Broken MX83 cradle

[TIMTAMS]

I just bought a MX83 with a 1j and a R154 etc etc and i am pretty hard on it.i just had it on a hoist today and its cracked the cradle around the diff and seemed to have pulled the front bolt enough to dislodge the thread on the other side hence i cant remove it as the whole lot spins. Its also pulled the near side rear bush half out and the diff has twisted a little.

If there is any advice (useful or at least amusing!) anyone can give on to the best way to repair/strengthen this setup it would be greatly appreciated.

[takai]

Once you get it all out you can fairly easily weld steel washers around the holes. There was also a conversion that someone else did to bigger bushings.

[andrew_mx83]

5mm thick flange, seam & plug welded to the x-member and a 10mm sleave through to the diff with a nolethane bush. I don't see that breaking again!!





but there was a fair bit of machining involved in that plate

[1jz68u]

yeah its common, i even had a 7m cressy the cradle was cracked a little when i put the 1j in, then destroyed after i put it in.

i believe pulling it out and welding a plate is the best fix.

i think i remember shane (1JZ747) saying that he solid mounted his when it cracked.

[1jz68u]

holy double posts batman....

[TIMTAMS]

Awsome thankyou guys, pretty much what i had in mind as the factory mounts are obviously very weak.

Andrew appreciate the pics mate fantastic. The washer on the rear does that bolt up hard against the cradle and the nolothene bush is a sleeve?

[amichie]

seemed to have pulled the front bolt enough to dislodge the thread on the other side hence i cant remove it as the whole lot spins. .

It has a nut on top of the top mount. That is why it spins. You need to get a 19mm spanner in there.

[andrew_mx83]

the washer is just there to stop the bolt pulling thru. the nolethane is just acting as a bush and isolating the diff from the subframe.

btw the original circle that holds the bush broke into 3 pieces and there were another 3 or 4 cracks through the vertical plate around the hole, all from a humble 7m

i would suggest drilling the ends of any cracks that are in that vertical piece if u can get into it but access is a bitch unless u start pulling things apart. that plate was just tig'd in on a hoist with a wet rag over the fuel tank cos i didnt have time to drop the tank or the diff, that bloody plate took hours of machining.

[TIMTAMS]

It has a nut on top of the top mount. That is why it spins. You need to get a 19mm spanner in there.

That explains it.....

I will quite possibly just get another uncracked cradle and reinforce it then just spend a day swapping them over

[Cuzzo]

Maybe thats why it squats so hard and the exhaust grind on the ground!

[TIMTAMS]

HAHA thats prob got something to do with it.

Cuzzo wanna swap cradles? Not like your ever gonna crack yours....

[Cuzzo]

Settle down cradle snatcher.

Mine will need to be re-inforced soon too with the turbos going on. So make sure you remember how to do it.

[petergoudie]

I might be wrong but here's my theory.

I had one crack on me (radiating out from two of the bolt holes) and then I looked around at other cars. I found that the glx did not crack but the grande did. The only difference is the lsd on the grande and my theory is that the glx has a torque limiting function in that it spins a wheel whereas the grande distrubutes more of the torque into the car but eventually cracks the housing.

I once did a google search and found a guy high up on the coast of NSW advertising exchange fixed carriers.

Also, if it was me and I was fixing it myself I would put a larger plate over the outside edges of the carrier and turn it into a box section. I don't want to discourage that person who fitted the 5mm plate but as the carrier design is flawed in the first place I suspect that it will eventually crack again but around the circumference of the 5mm plate. I've seen this happen with similar fixes on other parts of cars.

[1jz68u]

good theory, unfortunately i have had 2 GLX's both with cracked cradles, both before running grande LSD also.

so either i am the exception to the rule or ...........

[PlacentaJuan]

my 2jz grande has run fine for about 3 years with no cracks.

also it gets no traction too so that probably helps a little bit.

also i noticed recently that cradles between series 1 and series 2 cressidas seem to be slightly different with the main bush sizes ie on has a bigger bush (and associated bracketry) than the other. if anyone has more info about this it would be helpful.