the bracket and chassis cracks. Possibly the welding is partly to blame and not necessarily the metal quality. From what I have seen, there is often welding on vehicles which has been performed automatically/robot and the edges become undercut into the Parent metal which localises any stresses imposed on the weld site. A lot the time there is no smooth filleting of one component to another so maximum life and performance is realised.