Thread: 91 Hi lux wof issue

Originally Posted by cambo

Nothing would have been welded to the chassis from the factory or dealership.
Yes, as has been pointed out, anything like that will be a WoF failure.
It would need a registered/certified engineers and/or structural repairers certificate to say its OK.

Would be far easier to cut off and get the steps altered so the are bolt on.

Ironically using brackets that would be welded to the running boards most likely.!

Originally Posted by No.3

Body on a Toyota Hilux is not monocoque it's body on ladder chassis. The question then is, what are the steps welded too, body or chassis?

Includes, but not limited to, is my reading of that. Eg: Weld a towbar to something and see how you get on

Heating, drilling, welding or cutting the vehicle structure, modifying a roof bow, or modifying any part of the structure would be considered to weaken it

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

Ironically using brackets that would be welded to the running boards most likely.!

It's about the welding to the chassis, not the construction of the running boards

Originally Posted by Tommy

Includes, but not limited to, is my reading of that. Eg: Weld a towbar to something and see how you get on

Yep correct, but if you welded the steps to the tub or deck on a ute WOF man won't bat an eyelid. I don't think the original post specifies what/where they are welded (if they did I missed it). If the WOF guy is concerned that they are welded to the underside of the body - he might run into an issue over interpretation of the 'structural modification' bit, but if they are welded to the chassis or even a factory production bracket then under the new rules it needs to be approved. There are probably a few ways to attack that, but as people have said probably the easiest is avoid it by cutting the steps off and welding a bracket to the step. Then boost some new holes through the chassis and bracket and out with the black paint and the 'mud and cowcrap on a brush' trick... After the chassis has been welded to arguably the problem can't be just removed but the rules don't really reflect reality.

I had a discussion recently with a WOF man over a bracket welded onto the lower radiator support bracket of a 4x4 - he was going down the track of requiring a cert on it as a structural mod. Lower radiator support bracket isn't a structural member on that vehicle (might be on some). He reluctantly conceded the point as two 25mm long brackets to mount an electric cooling fan shroud probably won't affect the crash performance one would think. My read on it is that the WOF men are running quite scared as it would seem that any decision they make that results in an identifiable result from a prang or the like can result in them carrying the lot now.

The main point in my OP is that this vehicle has never failed a wof in 31 years....so why now ?
The owner is workshop/vehicle manager for Nelmac, so I think he knows a bit about cars/trucks etc.
He is just mystified about the apparently sudden change.

I'm picking the WOF agent is covering their butt to be honest. And I don't blame them, the way some of the rules are written and there is comeback on the issuing agent in many cases.

Originally Posted by Tommy

It's about the welding to the chassis, not the construction of the running boards

I know of quite a few heavy trailers whos brackets for the wheel arch covers are welded onto chassis ..mudguards,thats the term I was looking for..and they fly through a COF...arguably harder than a WOF....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I know of quite a few heavy trailers whos brackets for the wheel arch covers are welded onto chassis ..mudguards,thats the term I was looking for..and they fly through a COF...arguably harder than a WOF....

Yup but if it was factory or certified it's fine.
Back in the day I was a good enough welder to do a little of that stuff (with caveats I wont go into here). We wouldnt do anything without engineers support.
That included putting bigger hinge pivots on for tubs (something like 2" diameter with applicable new bosses of over original 1-3/4"). Something like that, plus back chassis frames for ringfeder etc.
Again always with engineers support and from memory laminated chassis were another thing altgether

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I know of quite a few heavy trailers whos brackets for the wheel arch covers are welded onto chassis ..mudguards,thats the term I was looking for..and they fly through a COF...arguably harder than a WOF....

Plus the welds crack and get welded again and again. Still pass thru COF.

Originally Posted by threefootsix

Believe me, the inspector will be quite happy to pass the vehicle once some one has provided a statement that it complies. They really don't care either way, they just have a job to do and a boxes to tick before they can give you your sticker.

Not always the case, I used to have an S15 silvia which had some bucket seats I put in it. Laws are that if the seat is designed for the model of car and bolt in without modification they don't require certification but say for example you take a standard bucket seat and weld it onto the factory mount it would then require certification. The pricks at North city motors failed the WOF saying it required a certification, I printed out the laws regarding it along with the receipts that showed the seat was made for the model of car, I even got a signed message from VTNZ backing up that it was indeed legal but they refused to even look at it. Took it to VTNZ and got the WOF straight away. Never went back to the useless pricks, its one thing to get it wrong......its entirely another to be ignorant to the point where you won't even consider evidence that would suggest you're talking out your ass.

Any work or mods on a wof vehicle is and absolute nightmare, cof much easier as they are used to the system.

My Sr5 ln106 had the factory steps bolted to factory mounts on the body.

I built rock sliders and welded 16mm thick steel drilled and tapped blocks on the chassis to mount them to so the vehicles entire weight could be lifted on them.
This was certified along with many other mods.

Wof guys will be covering there arse as basically any non factory welding on a chassis or body of a wof vehicle needs someone to sign off on and in the top of the south especially there is fuck all wof lvv certifiers and often they only know their specific field of interest .

A while back I put 1200 in the wheelbase and a meter on the arse of a 40 series cruisers chassis for a camper....it already had 80 series driveline.

Local lvv certifier tried to tell me the chassis "must" be cut on a 45 degree angle.
It was basically impossible to achieve that in the space constraints.
I asked WTF we cut and lengthen or shorten vehicles weekly that run over 50 tonne GCM with a square cut and full penitration weld!
He said it says so here in my book and I have to follow the book.
Give me that book I said.
The book said " where practicable the chassis must be cut on a 45 degree angle....bla nla bla"

Key point where practicable....It wasn't practicable so I did 3 square joins each side with doubler/fish plates each side and a couple extra cross members.
All certed all good.
But if hadn't asked the question and actually read his certifiers manual myself the job would have been impossible to do legally.

The screws have been tightened on both cof and wof guys and girls so the default position is to fail anything that might be open to enterpritation.

Its a load of bollocks anyway. I've done all sorts of things to chassis when I was in the trade of fixing bent shit.

Cut them, welded them back together, heated them up red hot and pulled them straight again. All things that you are not supposed to do now, we did back then and there was never an issue.

Mainly hi lux and land cruiser chassis were the worst to work on because they were well put together. Nissans and Holdens not so much.

The modern ones are more susceptible to failure from improper welding or heating as they are lighter/thinner sections with sometimes some quite trick metal alloys being employed. Not the problem for the OP's situation, but caught in the same rules...