As you can see in these pics, the bracket that holds the driver side leaf spring is cracking. What kind of shop would fix something like this? We are taking care of this car, we can’t do the work ourselves. A regular mechanic? A body shop? I’m in Rhode Island. Thanks Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
IMO... any reputable rodder should be able to get it ready [prep it] and have a WELDER come over and nuke it ! might not have had enough bevel ground into the surfaces before, check the back/inside of the xmember... or some guys grind away weld for smooth looks...
Here in Oklahoma there are a lot of mobile pipeline welders all over the place. They are always willing to do a small job like that after hours for extra cash. Would be child’s play for one of those certified welders. Don’t just repair that crack!! Reweld both sides of the spring and both sides of the frame. If this weld broke the others are on their way to cracking. Be safe Bones
It will crack again, eventually; most likely on both sides and both frame rails. I would add some simple triangulated gussets that spread the load up the sides of frame rails from the bottom edge where it is cracked. Safety is paramount.
Look at the thickness of that plate and the thickness of the frame rail, it was designed to crack. Bob
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Thanks for the advice. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hmm. So rewelding may only fix the issue temporarily. Thanks. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
While I not against gussetting it for extra strength, wether it will crack again with out gussets depends where it cracked. If the weld pulled the metal of the tubing out and cracked, yes, you would need more reinforcement. But after cleaning the bondo and paint off and you find the the weld cracked, just putting a proper weld would be ok. Always analyze the failure before doing the repair. Bones
Thanks Bones. I will take it to an experienced welder that work on hot rods or old vehicles. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Look at the gusset on the steering box mount. A simple wedge cut piece of round tube, fully welded. I can't zoom up and crop the picture, but if anyone can, please do.
I agree with Bones and The37Kid. "Always analyze the failure before doing the repair". If you look closely at the start of the crack at the bottom, the fitting was never beveled. Then someone ground away most of the weld in the interest of "appearance" and set the whole thing up to crack. If that is any indication of the welding on the car, every weld is suspect.
Eyeballing that closely after saving and expanding the photo it looks like it ripped the tubing of the frame and it looks like it has been cracked for quite a while. That whole setup is pretty sketchy as all you have holding the front end up is a few welds along the frame that is pretty thin in it;s own right. You for sure need the gussets inside and out that MgtStumpy suggested if not a whole redesign of the mounts.
Looks to me like they used 1/2" material to make the bracket and welded it to a 10 or 11 ga. tube frame. They then proceeded to grind off most of the weld to make it look pretty. The other problem with this front end design is the spring twists when you hit a pothole. The simplest way to fix it would be to clean it up real good and re weld it and then put a doubler plat from the bracket up the side of the frame and weld it to the frame. Notice how the plate spreads the stress over a larger area in the picture of the bones connection.
Closer inspection of all welds relative then go with the better welds and don't grind them down. Consider a panhard rod, right now the limiting point from the axle moving side to side is broken. A panhard bar will stop that. Your spring is doing more than moving up and down as it is now.
You could clean it and weld it up and run u bolts on top of the frame. But a gusset would be the cleanest.
Update: the guy we take the cars too didnt think the crack was anything g to worry about because the way the car is setup, but he would weld it if it made us feel better, so we had him do it. I got some automotive primer from Speedway and then happened to find a Krylon matte finish blue at Lowes that was a dead exact match for the powder coated frame (I assume it’s powder coated). It’s now pretty much invisible from 6 ft away, not up close. Thanks for the advice Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
While I agree the new weld is much better than original, it really would be good to have a doubler plate to help distribute the forces into more of the frame wall and over a longer distance. If you think about the forces, the back end of the weld is in tension (mostly, some shear also) and that is why it cracked in the first place; combined with a poor weld that obviously contributed to the minimal strength. The thin frame wall is still present, whereas a doubler would help to reinforce that area. Too late now unless you want to grind it out and redo the repair. Oh well, there is always the next time if/when it cracks again.
The other side looks fine and the inside part of the bracket are fine as well. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I’m curious if when your cleaned it off if what most of what we saw in the original photo was cracked and popped bondo and paint,not an open tear in the metal.
@Marty Strode Lightened it up and drew over it to make it easier to see After posting this I can see easier ways of cutting it out but it’s the first way that popped into my head so that’s what I drew
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