Front Frame Rail Replacement And Crossmember Repair... And Ford Steering Box Install

I see the chamfer on those radius. Fill, grind flat. perfect. real nice.

 

Well this is awesome! Great well hopefully my PTO shaft will shoot through the Dom I just put in my cross member. All I have to do now is source the ford box, move the shock mount, cut the fender, new drag link, torch out my gussets and make nice half moons in them,etc etc etc just love this place and you guys....

 

Really nice work. I like your ideas of fab work. They are sharp and the little details you do make the work look really good.

 

Thanks guys.

I got the front framework finished last night. With all the tabs, tapped holes, and final sizing to fit the bumper (1" had to come off the entire width of the front angle), that last piece took as long as the rest of the mount.



All that's left is to drill some 5/8" holes, sleeve the holes through the tubing, bolt it up, and it's outa heeeeere.

 

Wow, thats really nice.

 

x2

 

Here's a shot of the frame without the grill in place.



I figured I'd throw in a little "how-to" on sleeving a through-bolt in tubing.

I'm bolting the winch frame to the front tubing frame rails with 5/8" bolts. Probably overkill, but whatever. A 5/8" bolt is almost a perfect fit inside 1/2" pipe, which measures 7/8" OD.

I drilled the top of the frame to 5/8", then flipped it over and drilled the underside to 7/8".



I then slid the pipe down into the hole to mark the length and cut it.



I ground a chamfer on the section of pipe, and used a 1" drill but to cut a chamfer in the hole. This valley will get filled with weld, ground flat and re-drilled.

 

At the risk of being accused of showing off.... I'll put and end to this thread.

Welded...



Ground smooth and cleaned up...



All finished. Thanks for following.

 

So only the top gets welded?

 

In this case, I only welded the bottom. The sleeve is essentially only there to keep the tubing from collapsing when tightening the bolt, so it technically doesn't have to be welded in place. I welded around the 7/8" hole in this case because I felt that that big of a hole would effect the structural rigidity of the tubing. I would have welded top and bottom if the 3/16" wall tubing wasn't already sheer overkill.

 

Let me elaborate on that... I wouldn't have needed to weld the sleeve in place if I would have slid the sleeves in from the open ends of the tubing. But because I dropped them in through a hole bigger than the sleeve, I needed to essentially turn the 7/8" hole back into a 5/8" hole... the act of welding the sleeve in place in the process was an added bonus.

 

The work you've done here is awesome. I know I've picked up some tips and hope others have. Feel free to share during all your projects.

 

Thanks for posting O86. I always wonder if these threads get looked at, or just passed-over by all but a few die-hards.
Like any fab work, this was just my answer to issues at hand, not necessarily the best way or a perfect solution. But I figure, as in any project, there are enough tips that have been learned over the years to take the time to post and pass on.

 

I appreciate the ideas and workmanship....thanks.

 

Great work, I'm following along with interest!

 

i am enjoying this thread. Keep it going!

 

I like it too. I'm pondering doing a power steering conversion on the Cj-6 since the new 4.203 came with a gear driven hydraulic pump off the back of the front cover. That steering box looks like it might work better than the normal Saginaw conversion box in my situation. When we built the winch mount we never planned for a power steering conversion.

 

Warloch, would you happen to have pictures of this procedure? While it sounds elementary, my neanderthal mind can't wrap my head around what you're saying. I'm very interested, however.