I beams?

[jaybee]

I have access to some material that I'm considering salvaging.  Some of you are familiar with heavy trucks, I'll try to describe it well enough for anyone else to know what I'm talking about as well.  I have access to some steel I-section material that's used for floor crossmembers in semi-trailers.  It's heavier than sheet, lighter than structural I beams, about the thickness of frame steel although I haven't measured it.

Would you grab some of this stuff as available, and what would you use it for?  Would it be suitable for crossmembers and X-members to beef up an automobile frame?  I've also considered a length of it laid across my garage roof trusses, braced on both ends with 4x4's against the floor, with a winch or come along hung from it for lifting.  Sort of a cheap guy's overhead crane.  Any other ideas?  Or just let the scrap man have them?

[enjenjo]

Fabricated I beam 4" high with flanges about  2" wide. 4 1/4" high if from a Freuhaf trailer. Never heard of it.

I have used it for crossmembers when building trailers. I would not trust it for lifting engines unless the span was real short. What you could do, weld pieces of it together end to end, and screw to the ceiling joists every couple ft. that would spread the load over the whole ceiling. FWIW I lift engines on a 10" junior I beam with a span of 18 ft.

[jaybee]

Yup, that's the stuff.  That's how I was thinking to use it, too, spreading the weight across multiple trusses as opposed to trying to use it for a clear span A frame or something of that nature.

What about crossmembers or X bracing in a car frame?  I suspect it would lack a lot of torsional rigidity, adding too much weight for the strength.

[enjenjo]

Yup, that's the stuff.  That's how I was thinking to use it, too, spreading the weight across multiple trusses as opposed to trying to use it for a clear span A frame or something of that nature.

What about crossmembers or X bracing in a car frame?  I suspect it would lack a lot of torsional rigidity, adding too much weight for the strength.

It would work good for an X member, not so good for a crossmember. It has about the same bending strength as 2x3 tubing, but not as much torsional strength.

[jaybee]

I have the stuff home now, it's 2"x4"x.125".

[enjenjo]

What you could do, is box one side of it, and use it for frame rails. "Step" boxed, but from the outside.

[jaybee]

Good idea, thanks.  It would actually look really good for that sort of thing.