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TOTM: Frame Plating

Starboard M

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
WA
Alright, just as the title says, this TOTM will be on Frame Plating.


Show us how you plated the main rails, engine bay, reinforced those shock mounts, spring hangers, shackle boxes, and anything else in between.


What are the benefits of 1/8'' vs 1/4'' vs 10 ga.


When plating the rails, is an L formed piece good, or should a U be used.

Should these pieces be stitched welded or fully welded. Are plug welds needed, and if so how much?




Scrappy, sorry for taking your idea of the TOTM. :shhh: I blame opie.
 
good reading... some of which I agree with, and some I dont, but the ideas here are sound -
Mall Crawlin Unibody Welding Bible


The biggest thing that ive found is making sure the frame is ABSOULTELY clean of all undercoating, zinc, dirt, and other crap...

intend to spend as much or more time grinding and cleaning the frame as you do actually doing cool stuff like cutting out parts and glueing them to other parts.

stp81783.jpg


From the front OEM spring hanger to the rear OEM spring hanger, I run these -
stp81862uw5.jpg


10ga CRS, 3/8" holes - lots of them...

stp81866ib1.jpg


They are semi "L" shaped, and support the vertical part of the frame on the outside, and more or less hold the bottom of my frame from being crushed farther up and in... These have been more than adiquite for the type of wheeling I do. :wierd:

I am a big fan of plug welds and not as big a fan of the stitch weld to the uni-body - the stitch welds cause huge heat effected zones, all right in a line, and after the material about 1/8" away from where the weld is cracks, then your whole added 'structure' didn't do anything...

Where my 3 link mounts, I made some more plates out of 12ga with the plasma, and glued them on with a more than $100 welder...

stp81870.jpg


stp81880.jpg



stp81905.jpg


stp81907.jpg


the piece that mounts to the floor is 10ga, formed down to grab the inside of the frame, and welded to the floor and the plated side of the frame.

mmmm constraining crap in more than one plane... :D


For my front limit straps, I took some 2" x .125 flatstock, welded it to the frame, hammered it to contour to the frame, and welded it some more, then welded a tab to it...
stp82208.jpg


stp82211.jpg




Ive also plated a few points where my traction bar crossmember is welded, and where my flat belly plate mount is welded, but I dont seem to have any pictures of that... but more of the same idea - some 12ga, 10ga, and 1/8" stuff with holes in it, welded to the thin crap, then bigger, importiant things welded to the less thin crap...


As for material, I think that 10ga is more than sufficient where parts will be plated that will regularly see rock contact (I.e. from the front LCA mount to the front leaf spring hanger) and 12ga is probably overkill for anything that wont, unless there is huge localised loading - like the 3 link mount...

I see absoultely NO reason to plate any part of anything with 1/4", and would have a very hard time justifying 3/16" anywhere as a plate material...

Now - My lower control arm mounts should have been made from 1/4" - cuse I bent the 3/16" that I made by dragging them over rocks... - but they are welded to 12ga plating the frame, that hasn't moved at all... :roll:

:shrug: these are just my thoughts... :wave1: Take them for that and nothing more...
 
[SIZE=-1]Plating adds weight fast.
What areas are most in need of plating?
After the more common fixes such as steering box plates, bumpers with side plates and maybe a trac-bar brackets and braces, what is the next place(s ) to worry about?
Maybe an order of precedence?[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
 
Had 3x3x1/8" angle steel been available, it would be welded to my framerails. And 1/8" SBS plates would probably be great for the type of unibody-ing I do.

Some of us are hacks, and material selection is affected by our resources. I don't have a punch, brake, or the best damn press brake operator in the world, so sheetmetal was out. I resorted to 3x3x3/16". I think I got 12' or so, and had little scrap by the time we got my crossmember mounted. Note: My plating is not plug welded at all, unless you count the sleeves for mounting the crossmember. If you have a torch, though, you may as well blow some plug weld holes through. I do not, and Crash was at work all day.
 
Phil said:
If you have a torch, though, you may as well blow some plug weld holes through. I do not, and Crash was at work all day.


Hell, I have a torch and I prefer to use a stepped drill bit and drill press to make holes for my rosette welds. With a good bit and cutting oil I think it takes just as long as firing up the torch and there's no slag to grind off. I do it while there's still mill scale all over so I'll still have to sand it down and hit it with brake cleaner/solvent anyways so that gets all the cutting oil off.

That's the fun thing about fab though, lots of different ways to end up the same place.


Just my experience, I wouldn't suggest using .035 flux core on the unibody anywhere. With my linc 175 on lowest heat and wirefeed settings it still blasted right through immediately. I ran out of mig wire and thought I'd try to finish the job with thicker, hotter fluxcore- nothing doing but making burnthrough to clean up with the right wire later...
 
I'm not getting into the whole unibody plating debate, as some have said, its all good (or crap :D)
But, if you plan on bending your plate, be it with a brake or press, mark out your plug weld holes and drill them first, its easier to handle flat plate (stock) than any U-bends or even angle.

And never underestimate the value of a good plasma cutter..

Rick
 
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