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Bad frame at steering box

S

smith45acp

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I bought an 87 Jimmy 6.2 a few weeks ago, noticed lots of things wrong with it but it had very little rust and ran good. Paid 2K for it.

The part of the frame that supports the steering box is cracked, and has been repaired several times by jacklegs. Now with the multiple patches and repairs it just needs to be replaced.

What do you guys recommend here? I know of some u pull it yards that I could go to and cut out this whole piece of the frame and bring it to my welder. My welder also says he could fabricate from scratch but it would be easier to have a donor section.

Will any truck or blazer from 73-91 have the same frame for me to pull one from?

Any other ideas or comments to help out a noobie?
 
Without looking at it, its hard to say, but you need to do a search on cracked frames. Its such a common topic, its a wonder someone has not done a sticky on it so new folks can just be refered there.
If you are running a "naked" stock frame, its more a case of when it will crack than if.

Do the search, and if you don't find just what you need to know post back.
The short answer is, there are several aftermarket fixes just for your problem. A weld in stiffener, and a brace that should cure it if there is any steel left.

I would post you a link, but there are so many, its actually hard to pick out the best one.

Hang in there. You have a lot of company in this regard.
 
Very common with the frame design of this gen GM fullsize. I dont see how it could possibly be so bad that it couldnt be ground down and fixed with some plate though.

Here my opinion/recommendation. If you put in another stock sections all your gonna do it have another stock frame thats gonna do the same thing. Especially wheeling it.

I assume you dont have fabrication skills since your referencing a welder to do it for you.

I would have him grind all the garbage off the frame thats been done to it. Drill any cracks in the frame at the ends to stop the stress points. Then have him weld the cracks. Re grind down the frame flush. Now youve got a starting point to beef up.

Plate the outside with 1/4in plate. Redrill the steering box holes through the new plate. Then box the inside of the frame with dom sleeves around the holes between the inside and outside.

When thats done weld a tube leg from the center of the bolt pattern to the opposite side of the frame.

A little over kill but would be bomb proof.
 
If it is cracked, hacked and patched and cracked and patched and hacked again you are in the same boat as me.

I was planning on cutting the section out and grafting a new one in, as well as adding a piece of 1/4 in plate on it and fishplating it on there to hold the patch in.

My frame is cracked on the bottom, on every bolt hole, cracks on both swaybar mounts, all the rivets are loose on the crossmember, frame cracked near that crossmember, and someone did an ORD brace wich is cracked on the bottom. Also they booger welded the ENTIRE brace to the frame instead of stitch welding, and most of the welds are cracked.

It seems to me the frame section is too far for to bother with
 
Stomis said:
Very common with the frame design of this gen GM fullsize. I dont see how it could possibly be so bad that it couldnt be ground down and fixed with some plate though.

Here my opinion/recommendation. If you put in another stock sections all your gonna do it have another stock frame thats gonna do the same thing. Especially wheeling it.

I assume you dont have fabrication skills since your referencing a welder to do it for you.

I would have him grind all the garbage off the frame thats been done to it. Drill any cracks in the frame at the ends to stop the stress points. Then have him weld the cracks. Re grind down the frame flush. Now youve got a starting point to beef up.

Plate the outside with 1/4in plate. Redrill the steering box holes through the new plate. Then box the inside of the frame with dom sleeves around the holes between the inside and outside.

When thats done weld a tube leg from the center of the bolt pattern to the opposite side of the frame.

A little over kill but would be bomb proof.
Click to expand...

And here it is in picture form :thumb: Only thing I would add is you have to remove the stock crossmember.

We went way way overkill and used 3/8 plate and a piece of stout pipe.





 
A friend used a peice off a Fisher plow push frame to repair his cracked frame--he used the passenger side mount that bolts against the rail--he cut it off and flipped it over so it would work on the drivers side..and welded it on after welding up the cracks in the frame and grinding them down..I suppose its no different than making a plate yourself out of 1/4" plate or thicker,but he had this part lying around and decided why make what was already "made"?...

Funny thing ,I have owned about 6 4x4 GM's from the 70's and 80's and none ever had any cracks or damage at the steering box...(even my '74 GMC k2500 I had,that had every rivet sheared on the front crossmembers and was booger welded at the frame--I even chopped the steering box section of its frame out when I scrapped it to save as a repair plate if I ever do have a frame crack there)---even all the trucks I plowed extensively with showed to sign of failure at the steering box--the Fisher push frames must beef them up enough to stop the flexing that ecentually cracks the frame??...my '82 K2500 has a home brewed plow push frame ,all someone did was box in the inside of the frame rails with 1/2" plates,that go from the front of the rails back to behind the steering box...I've pushed mountains of snow with it for nearly 10 years and its never showed any sign if failure there..

Most of my trucks never had lift kits or big tires,I think those are what kill the frames more than anything...the 74 GMC was lifted and had 36" tires when I got it--I chopped all that crap off and put stock springs back in it with 16" "factory" tires & rims..it was like night and day driving it after the swap..it went from a tippy,swerevy,shaky,vibrating hunk of junk that sounded like an airplane,to a silent smooth driver,it was like a Caddy compared to how it felt with the lift and big tires..but ya,it didn't look " tough" any more either...
 
Not sure it's lifts and big tires that cause it, mine was stock stock stock when I got it. Frame had already been cracked and repaired, poorly, and was cracking again. So, I fixed it with the ORD stuff.
 
I actually ordered the ORD brace today. My frame isn't cracked now... but I want to keep it that way.
 
The one truck I gad that did have cracks where the steering box bolted up was a 1974 C10 2wd!...it had a 454/TH400,and was a camper special,I dont know what caused the cracks because it led a pretty easy life!...I had a good welder stitch up the cracks and never had any more develop in the frame..I guess GM should have doubled or tripled the thickness of the frame in that area!...
 
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