That's better.
Now, I have heard bad things about this chassis from a certain highly regarded poster here from the south east Melbourne region, but same fellow was doing cut and shut jobs on them for their width, the same reason I want to use this. What will I do with the 19" cutting disc in good condition with near new blades? Besides, fitting it to an 18" base seems a backward step.

I have started grinding the rust and treating with phosphoric acid on the left side and it looks promising and I will be removing the handles anyway, so well check the condition of the metal underneath that you mentioned.

Thanks for the info on the stress test.

Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!