Repairing damaged shock mounts

[CK10]

I bought my truck with damaged shock mounts, when they cracked he just drilled more holes in the frame and mounted the shocks somewhere else. I've put up with this for a while but it's time to get it fixed before my 14b goes in.

Passenger side

Drivers side

 

[CK10]

I have some good frame sections from a c20 that was scrapped by a neighbor that I'm planning to use to double the frame in the damaged area

So I cut them into some workable repair sections

 

[CK10]

The plan is to weld up the damage on the frame and use the repair sections as a bolt on doubling plate. So as long as I'm doing all this I suppose that it would be better to mount the shocks in double shear configuration. I chopped a couple chunks of 3x3 HREW and opened them up to give some clearance for the shock to move around.

Before I clean these up and weld them I was hoping to get some input from the community here, any thoughts or changes you would make? It's a mostly street/DD/light wheeler truck, 2.5" of lift on 33 AT tires (why I didn't inboard) that I don't really have any plans to go bigger than 35s on ever.

A couple more pics:

 

[Babaganoosh]

Don't have any advice, but I really like the way you are fixing this.

 

[sweetk30]

drill a little 3/16" hole at the end of each crack to stop the spread .

V them out good and get a good weld bead in them .

otherwise looks like a good plan .

maybe spread the weld zone out a bit with a few kickers off the new section for double shear your adding .

other wise try it .

and for others to help slow this problem check these out . http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/RearShockBrace.htm

and DAM your lucky the back half of the frame didn't snap off.

 

[CK10]

Thanks guys, I was planning to drill and v the cracks along with patching up the missing metal. I just didn't think that there would be enough strength left in the area without reinforcement so I came up with the doubler plate based on the ORD brace that sweetK30 posted.

You're very correct that this frame could have collapsed, that's all from using incorrect length shocks and the studs working the metal to failure. Make sure to check your shock studs friends!

 

[CK10]

Couple more pics of the way too slow progress on this little project. The media blasting hopefully makes up for my welding. I should have run a few practice beads before burning them together, just thought my skills weren't as rusty as they really are.

Now I just need to get them drilled, painted and on the truck.

 

[sweetk30]

not to bad . brob tad more heat and tad less wire speed . this would get a good burn in .

don't forget the thicker material gets more of the heat also .

 

[CK10]

I'm thinking about the kickers you mentioned earlier, what direction would you run them? Perpendicular to the "upright" portion? I've got my pro-mig 175 maxed out with .030 wire and c25 on that .250 tube, I might have a small roll of .035 around still but I gave up my Co2 bottle when I went years without getting any use out of it. I sure wish I spent some more time using all this stuff, I forget how much I enjoy it.

 

[CK10]

Finally got a chance to get the bed off and the brackets on, ran out of gas in the welder right before I got the brackets in and had to go SMAW though as I was racing inbound rain and need the truck tomorrow morning. Didn't get to take pics during the progress but snapped a couple before the bed went back on.

 

[max 02]

Nice job fixing that!

 

[CK10]

Thanks, it worked out really well and I think that it should be a lasting repair/upgrade. I was upset that I ran out of c25 before I could do the visible welds. Flux never looks as good, but I guess it's under the truck where I'll rarely have to see it.

 

[sweetk30]

undercoating is your friend

 

[CK10]

undercoating is your friend

Haha, next time it's all apart I'll remember to do that. It's my daily driver till I move bc I sold my Jeep so I'll probably find another extra vehicle when we get settled and the truck will get blown apart for paint and fix all the little things that bug me.