Box vs C channel frame

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

I am debating on if I want to redo my Willys wagon project.

Right it is on F150 4x4 frame, and I am thinking I will slam it instead. Due to knee, and hip issues.

So I know toyota had frame issues with frames rusting out partially due to box construction.

So should I use box frame construction sealing it up or drilling in drain hole.

Or use C channel to fabricate the frame.

[LS short box]

Kind of depends on how you are going to use it the enviorment it's going to live in.
I vote for the tube frame. I think it would easier to fab and have much more strenght than a c-channel frame. Most if not all aftermarket frames are tube construction.
Wouldn't hurt to add some drain holes.

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

Originally Posted by LS short box

Kind of depends on how you are going to use it the enviorment it's going to live in.
I vote for the tube frame. I think it would easier to fab and have much more strenght than a c-channel frame. Most if not all aftermarket frames are tube construction.
Wouldn't hurt to add some drain holes.

It will just be a cruiser nothing serious.

[kwmech]

If you are spending that kind of money into manufacturing a frame---I would finish it up with all the brackets and such then look into having it zinc or galvanized dipped before assembly. But certainly a boxed frame would live in California. Back East--not so much, even with the dip

[LS short box]

I would be suprised if you could find a plating shop with zinc tank big enough to plate a whole frame. Plus zinc is a poor coating to stop rust. I worked for a company the builds packaging machines. In early days (mid-80's) we zinc plated parts. But from feed back from customers the zinc didn't really provide much rust protection. We switched to nickel plating and it was the answer.
Galvanizing is good at stopping rust but it's ugly to look at. Every tapped hole has to be re-tapped. We built a number of machines for the dairy industry. They had to be heavy wash down and we galvanized the frames. Outside shop did it for us. Then in the mid 90's we switched to stainless frames and parts for all wash down machines. No more galvanizing.