HOW TO: Crossmember sectioning ...

[ChiefRocka]

As most of you know, I’ve been working on my 62 GMC Suburban.

I picked up a '78 Crossmember with PS and steering linkage off CL for cheap.

I decided for now I wanted to set up my suspension for a loooow Static drop, as I'm not concerned with Air-ride at the moment. (I'll save that for my customers )
I can’t afford one of PorterBuilts AWESOME creations, so I knew I was on my own.
To accomplish this, I knew the crossmember had to be raised. But how much ??

So, before making any cuts, I took some measurements.

I did this by first leveling the Burban to the ground, checking both the chassis and the body. Measurements could of been done with a complete vehicle, but in this case, it is on stands:
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For future reference, temporarily installed the stock front suspension, and marked the spindle location to my garage floor:
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Measurements were, First ground to crossmember, then ground to chassis:
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As you can see, the difference was 2”.

Sectioning the crossmember this amount would raise it level with the remainder of chassis.


I viewed CapKaos’ great method and decided this is the way to go.

As many of you know, I love providing pics … so more detailed pics were used here.

I could of done all this in my shop with my nice big welding tables, plasma cutter, etc.

But this was done at my home garage….basically to illustrate anyone can do it.

In fact, all cuts were made using a cheap $14 HarborFreight grinder, and lots of wheels.

NOTE: I did not like the HF cut off wheels. They vibrate a lot, and do not like a little ‘side’ load. What I mean, is I use a cutoff wheel on its side to clean surfaces, which caused it to come apart quickly and violently . The grinding wheels suck too …

Instead, I chose the DeWalt cutoffs from Lowes, as they were priced just over a dollar.

If you have access to a Plasma…BY ALL MEANS USE IT !! It will cut your time down considerably !! Regardless of what method you choose, your still going to need a welder.

Another thing I should mention….As you can see I started with a ‘loose’ crossmember. In the past I have removed them with engine in place. (By supporting engine across the inner fenders). But, unfortunately, this is not shown here. If your doing this on a running truck, SAFELY remove crossmember !!

So….here we go !

Since they were right there like two arms, I used the frame rails of the Burban as a ‘table’ , and leveled the crossmember.
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Once leveled, I scribed vertical alignment marks on the crossmember. These are used to align the upper section down to the lower once the side material is removed. All my fancy squares are outta town, so here is my creation….
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Hard to see scribe marks here…but later used a Silver Sharpie…If you look closely you can see FOUR spotwelds just above the Ubolt bolt holes …
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