frame repair

Date 10-26-2006 21:18

A buddy had me over the other day to see if I would fix his early model 4x4 frame. It had cracked at the rear shock mount. The best plan of action I could come up with was to repair the existing crack, and box in the frame from the inside using beveled 3/8" plate. My experience w/frames was to never weld vertically on them, but that's the extent of it. Is there something more I can do to keep this frame intact?

By bodyman (*)

Date 10-26-2006 23:40

Sourdough, I've been an autobody tech for close to 40 years. From my experience the 3/8 plate is overkill. Get some material similar in thickness of the frame. V out the original crack,put in a nice mig weld and finish grind leaving a slight hump in the weld ( do not grind flat) Put your repair plate on the inside of the frame. Clean the whole area to be welded. Make your plate about 1 1/5 times as long as the frame is wide. Use 4 0r 5 plug welds on each flat and stitch the ends with a 1 to 1/5 in. weld with a 1/5 in. gap. If you weld your frame up to solid like you were proposing to do it will make the frame to strong in the repair area and it will crack again at the welds. They frame has to be able to flex a bit. Bodyman

By Sourdough (****)

Date 10-27-2006 04:50

Right on, so about 3/16" and plug welds. Thanks