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I just wanna put some L or C channel under there to brace the unibody, but I've heard that the best way to weld it on is to sleeve the frame (drill a hole and run a support through the middle). That's more what I was thinking of.
beez give us some #s how much labor are we talking about for the 100000000 lb press brake you are pretty knowladgable about these kind of stuff no? lets say you found a place that WOULD actually do some labor for a average joe, how much labor are we talking about?
I just wanna put some L or C channel under there to brace the unibody, but I've heard that the best way to weld it on is to sleeve the frame (drill a hole and run a support through the middle). That's more what I was thinking of.
I just used 3x3x3/16ths angle iron inbetween the LCA and rear spring mounts. Fairly easy to do and seemed to stiffen things up a bit and gave me a good longarm foundation.
When I installed sleeves through the frame, I drilled one side large enough for the sleeve to be inserted into the frame rail. THe other side was only drilled large enough for the bolt that passes through the sleeve. Once the sleeve is slipped in, I welded it to the frame on the side where it passed through. I then ground down the weld till the side of the frame rail was smooth. I installed three or four of these frame rail sleeves in this manner and then bolted a piece of 3x4x3x.25 C shaped piece to the frame rail through the sleeves. I also put bolts through the steel into the factory weldnuts where the crossmember goes as well as a bolt hole further back. I took a piece of 4x6x.25 rectangular tubing and ripped it in half with a plasma torch to make the two 3x4x3 rails. I also cut, bent, and welded the rail to follow the change in level of the stock frame rail. Jeff
I'm assuming that you need to grind that undercoating stuff off the "frame rails" before you can weld to them, but how do you keep them from rusting after the metal is welded on? Since water is going to get in somehow even if you lay a bunch of beads down.
Precisely why I only welded on the sleeves and then bolted the channel on. I painted the small weld area with cold galv and plan to take the channels off and send them to a hot dip galv place. Rust is a KILLER here in northern WI and I haven't found ANYTHING that will hold up to the constant submersion is salty slop that we have all winter. I'm hoping that getting the rails galvanized along with only a few small welded areas on the frame will minimize the rust. I also cut holes in the rails where there are holes in the uniframe to let out any moisture that does get in. Also, I believe the stock uniframe is galvanized at the factory, so by leaving most of it untouched, hopefully the rust issue will not be too bad. Jeff