Technical no frame? build my own model a

Looks good, keep goin!!

 

Killer!!! I'm in!

 

Nice work. I do these a lot. For me, I like to use TCI front horn stampings when I can get them. Saves a load of time and they are beautiful repops of the originals.

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the encouragement!!

Paul, nice job on yours it came out really nice.

Koz, I did look at them and thought about it but for the price I figured I'll have about that much in my entire perimeter frame in all the metal. So I figured since I'm building it for myself time wasn't an issue and cheap. I'd use the extra money I saved from building my own horns to spend elsewhere. But I agree they are nice.

Again I do appreciate the encouragement and feedback.

 

Ok, moving along slowly. It's been one of those weeks. Blew the head gasket in my 02 ram pick up so that's diverted funds from the A to my daily driver.

Anyway I have the layout cuts transferred to the frame rails and the width measurements needed on the rails to complete the cuts and bends.

My idea is to lay the pattern out on the shop floor and bend rails to match.

I will take a chalk box and make a center line, measure off it, so I will have a big, actual size drawing on the floor of the frame and bend my rails to match.

Soooo hopefully by tomorrow night I will have rails bent to contour, welded and dressed. Then it will be ready for front and rear cross members.

 

P

 

Ahhh another step done. Got the rails cut and bent to my measurements so first rail one and then both!

Now I can set up my pattern and fit and weld rails.

 

More progress, this time back to the rear cross member. It's now cut and ready to weld.

I decided I wanted to get the rear cross member done before moving forward on the frame rails. I have the width set on the front cross member so this way I can set the rails on the floor pattern, use the front and rear cross members to set widths on the front and rear widths of the rails.

Btw, you'll notice I notched the pieces instead of angle cuts and straight welds on the rear cross member. Just my personal preference but I'm looking at possibly running rear coil over shocks and that would put the weight and possible frame twist under hard acceleration right thru the rear cross member. I don't like straight welds thru any piece that may twist. It's a good place to start a weld fracture. By offsetting the cuts and welds I don't have a straight line for fractures to start. Again a preference.

 

I like that. A lot more work, but worth it. Well done!

 

very nice work. I would like to build a frame some day

 

Running slow the last week or so. But the rear cross member is welded and I finally got my frame pattern transferred to the floor. Once I had the pattern drawn I double checked the floor drawing for length and square. It turns out it's out 3/16" over a 114" measurement. So I'll live with that and make adjustments on the frame as I lay it out.

One thing I found out is that I don't have enough cable on my Mig to reach the pattern! So an extension cord is the next thing for the welder.

Also in order to try and keep the rails straight I will get the bends where I want them, put a nice 1/2" or so tack weld on the inside of the bend cuts right in the middle of the 4" side. Once I have all the welds tacked and happy I will then stack them back to back on top each other and clamp them together. This will allow me to compare the contours of both rails against each other and should help hold both rails straight to each other to allow the finish welding.

I could have this all done in a week at work but my goal is to do it in a way that most car guys have access to, a welder, a grinder, a cutting torch.

 

very nice workmanship!

 

Alright! Got my extension cord for my welder and half of the kids and family events done, so got a chance to work on my frame. The side rails are now welded! I'll dress the welds out then I will start fitting the front and rear cross members. Plan at this point is once the rear cross member is placed I will do the taper on the rear of the rails. Also I'm cutting the length of the original taper in about half. This way the mounting brackets of the triangulated 4 link will all fall onto a 4" rail to add alittle extra strength to them.

Once the taper is cut I'll lay the rails down on the floor pattern again, square it up and weld the rear cross member in place. Doing the rear first for a couple reasons. 1: since I'm not using our frame equipment at work or a jig I need to keep the rails square and somewhat rigid for step two, 2: it will locate and hold the rear of the frame so I can concentrate on the front cross member. I will level and block the frame up on the floor setting the rake in the frame I'm after then when I start the front cross member I will add the caster angle I want into it taking into account the frame rake.

 

I thought I'd add just a post on the tricks I used to make this job easier.

On the horns, as showed above. I built 2 patterns, a cutting pattern and a fit pattern. Both having locating points in the exact same location. Those locating holes were transferred to the 2x4 tube to allow the exact placement of the patterns over and over again as I cut fit and welded the horns.

On the side rails, once the horns were done, I stood them side by side matching the tip of the horns together. Since I had drawn a frame pattern out on paper I knew where my cuts would be for the side offsets, I measured back from my horns and with a square I drew a line across the tops of both rails at the same time in the exact same places and moved back and drew the other lines. This is where my cuts would be in order the flair the rails.

Another trick I used and this is a great tip, while I had the rails side by side and the marks for my flair cuts marked, I just picked 2 spots on each of the 3 sections of the frame, front, middle and rear. With the square against the side of the rails I ran lines across the top of the rails, measured center and put a center punch Mark. This gave me points to measure to that I could use over and over again. This works perfectly for trueing and squaring the frame. In the pic below I placed quarters on top of the center punch marks on one rail to let you see their placement. Also with them on top you will never see them once the body is on it.

Another rail trick, again no jig, no frame machine so I had to come up with a way to keep the rails straight. So once I had the rails bent to pattern and squared I put a half inch or so weld in the middle of the side rails to hold the flair in place. Once that was done I removed all the clamps and laid the rails back to back on top of each other to check that both rails matched on the curves. In fact the other pic below is not one rail but both, one on top of the other and as you can see they matched! Now once I knew they matched I clamped them together back to back, this kept them straight so that could finish welding them and hold them straight at the same time. So basically I used them as their own jigs. Again you can see in the pic below.

Any questions just ask!

 

Real good tips. It's like getting an advanced degree in frame building on the HAMB

 

Looks great, good planning, nice layout and real nice welding. Should be sweet when it's done, I also made my own. Keep up the great work.

 

Nice job johnnymac !

I got alittle more done. Got the front cross member trimmed out. It fits nice. Laid out the rails back to the pattern on the floor to check fit and measurements of frame with cross members in place.

Then I laid the floor structure I built to channel the body to see how well it fit my frame and so far so good! Later tonite I'll design my rear cross member braces and hopefully get them cut out this week. I'm about 2 weeks behind where I wanted to be but I'm moving albeit slowly.

 

Got a little more done today. Yesterday was the grandsons first birthday so priorities!

Started at the front and boxed in the front of the rails where I cut open the horns under the front cross member. From there I moved back and pretty much finished grinding welds. On the tail feathers I laid out the angle of the rear rails at a 12" long angle but it looked too short so I moved it out to 16". It looked better so I cut the angles.

I plan on running 20" to 24" 4 link triangulated bars so I still have room for a solid 4" frame rail at the frame mounts of the 4 link bars. This week I'll cut the bottoms off of the rail pieces to weld back onto the bottom of the rail angles.

Hopefully once that's done I can start welding in the cross members. I made patterns for the tail feathers and rear cross member but since I changed the length of the angle that pattern won't work anymore so back to making a new one.

 

Another weekend and alittle more progress.

Ok I got the tail feathers boxed in, welded and ground. Then I set the rails back on the floor pattern and squared it all up, again. Then started setting my rear cross member. As you can see in pics I set the xmember 1" higher than the side rails. Notice I used a piece of strap to box in the end of the rails and to set height of the rear xmember. Now the rear xmember is tacked in place and a new pattern made. In the pic you can see my pattern and how I plan to box in the rear xmember to rails.

Depending on the weather as my shop isn't heated and I'm getting old, next weekend I will show you how to level and square the frame with no jig or table easily. Then I will begin welding and boxing the xmembers in permanently.

This has been quite a bit of work without using the tools from work BUT it's worth it if it helps people to see it can be done with minimal tools and helps to inspire others to not give up. BUT above all I stress that it be built safely and strong, this is the foundation to a vehicle that may be carrying your family or coming down the road towards mine.

 

Looking good!

 

Real nice work you put out.

 

Thanks guys I really do appreciate the kind words.

 

And we appreciate you doing the thread showing how you build your frame! I doubt that I will ever build a frame, but I'm always up for an education on how to do it!

 

A flat, non Z'ed A frame takes all of two days, once matl's and dimensions are in hand. More complex, then just keep your angles and weld distortion under control.

 

Ok while the hamb was down I decided to work on my frame

In this installment I'll show you how I squared and leveled the frame for welding.

I put the frame on saw horses, one at front and one at the rear. I then clamped the front xmember in place and measured it's position front the horn tips. Once I had the front xmember located it was time to square it. Remember those little center punch spots I put along the rails way back? Now they come into play.
I measured the frame diagonally from those center punch marks until I had it square. Then measuring diagonally from the center spring hole in the front xmember back to the center punch marks down the side rails to make sure that those measurements agreed too. I ended up with a 1/16" in 117" something I can live with.

Now it was time to level but how? Simple, a couple yard sticks. A 36" and a 48" dry way straight edge. Place the 36" on top the frame above the center of the front xmember and the 48" on the very rear against the rear xmember. Now just squat down and look across them, are they flat with each other? If not put a small spacer under the front low side rail between the frame rail and saw horses, check flat again and add shims as required to make it flat. It took one 1/8" shim under the right front corner and the rails where flat. Once your level and flat recheck square, you may have to adjust accordingly then recheck level.

Once your happy you can start tack welding. Keep checking the square and level as you weld!

Now you see how helpful and easy those little center punch spots can be

 

Next I started welding the rear xmember solid. I had made my side plates this last week and had them ready to go.

I built the plates out of 1/8" x6" strap. Now a disclaimer, if I had placed more than an inch between the side rails and the rear xmember I would have went with 3/16" plate but as it's only an inch AND the way I welded it together 1/8" is plenty stout enough.

I also could have easily used some 2x3 rec tube and just cut triangular sections and used it to bridge the top of the rails and rear xmember BUT I'm after ultimate strength and safety! So by using plates it allowed me to weld the inside of the plates as you can see in the pic. This gives me superior strength to my joints, again safety and strength. Now that those are welded they are ready to cap, again this way is more work but safer.

So hopefully today I will get the rest welded up!!

 

Ok got the frame welded up on the top side. Front and rear xmembers are now solid. The rear steps are boxed in now and rough ground. It's now ready to flip over and weld the bottom! It's solid!

Again I double checked the square and level and all is good. Now I'll wait until the son shows up and flip and weld the bottom.

Also remember I'm building a driver so be gentle on my finish work.

So now I have a basic perimeter frame that's level, flat and square and all done on a garage floor with no jigs, no tables. I figure if Egyptians can build a pyramid with a bowl of water for a level I could build a frame with a grinder and welder

 

Nice work !

 

Ok about 90% done welding! Welded top and bottom. Front xmember is fully welded in. I need to pick up some sand paper rolls to smooth out the welds in the corners. Got the fake rivets mounted and welded in. I posted a pic to show you where I was going. Now once the radiator is in the front xmember will still appear factory and riveted in. The rivets are welded solid on the bottom and dressed smooth on the horns.

The rear xmember is 90% welded in. Top is done but I need to find about 5" to 6" of 3" round tube to enclose the rear lower arc of the support boxes of the rear xmember. Then once that's done I'm off to installing the front axle and welding on the front 4 bar brackets.

 

Another day and a little more progress.

Got the rear xmember boxed in on the bottom curve. Have most of it ground and finished out. Got tired so I just stopped for the day.

Got the front axle in and positioned. With the frame flat and with the way I did the front xmember, the xmember is sitting at almost 7° caster so I rolled the axle to 10° with just hand pressure. Positioned the 4 bar brackets, tacked one side then measured the distance from the front horn to the bracket, transferred the measurement to the other side, tacked it in place, reinstalled the 4 bars again showing 10° caster. So to check and double check I measured from king pin hole on axle to center punch marks on the frame and I came up with 1/32" difference side to side in 84" measurement. Close enough, finished tacking brackets so they can't move.

With some rake on the car my caster should be well within the ball park.