Westfield problem

[paulos45]

Hi,

I need some advice. I own a 2007 wide bodied duratec Westfield. Bought it towards the end of last year. A few weeks ago, got back from a run and noticed the rear number plate assembly was loose. Underneath the car there are two lugs that support this assembly. Both had sheered off. Spoke to Westfield who weren't able to help because they're not allowed to supply replacement parts that need welding. But they did suggest that some people who've experienced this type of problem rectify it by welding a couple of tubes on the rear frame and pushing the two steel rods through these. I have had this done twice because on both times they've sheered off . The spare wheel is attached to the rear of the car and is fairly heavy, so there is a degree of flex in the body shell when going over bumps so I'm assuming the load created is too much for the original lugs and my replacements. But why is this happening, can anyone help with identifying why and a decent fix.

Thanks for any help....

Paul.

[Westyman]

dump the spare wheel, carrier & number plate holder assembly - pointless weight & bulk. attach a plate directly to the rear of the car and carry a can of emergency tyre inflator. job done.

[Steffan]

Westyman said:

dump the spare wheel, carrier & number plate holder assembly - pointless weight & bulk. attach a plate directly to the rear of the car and carry a can of emergency tyre inflator. job done.

I must agree I have relied on emergency tyre inflators for many years in all my cars which includes 10 kit cars including several Sevenesque shapes. In 50 years of driving I have yet to be stranded with a flat tyre. I have had many punctures over the years but never one that a inflator could nor recover sufficiently to get to a garage. Given the significant weight penalty on what is a lightweight performance car particularly so. But that is of course, up to the OP.

If the OP wants to continue with the wheel I suggest a trip to a local kit car establishment who I would expect will be able to examine the weakness and suggest improvements in structural rigidity in that area. Welding adquately should a platform strong enough to retain that weight.

[CorseChris]

A much earlier car, but we used to carry a spare on the back of ours. Did so for many years & miles with no bother, so I suspect there may be something not quite right with the setup that is causing this, rather than a fundamental weakness. During a refurb a couple of years back I did away with the spare, but purely for cosmetic & cost reasons. I also changed the wheels during the refurb and bought a set of 4, not 5.

Things to check:

The rear of the body should be attached to the rearmost chassis rail at the very back, where the tub returns back under the chassis. On our car, there are a couple of short lengths of box added below the main chassis cross tube to space down to meet the body. The tub itself then rivets to these tubes. I used 4 large head rivets each side for this. These are under a fair bit of load and if they are missing or failed, you may have to gently jack the tub up to meet these bits of box. If you do, do it gradually over a few days, preferably in warm conditions so the glass can move slowly. If these fixings are weak, broken or simply missing, then the rear of the tub will be bouncing up & down on those brackets you mention and could be the cause of the problem.

How is the spare attached to the tub? I made up a large backing plate with captive nuts that sat inside the tub and spread the load frmo a couple of long studs I made up using all-thread to bolt the wheel to the back. This meant that a fair bit of the load was carried by the tub, not the numberplate/spare carrier.

HTH

[Stwdv]

Why don't you make some u shaped brackets and bolt thro the chassis rail instead of welding ?

[spaximus]

The Westfield spare wheel is fixed in two places, one is through the bottom brackets fixed to the chassis, the other is by a steel tube that is fixed in the fiberglass on the tub, The spare wheel sits on the bottom bracket and then the wheel is bolted to the plate through the fiberglass. That way the weight is spread.

The brackets that have sheard off are actually mountings of commercial mirrors and are easy to buy.

I have in my garage a mounting kit that I never used on my car which has both parts.

[Tempest_5]

I had the same problem on mine when I let the spare wheel rest on it too much. As a repair I extended the tube so I could secure it at the original mounting points and on the chassis rail the other side of the fuel tank. This is a 1992 SE. I welded some right angle brackets onto the tube & bolted through the bracket & chassis rails. Be careful not to crush the rails. You may want to insert a spacer to prevent this. I fabricated a frame that fits between the tank & fibre glass body to take the weight of the spare thus leaving the number plate support merely supporting the number plate something I should have done to start with.

[Formy]

I have had the same problem with mine, although when the brackets failed they left a hole in the chassis.

Just requested replacements from Westfield and apparently they cannot supply the brackets and advised me to contact Locost!!!

Is it just me or has Westfield hiked the prices of their parts and reduced there Customer Service in the last couple of years?