Power Steering: Project Swiss Cheese

[biohazardbill]

So today I go in to start taking off the control arms etc to replace them with the 73-87 arms. The PO had done a PS conversion but to clean it up I got a Capt Fab bracket. When I get the steering box off I see the following:



What is the best way to repair this and make it safe?

Side Note: I do have an extra frame (havent got underneath to see how good it is) but not really wanting to do a frame swap if I dont have to.

[blazins10]

Cut it out and weld in the captain fab plate
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[blazins10]

well , he already has the captain fab bracket so use it as a template , cut it out and weld it in , pretty easy really
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[T2vigil]

I have a Question. Does Captain Fabs plate cover all of the holes shown in the photo? The hole on the extreme left side also has a crack. If that is the case I would repair the cracks and bolt the plate on as it was intended. I would do this by finding the ends of the cracks and drilling a hole through the frame. This will stop the crack from extending. Then bevel the metal like Bonehead said and weld it from both sides. Also brace up the frame to close the gap up before doing any grinding.

[Captainfab]

Wow, that's a mess.

I'm thinking it is a toss up between cutting that out and replacing the web of the frame, and just replacing the section of frame from the bumper back to a point in front of the suspension crossmember.

Either way, you do not want your verticle cuts to be straight. You want to make your cuts either / / or < >.

[bonehead]

To fix this I think I would just cut out the bad spot, make a patch from the same thickness of steel. Then bevel the edges of the frame and patch, leave a 1/8 inch gap all around and fully weld it in. Should be plenty strong as long as the rest of the rail is not cracked.

I see no need for a frame swap.

What do you guys think?