Frame Reinforcements (1 Viewer)

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2000UZJ

Where's My Hammer?
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
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9,091
Location
Atlanta
I was going to post in the 100 tech, but that is best suited for floor mat and tire threads :flipoff2:

My frame has a few questionable areas on it that I would like some insight on what to do.

The frame in general appears to be fine, however when you look closer you start to see concerning things. My truck sits right around 6,300lbs, and I wheel it like a mini-truck. Here are the concerning parts.

- The passenger frame rail took a very hard hit. I was ascending a obstacle, carrying speed (5-7MPH) to get up it. Long story made short, the truck went up on to wheels and when it came down the frame landed on a boulder. My guess, is somewhere around 10-11,000lbs of weight landed on a fist size portion of the frame. The frame is bulging slightly, but no visual signs of fatigue or cracking. The welds appear fine, and has not been an issue since.

- The driver side lower control arm has been crushed, the main weld on the LCA mount is not cracked, but the side of the housing is cracked from the lip to the frame (forward outer corner), the hardware is currently keeping the mount from bending outward further. The crack is roughly 1.5"

- The passenger side lower control arm mount is the same story as the driver side, however it's not cracked as bad. The crack is roughly .5".

- The driver side frame rail (along the front/rear doors) has multiple dents, again, the welds appear fine and no visual fatigue.

- The alignment is within spec, and the frame does not have any kinks.

What are my options for repairing? I will post pictures soon.

My final question is this...what can I do to protect the frame and brace it for hard impacts? I have thought about welding some steel to the bottom for a "slider", but not sure how that would hold up under hard impact. Replacing the frame is not an option. Any pictures of previous frame bracing would be awesome. I need some ideas.

-Nick
 
Interesting, but good for you for actually wheeling a 100 series hard like that.

As for the bulged section, I'd be inclined to hammer it back and then weld some more steel over the area like a patch plate.

As for a slider under the frame rails, never heard of it but it's probably been done somewhere, perhaps some of the hard core rock wheelers will pipe up with more experience, but I'll leave a couple thoughts...

Instead of putting something under the frame, do an internal or external roll cage, this will add rigidity to the frame and it should be less likely to bend, and better protect the occupants and maybe the sheet metal. Also, not sure if you run sliders, but you could set them so they sit a bit lower then your frame rails so they hit first if you drop it on a boulder and should add rigidity, possibly preventing future frame "bulges", for what your looking at i'd weld them on on (not bolt them) and put lots of bracing on them.

If you do install something under the frame rails you loose clearance (duh) so if that is the direction you do want to go, I'd look at either getting some thick angle steel and running it along the frame rail, and weld both edges of the angle. Angle on the inside edge of the frame rails and sliders on the outside should strengthen things up quite a bit. You could run some fancy plastics (HDPE or something) beneath the rails as well. I think its been done before.

An interesting dilemma, well, more then floor mats anyways.

As for the LCA's, time to spend some money at ruffstuff or TMR and beef those parts up. I'd be interested to see some pics
 
I agree, beat out the bulged areas and plate it.

For the cracks, carefully grind a fuller or grove in them. Go more than a 1/2" on each side of the crack, ie past the crack. Drill a hole at the end of the crack. Weld them up. After that consider plating around these areas or cutting off stock brackets and going with something new and improved plus way more buff. Many many aftermarket LCA brackets available on the market that are very strong and pretty cheap.

Do you not have a good belly skid and sliders? A nice stout custom belly skid will take most of the abuse and can act as another cross member to strengthen the frame.

If you do any plating to the frame, make sure you "fish" plate it and be aware the inner frame rail is the thinnest.

Rock bouncing in a 100-series! I want to see pictures! :banana:

Cheers
 
This was before and after the impact I believe.
That was an impressive punch to the frame no doubt Nick.
Hope you get it "straightened" out.

Actually that looks like the next day going up Kodak instead of down. Either way you got to love the chopped YJ tryin to follow you :)

image-4168328269.jpg


image-1694671359.jpg
 

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