Thanks, unfortunatly I dont have access to a smaw machine (nor do I have any confidence in my abilities doing so as its been a few years). I'm just gonna do the best I can for now. I will eventually be going cross over so I will fish plate and gusset the hell out of it when I do.

 

This is a great thread...I have learned a ton. Once again showing the vast amount of knowledge the people on this forum posses.

 

I would pre heat the area first then mig it. I have welded plenty of Dodge and chevy frames in the same area none have recracked .clean real well and it should be fine.

 

those cracks likely go all the way through the frame and should be welded on both sides. I would plate the inside at minimum. I would also box the frame with dom tube sandwiched in between for the bolts to pass through. and add a brace from the frame to the crossmember. I saw jungles stuff and it looks good, although I would not open up the bolt holes on the frame for the dom to pass through as he suggests, as that is an unnecessary step, the dom tube need only be welded to the box plate. these steps will help spread the load that has been concentrated on the immediate area where the cracking occured.

be sure to post up more pics and let us know how things turn out.

 

I'm confused as to how you guys suggest to "Plate" the inside of the frame ?????

The frame isn't flat inside. It's "dimpled" outwards where the holes are that mount the box, so the inside of the frame is nowhere near flat. If you put a flat piece of stock in there, you'll have a gap where the dimples are, unless you could figure out some way of filling those indentations. the best fix I've seen on these situations are where thick-walled tube are welded to the insides of the frame that project inwards and extend over to the outer lips of the c-channel to a welded flat plate that essentially "boxes" out the frame with the tubes encased in there. You would need longer bolts to mount the box and that ridiculous mounting plate, but at least you would have a solid area to do so.


There's a thread on here somewhere where someone did this procedure.

 

Great Thread !!!

Does some one know the link that's mentioned about adding the Jungle plates and doms without cutting the holes on the frame for the doms.

I'm adding the Jungle plates and doms to my crew conversion. But i'm not going to do the crossover steering. I don't want to cut holes in the frame either for the doms.

 

I just took a fairly close look at my frame and I am wondering if you can pan out for a wider camera shot so we can better see the placement of the holes and frame configuraton. of particular interest is the u-shaped valley that crack runs through, it appears to be on the bottom frame rail but the pic is so close I cannot tell for sure. my frame doesn't have this feature. I will go back out and take a pic in a minute and try to post it up. that valley is a major problem it is allowing the frame to flex back and forth.

 

an appropriately shaped piece of plate should be bolted to each of the dimples five holes (three used for 4x4 bracket and remaining two for 2wd/crossover) and welded in. I did not measure but looks like 1/8" may do it. then you will have a mostly flat surface that you can then plate the inner frame.


qmikep,
I took another look at your pic and based on the slot in your frame I believe that valley is on the top of your frame rail. here are a couple pics of my frame from the inside as you can see I don't have that valley.

your probably done with your initial attack by now, how did it go?

 

my 92 has the valley that you speak of. I guess they altered the frames from year to year.. You would think that a "riser" would be on the inner side of that valley to add rigidity to the frame at that point. I can only assume that the valley is on the "newer year" trucks, as crash standards changed the way frames crumple up in an accident, and absorb some of the impact. These frames, and their ability to crack are why I chose to do this..https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...2-t301769.html

 

Well its done. Everything went fine.

I drilled a 1/4 hole at the end of the cracks I could get to and pre-heated the area prior to welding and post-heated it after words to slow cooling.

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures.

I'll update this thread in a few month if I have any issues.

I would like to thank everyone for the suggestions.

Mike

 

If you welded it right you wouldn't need to weld both sides of the crack. The only way to do this right is to take the gearbox off, remove the fender and inner wheel well and that would give you total access to the crack. from there clean the area and grove the crack out. A stick wed would be hot enough to melt the back side and give you enough to lay the material down on the front.

The gearboxes on these trucks are wicked, we boxed a few in and plated the frame and it just fractured away from it.



Seems like the only way to fix this to rotate the gearbox.

 

Looks like the 93 in sig. has started to crack. Has anyone mounted the dodgeconnection brace on their 93? Does the valley in the top interfere with it? It looks like the frame is different than the one on their website.

 

is it cracking in the valley? I bet it is. I would weld the crack. then lay a 1/4" thick piece of flat stock the same width as the frame at least a foot long (as long as possible) right across that valley and as far forward as possible. drill some holes in it for some plug welds too, weld it on completely and then cut some pieces to shape and box in the valley itself. then I would start thinking about plating the inside of the frame.

 

I'm running one on my 93 right now- no problems. I also have one on a 88 and 92 gasser with no fit problems.
I fixed the frame like the OP did on my 93 with drill stop, v groove and MIG welding and the brace, although my cranks were nowhere near as bad. After one year of pulling hay wagons, no new cracks (yet).

 

Really ??