Help find build w/frame bolted not riveted

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SteveH remarks above come closest to the situation here. Mr. T hot riveted your frame (like old army trucks) so that the frame could flex without "nuts & bolts" coming loose, and the fact that your frame cracks begin at a rivet hole shows the stress at those connecting points. This highly indicates stress cracks will want to continue at your "bolt" locations. I'm thinking now that you are committed to using nuts & bolts, they should be grade 8 or 12, and some how try to figure out how to totally lock the nuts to the bolts. Since you won't be able to get to all of the nuts to tack them to the bolt, possibly use all steel self locking nuts with "locktite" ????? BTW, nice soft suspension with a lot of travel will eliminate a lot of the frame flex.
 
White stripe thank you very much for your input. I've been following your build closely as it's very similar to what I'm wanting to do. Once this frame is sorted I'll be putting 62 axles and springs on my 40. Might have some questions for you down the road.

Downey I have decided to split the frame. Take it back to be reblasted and bolt together using grade 8 or better with nylock nuts, thread locker and nord-lock washers.

It may be time to start a build thread.
 
I used bolts when I had to replace my front cross member. I used grade 8 fine thread because I wanted more metal contact, then I tacked the nut to the bolt. In hindsight, I wished I had used BHSCS, because they have the same look as a rivet & they are stronger than grade 8's. I ended up using them on my street cruiser when I moved my shock tower, to make room for my scout steering box.

Instead of using nylon locking nuts, I would recommend an all steel locknut. They lock better than nylon. Use either the deformed ones or better yet the ones that have slots on 1 side that look similar to a castle nut, but there slots are paper thin and have no room for a cotter key to fit.
 
I removed mine.very big job. Previous owner had galvanized the frame but the rust between the two c- frames was bursting out. I reassembled with button head cap screws and nilock nuts. I am still in the rebuild proses so I can't comment on them coming loose.
 
pb4ugo said:
I used bolts when I had to replace my front cross member. I used grade 8 fine thread because I wanted more metal contact, then I tacked the nut to the bolt. In hindsight, I wished I had used BHSCS, because they have the same look as a rivet & they are stronger than grade 8's. I ended up using them on my street cruiser when I moved my shock tower, to make room for my scout steering box.

Instead of using nylon locking nuts, I would recommend an all steel locknut. They lock better than nylon. Use either the deformed ones or better yet the ones that have slots on 1 side that look similar to a castle nut, but there slots are paper thin and have no room for a cotter key to fit.
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Those deformed lock nuts are really good at keeping stuff tight. They are a pain to install or remove in fact because they hold so well.
Tojo64 said:
White stripe thank you very much for your input. I've been following your build closely as it's very similar to what I'm wanting to do. Once this frame is sorted I'll be putting 62 axles and springs on my 40. Might have some questions for you down the road.

Downey I have decided to split the frame. Take it back to be reblasted and bolt together using grade 8 or better with nylock nuts, thread locker and nord-lock washers.

It may be time to start a build thread.
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Cool your welcome
 
There was a build thread with a guy from europe who I believe had pictures of his split frame channels. Also was using an aluminum teseven tub... anyone remember the name?
 
Went for it today. Completely broken down frame. Blasters said they would re do it. They had better for the $500 I paid. Connected with a friend who is going to give me 80% off on fasteners. Yellow zinc m12 bolts and nuts will be ordered Monday. 2-1/2" hole saw works great for drilling out around the mid cross member outer frame. Use lots of lube.

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All in all I'd say 4-1/2 hours. Including wire wheeling and cleaning up. And it ended up being 68 rivets. I like to wire wheel to inspect what I've got. Ended up with one crack by the passenger side rear leaf perch that I had to repair.

I kept with my method of grinding rivets flush on one side and the drillling out to 3/8". I only drilled deep enough to pass the first thickness of material (outer rail thickness somewhere around 3/16). Still learning metric. Haha. Then I would use my air chisel with the dowel attachment to punch em through. My chisel wasn't beafy enough to cut them off the way you do. I have a large 220 compressor but cheap air chisel.
 
Tojo64 said:
All in all I'd say 4-1/2 hours. Including wire wheeling and cleaning up. And it ended up being 68 rivets. I like to wire wheel to inspect what I've got. Ended up with one crack by the passenger side rear leaf perch that I had to repair.

I kept with my method of grinding rivets flush on one side and the drillling out to 3/8". I only drilled deep enough to pass the first thickness of material (outer rail thickness somewhere around 3/16). Still learning metric. Haha. Then I would use my air chisel with the dowel attachment to punch em through. My chisel wasn't beafy enough to cut them off the way you do. I have a large 220 compressor but cheap air chisel.
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Ya that's a common area for cracks. If your going to use it off road much it's a good idea to brace those spring mounts.
 
Tojo64 said:
Plan is to sandblast-epoxy prime-por15-paint-assemble. I still have brackets/plates to weld to it in a few locations so I'd prefer not to weld/grind galvanized material.
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You're on the right track with epoxy primer, but applying POR-15 over the epoxy doesn't make sense. Use a quality 2k topcoat instead. It will be far superior to POR in adhesion, solvent resistance, UV resistance, and just about any other performance measure.
 
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Splangy said:
You're on the right track with epoxy primer, but applying POR-15 over the epoxy doesn't make sense. Use a quality 2k topcoat instead. It will be far superior to POR in adhesion, solvent resistance, UV resistance, and just about any other performance measure.
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I second this!
 
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