Frame reinforcements

[Brother Al]

Hey Mars! Saw your site name and wondered... Yep, just dont visit as often as I should, especially since Im a Moderator LOL. But Im still in contact with Rich, Dan, Kymmee, Bethany, Simo, and several others.

 

[Jerrylee]

My son hit the rear end (bed) of a older Dodge Dakota, when a little old lady turned in front of him, she was doing 35 or so, my son was doing 70... My 1980 Chevy 3/4 ton truck... The frame folded up like cardboard.. Insurance totaled it. If they had not, I had already planned to x-brace the frame. Put spreader bars in front and behind the x-bar... It did not do a lot of damage to the Dodge.

Chevy had some bad frame cracking, some at the steering box and other parts of the frame too.

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My Chevy Luv has a better frame... It is a fully boxed frame.

Bracing will help... Just DO NOT WELD DOWN THE FRAME. Only weld at the top and bottom of the C channel on the ends of the brace.If it will make you feel better use u-channel as the brace.

When we stretched the frame on a semi-truck, we had special frame channel inserts made for the inside of the frame. Plate on the outside. AND many large bolts through all of that... we bought a horizontal drill that could be adjusted up and down that you would chain over the frame..the drill was cranked into the frame. the inside channel was stitched welded across the top and bottom to the outside lip of the frame... We used to do that with a big drill and a chain with the drill being forced into the frame by pushing the drill straight to the frame from a angle...That did not last too long on the big trucks.

I was the shop foreman where we did oilfield truck and trailer rigging.

I am overstating this point.. But it is just a FYI about what not to do, and what worked for us...
We did one ton Cab and chassis too. You can do those with out the fancy drill.

Where did you get the frame plates for the 88-98 chevy frame that pictured

 

[884x4310ci]

I use 2 inch washers for body mount repairs. They work great. Your body mount fits right in. And you can weld it to the frame. For a great repair.

 

[Moparmat2000]

Fully boxing the frame in is a great idea. Just remember to pop some drain holes in the bottom at the low points in the frame to allow moisture out. Id say at minimum 3/4" diameter. Easy to do with a unibit.

 

[Trenton Sauer]

Is it even worth boxing in a frame? or does that make it to stiff. a fram needs to naturally flex like said previously said in this post. So where do you hit the point of making a frame to stiff?

 

[Moparmat2000]

I would imagine on a lowered street truck with a performance suspension made to handle like a car no flex is best, on a 4x4 you may want the opposite and keep some flex built in.