Crossmember Fab Question

[PTS]

I Am In Process Of Installing A 2x3 Rear Crossmember To Secure The Panhard Bar Bracket And Shocks. The Question Is Do I Want To Box The Frame Area To To Secure The 2x3 Or Would It Be Better To Weld 3/16" Plate To The Inside Of The Frame To Secure The 2x3. Which Would Be Stronger To Handle The Load Stress?

Thanks,



Pts

[Matt@RFR]

I'd box the frame myself, but I would box the whole thing anyway if I were going that route.

The 3/16" doubler plate will work well too. If you do the doubler plate, don't weld it in solid. I'd probably do 1" welds on all four corners and maybe another weld top and bottom length wise. No sense in putting anymore heat into the frame than is necessary.

With that said, I can't imagine just welding the 3x2 tube onto the bare frame would be less than sufficient. What does the crossmember manufacturer say?

And, so you know, the website software changed your all-caps type because all capitol letters is considered yelling.

[PTS]

Thanks for the reply! The crossmember mfg suggest that I pop the factory rivets out of the pass side and square to the existing crossmember in front. The only drawback is that you are utilizing the factory c-channel which is twisted and fits very poorly on the ends with alot of gap to overcome and also not square vertically to the chassis. I beleive I will use the 3/16" doubler plate and take your advice on where to weld and call it done. I will send a pic to you and let you see what I am trying to do. Thanks again!

PTS

[68LSS1]

Sounds like a HTH kit going in!

[Matt@RFR]

I will send a pic to you and let you see what I am trying to do.

Send away! I'm allways happy to help you guys out anytime I can.

[derekf]

Hey Matt,

If PTS doesn't mind, would you go ahead and post the pic(s)? I'd love to see them as well, and I'm sure others would as well.

[Matt@RFR]

PTS never gave me any pictures. I was thinking he'd post them here anyway.

[PTS]

Hello!

I will post the pics after I finish mocking up the rear alluminum fuel cell. I will trim the 3/16" doubler plates to fit and tack the 2x3 crossmember in place and let you see what it is I am doing. LSS1 is right that I am also installing this in a 71 Chevy truck frame.

[68LSS1]

PTS is installing a HTH truck arm improvement kit in a '67-'72 Chevy truck. I recently did mine. In our application we have to remove the factory rivets on a rear crossmember and square it to the frame because in it's original position it angles towards the passenger side. The reason it needs to be squared is we weld the kit crossmember that wil allow us to adjust the heigth of the panhard rod to this one. I had some slop also so I shimmed between the top of the bottom C part of the frame and the original crossmember. In this picture you can't see the original crossmember as it's directly abouve the longer triangular shaped crossmember.