what gauge steel for floor reinforcemeny

[metalneverdies]

I am working on repairing my floor. It has developed several cracks around the seat mounting positions and cracked a couple spot welds.

What gauge steel should i use as a landing pad over where the seat mounts. I was planning on welding the floor back together then welding a square plate with a hole for the bolt onto the floor then mounting the seat over that.

Thanks

 

[diesel4me]

I used 16 ga. steel,but mostly because its what I could get for free,it was galvanized too,and I got a good dose of zinc chills after welding it !...I'd say at least that thick were the seats bolt up ,thicker is better,like 1/8" or 3/16" plate ,but it is harder to cut & work with ,and welding it to thin OEM floors might prove challenging, unless your good with the MIG welder.............................................................................................................................................................................................................I only had 2 options,braze it with my torches,or use my arc welder,I did both,where the old floor was too thin to use the arc welder at 40 amps,I brazed it instead...I just did multiple "spot" welds with the arc welder instead of trying to run a continuous bead,as that proved dam near impossible--you could only get about 1/2" long bead run before it would blow a hole...I found 6013 rod less apt to blow thru than the 6011 I used at first,but of course a MIG is 100% easier to weld thin to thick with than an arc welder is...a good welder can weld tin foil to diamond plate with a MIG thats dialed in right!..

 

[dyeager535]

I believe in another thread someone had welded angle iron underneath that area, which probably makes more sense. The cracks are forming because the floor is flexing, something structural like angle iron, tube, etc., will be more effective in preventing flex than simply adding a bunch of thickness.

 

[diesel4me]

Agreed,I have used some u-shaped steel channels to beef up weak floors,J.C. Whitney used to sell steel that was formed in a "U" shape with flanges on each side that works great to beef up the flexy sheet metal..you could use something like Uni-Strut too,I have used those green fence posts for wire fences that is formed to a similar shape as the U channel and its pretty thick steel,about 3/16" thick and will add a lot of strength to a sheet metal patch or floor...

 

[Stomis]

14ga and make the new piece larger to spread the stress out. Going over kill isnt going to be better because you're still mounting it to the sheetmetal on the floor to distribute the force, so why over do it?

The only way that tube or angle is gonna do more than properly designed 14ga pieces given the weight/force is if you tie said over kill material into the rockers where theres real strength from being bent/kinked/jointed together.

 

[chulisohombre]

I did the same thing and used 16 gauge I believe. Mig to the floor crisscrossing in quarter inch welds so it don't blow through. I did 4 inch squares around mine to beef it around the seat belt mount holes as well.

 

[Vetteracerx]

I used 3/16'' plate 4"x4". I cut a hole the size of a 3/8'' bolt head in the center and welded the bolt in so it acts as a mounting stud. That created a flush bottom.