SORRY FOR THE RESURRECTION....BUT.... my old Daihatsu Fourtrak was...and in places,still is, in the same boat.
What 'kills' the Fourtrak, are the seatbelt mounting rules.
This is most commonly found on the rear outer sill section. Easily seen, very visible.
Becasue teh tester, essentially, is not allowed to dismantle interior trim, or move carpets, other rot [which essentially in a Fourtrak is irrelvant..they ain't posh like Rangerovers]....will go un-noticed, unless the levels of underseal underneath are seriously reduced. [It is a recommendation amongst those who use Fourtraks properly...ie, don't actually 'play' with them....to underseal, and keep on undersealing, the floor...and to drill and spread any 'box' sections with oily greasy substances.]
The rear seat mounts actually have an in/outrigger for support.
Of course, a major area of laciness lies underneath the plastic rear wheelarch extensions......out of sight....
Holes will be found by lifting the floorcoverings from around the rear seatbelt mounts.....whilst this probably doesn't weaken the mounts at all...there are actally several 'skins' of metal in this area....and the thicker ones are inside the rear wheelarches, actually visible to the tester...the mounting bolt protrudes into the wheelarch...but if the carpet is removed, the corroded , very thin,metal will generate a fail.
The front seatbelt mounts are attached to an immensely strong 'roll cage'.....behind the doors....placed there to do exactly that. [The LWB Fourtraks, with the plastic rear body top, also has a rear roll cage too]....but exposed corrosion on the floorpan [very thin metal..probably thinner than 20 gauge]....will raise a fail....despite the fact the examiner knows the floorpan isn't a structural element of the vehicle.
If the owner is lucky, they will still have the excellent Daihatsu floormats...rubbery trays, to be exact...these are stronger than the original steel floorpan, easily cleaned, but hard for a tester to remove. If one's floor is holey, the rubber trays will stop one's delicate feet decending to the road below.
Of course, I would never recommend passengers to wear ballet shoes in the back.
[If one still has the original Daihatsu jack, keep it, it is a marvellous piece of kit]
The only real issue with the huge chassis, as such, is the tubular crossmember, just in front of the rear axle.
This merely carries the brackets for the links which prevent the axle twisting under load. [don't dump the clutch, and it won't twist].
However, for some reason, Daihatsu attached it to the chassis side members via a large hole, either side.
The crossmember has a U-bend in the centre, to provide clearance for the rear prop shaft....so, fills with mud, which then dries out, rotting the X member away at either end. Itt can be seen from under each rear wheelarch....needs a good reaming out regularly...if a power hose shoved in one end, doesn't produce a jet of water at the other , the X member is blocked...and hard to clean out. Farmers tended to ignore it altogether..[in fact, mine is an ex-farmers...and when I got it, the entire chassis was invisible........].....a valid repair for this crossmember involves replacing with rectangular tube, right across the chassis.....easier to weld brackets to. If NOT intending to tow stuff, leave it as a straight tube...easy. If intending to tow, then weld another tube along the top.....and cut out the middle of the lower tube. Cap all open ends, drill & fill with oil, leave parked over a drip tray for a week or so.
I have just welded in a square metre or so of 16 gauge to the rear floor......once I started digging, I couldn't stop! I've just had a local expert in these vehicles weld me in a new cross member.
Mechanically, the Fourtak is just a small lorry, which is what they all should be. Big, simple engine that runs on anything that might go bang....probably good for half a million miles....transmission is robust...just DON'T leave it in 4wd on grippy ground/tarmac...otherwise it'll break most quickly.
It is more comfortable to drive than a Landrover, especially for the taller person....it is equally as economical, but the one thing the Fourtrak can do, over and above any other vehicle that can be driven on a Cat B licence...anywhere.....is tow......3.5 tonnes!
That is the manufacturer's figure, on the plate under the bonnet.
The brakes reflect that, being far too big for a vehicle of that size....
Daihatsu Fourtrak..the farmer's friend...a workhorse, for go, not show.
Love it.
Edited by alastairq on 03/04/2015 at 19:17
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