I scored a steering box brace bracket off of a '90 or '91 4x4 RC in the junk yard the other day. I will be putting it on my '92 W250 when I replace the steering gear. I was going to weld a brace between the part of the bracket that is bolted to the inside of the frame behind the steering gear and the part that connects to the cross member under the radiator to beef it up a bit. Is there any good reason not to do this?

 

Be careful not to stiffen it up too much on the horizontal axis or you may promote cracking.

 

Before you install it, would you consider taking a few pictures and measurements? I'm sure there's more than a few of us who'd like to replicate that bracket, since the originals are getting so hard to find...

 

No need,

Just buy one here - they've already done the dirty work and reproduced them for you.

http://www.dodgeconnection.com/catal...66/4541374.htm

Edit: sorry looks like they are out of stock as well.

 

They have been for quite a while too.

 

I had no problem finding these brackets in our local pick n pulls in recent years. I'll nab any I see.

Jungle from over at RCC had a good frame / steering box kit as well.

http://ramchargercentral.com/jungles...rame-supports/

 

Thanks PapeCAT!

Did you get yourself back into another 1st gen, or are you just lurking around here?

 

WOW the price has went up on those things, I bought one 3 years ago for somewhere around 30.00

 

I picked up a '73 D200. I guess it isn't a 1st gen but a "0" gen. Staying gasser for now no plans for a cummins yet.

 

I lucked out and nabbed one of those brackets off E-bay one night. I think I paid $75 shipped.

They have been out of stock on those for several years now.

 

I could do that. Gonna be a little while though. The gnomes hid my camera. The link to Jungle's setup on RCC is pretty cool. If I had the front end off the truck I'd probably do that instead of the brace.

 

I'll look for them when I'm in the JY and pull any that I see. I'll let you guys know if I find any.

 

The JY charged me $15 for the bracket, hardware (nuts bolts etc) and adapter plate. I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough!!

 

Yah I was thinking about that. I've seen a pic of one that cracked right below the factory weld on the cross piece. It's pretty flimsy there so I was gonna brace it. If it doesn't hold up I'll know better for next time! On one of the other forums there is (or was) a member named Mysteryman. He claimed to be an engineer for Chrysler that worked on the 1st gen Cummins truck design team. He had a pretty vague post about why you shouldn't weld a 1st gen frame because it was made of a hardened steel and you would weaken it and cause it to crack. I was curious if anything similar would surface regarding the steering box brace.

 

Mysteryman was one of the 1st gen Cummins engineers.
Terry called me and we had a LONG chat one day.
One of the things I mentioned was building a 6 BT Ramcharger.
He said the best thing to do would be get a '89-'91 7 inch framed Cummins truck and chop out a length of the frame and fish plate it.
He said the Ramchargers frame was a thinner metal for the actually C channel on the frame and would be a weak link.

Check out the way my RC, Moonshine was done for a better picture.

Long story, but if that is what he told me, then he must be ok with welding on the old frames.

Great guy to talk with, but like you said, he can me a little mysterious...