Truck from hell

[enjenjo]

A second piece of tubing is welded to the first, angled to go from 4" at the front, to 6" at the rear where it meets the original frame. It also changes from 29" inside to 29 1/2" inside to match the frame. this is the inside of the frame in this view.

[enjenjo]

This it where the new frame section will be cut to match the old frame. The outside width goes from 37" at the subframe to 34" at the truck frame.The piece laying on top was butt welded in place to make it wide enough.

[enjenjo]

After cutting and welding both the top and bottom, this is what you end up with. I still have to fabricate the ouside of the frame extension. now the frame goes from 4" wide, by 4" high at the subframe, to 2" wide by 6" high at the truck frame. Later a second boxing plate will be added to all four sides, so this will be plenty strong.

[enjenjo]

In addition to the above work today, I also trimed the truck frame square, and straightened out the bends that were in it. I also took a close up picture of the steering column mount.

I spent about an hour making up nut plates and cages for the left side upper hinge to body bolts.

[Danimal]

Frank, this is one heck of a tutorial.

This should be titled, DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

[Fat Cat]

Frank, this is one heck of a tutorial.

This should be titled, DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

No it should be "Don't do it unless you have a clue as to what your doing". Every time I go over there I just shake my head and hang it in disgust. I can not believe that someone would charge actual money for work like that.

[Normspeed]

Enjenjo,  If you're ever passing through Southern New Mexico, stop by for a visit.  Oh, and bring your welder along  

[enjenjo]

For the next step, I had to make the outside of the rail. I made a card stock template, and transferred it to steel. I also punched holes to plug weld the plate to the inner plates installed before.

[enjenjo]

Before I welded it on, I trued up the edge of the rail, by clamping a piece of angle to the rail, and grinding it to the angle, makes a nice straight edge.

[enjenjo]

The piece is fitted with a slight gap, about 1/16" between the top and the side. Set up this way, the weld penetrates completely, so there is no need to weld from the inside, and even when ground flush, there is plenty of weld

[enjenjo]

Welded, ready to grind. This gets a fishplate welded over the whole area, so must be ground flush for a tight fit. The bottom is not fully welded yet, I cheated, and flipped the clip upside down to finish weld it.

[enjenjo]

This is the joiner plate to connect the original frame to the clip. It is bolted through the frame to the body mount, plug welded, and edge welded at the back. that's all for today.

[Fuzzy]

Lookin' good Frank!It's not fun fixing somebody elses screw-ups,but when you are done,you and the customer can be assured it is as strong as it can be.Nice job );b.

Fuzz

[wayne petty]

just curious....   and just for fun....

take the scrap of diamond plate and stick on magnet on it... and stick it back on the frame where is used to live.... when the owner stops by ... its there.. he looks at it...   you look at it... and say.. what the heck is that doing there... and peal it off... leaving your quality work behind...

again.. just a thought....

wayne...

[enjenjo]

just curious....   and just for fun....

take the scrap of diamond plate and stick on magnet on it... and stick it back on the frame where is used to live.... when the owner stops by ... its there.. he looks at it...   you look at it... and say.. what the heck is that doing there... and peal it off... leaving your quality work behind...

again.. just a thought....

wayne...

Too late Wayne, the diamond plate was cut into many small pieces to get it off the parts I wanted to save without too much damage.

I did not have much time to work on it yesterday, but I did get the clip tacked back on the frame. It looks much better now.