Marslands or Richards?

[Ray]

Santa slipped me a coupon good for a new chassis for my SIII this past Christmas. Time to cash that in! Am I gonna be $500 happer with the Marslands or should I save those bucks for "refreshments" and a good supply of "timing fluid" at the enevitable frame swap party with a Richards?

[Apis Mellifera]

Richards. If for nothing else than the fact that they chase the threads and debur the holes after the dip. I've also heard they are a little more accurate and Marsland described as a "generic" Series chassis; ie one fits all. Also, when I inquired about shipping, RN quoted $500 for freight on top of the sale price. Unless you're close, that extra cash will have to go toward that.

All Santa brought me was a bag of Hershey's Kisses. Well, actually I also got an infant female human, but it arrived a few days late and thus far isn't house broken.

BTW, if anyone from RN is reading this and will throw in shipping on a Richards chassis, I'll call in the morning and buy one. Seriously.

[jac04]

According to RN, the Marsland chassis is the best they know of and they are assembled on original Land Rover tooling for accuracy:
http://www.roversnorth.com/store/m-129-marslands-chassis.aspx

I believe that there is also some discussion about the Marsland chassis using slightly thicker steel than Richards, but I don't know the facts so you can do your own research.

I used a Marsland chassis on my Lightweight and I was very happy with it. I would rather carefully clean out a little galvanizing from the holes I need to use than have someone more heavy-handed drilling out all the holes. The only holes I had to clean out were the holes at the front of each spring and I had to run a tap through the 2 seatbelt/tub mounting holes at the fron of the rear tub. That's it - About 20 minutes worth of work.

[Ray]

I'd heard that the Marslands were a tad thicker but have not yet been able to get specs to compare. Know of any sources? I understand Richards also come with suspension bushings installed....this point may be a given on the Marslands not worth mentioning. Good thought on the drill/ream tap what you need idea vs. everything....hadn't really thought of it that way. Easy to imagine handful of unused, but drilled spots oxidizing quickly.

[Apis Mellifera]

All I can say is my research is mainly done here:
http://ollr.10.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=11&sid=34e3ebaf5c36e5996644f4e02488bf48

It's an English site for Series trucks and chassis swaps (and the trucks themselves) are much more common there. You'll get a better and more accurate summation there.

[Crash]

I have a Marsland frame. Just starting to install parts on it. So far the holes where the front eye of the spring mountsare located had to be reamed out. A bit of a pain without the right size drill bit.

Mine fits both a IIa and a III so I am a sure there is going to be some areas where the frame can accomodate the differences.

More as I make progress.

C.

[chrismccarthy]

i looked at that website, "Old Leaf Sprung" and a request for a wiring diagram for a IIa was answered with our own http://www.lrfaq.org/Series/FAQ.S.elec.html#SII (http://www.lrfaq.org/Series/FAQ.S.elec.html#SII)
that is great, i'm busting up, those Brits are resourceful...(ought to know, married one...)

[lrdukdog]

Didn't someone either here or G&R say that Marslands is no longer making series frames, just coilers?
Jim Wolf

[jac04]

^^ I was told by RN that Marsland was no longer producing some of the military chassis.

[Ray]

I took a spin around the OLLR forum at Apis' suggestion (thanks BTW, good stuff there too...) and found discussions around Richards, Marslands and a Marsland version available through Paddock. Brits seem to lean to the Richards as the Marslands is more expensive over there. Lots of good intel on the Richards from the motherland.

Marslands website makes no mention of Series Chassis in production...just shows coilers. Richards is all over it. Paddock Spares comes up crickets on whole units.

Great pics showing differences between IIa to III on the OLLR forum here: http://ollr.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=11786&highlight=richards+chassis

So for the metal thickness question Stock 2mm (not counting rust of course), Richards 2.5mm, Marslands 3mm

Guess I'm up for a Richards. Parts run to Westford. Anybody from Maine need anything?

[Leslie]

Didn't someone either here or G&R say that Marslands is no longer making series frames, just coilers?
Jim Wolf

In another thread here: http://www.roversnorth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10324

However, I've recently rec'd an email-flyer from RN, that seemed to imply that Marsland was still making Series chassis...

Is that correct?