It's this fixable?

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gotyourgoat

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Steering box frame crack. Pretty common unfortunately.

Weld it, plate it. There are braces available. Not sure which are preferred as I'm lucky enough to not need them, knock on wood. Search for steering box frame crack braces.
 

RedGeneral

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Steering box frame crack. Pretty common unfortunately.

Weld it, plate it. There are braces available. Not sure which are preferred as I'm lucky enough to not need them, knock on wood. Search for steering box frame crack braces.


Pretty common.. Damn but that means there's a ton of repair options. I look up the brace thank you
 

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For that, I'd simply weld up the crack, then weld a length of solid 5/16 bar stock along the inboard edge... maybe 6-8". Effective plating could be a little difficult when it's that close to the crossmember.
 

RedGeneral

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Kinda odd to see on a 2wd, is is strong arm steer?

The truck was in an accident back in 97, but it was never inspected closely, just a few parts were Changed and painted. I believe this is were that stems from. But not too sure.
 

HotRodPC

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For that, I'd simply weld up the crack, then weld a length of solid 5/16 bar stock along the inboard edge... maybe 6-8". Effective plating could be a little difficult when it's that close to the crossmember.
That's what I was thinking too. It would appear to be a fairly easy fix with a little welding skill.
 

Frankenchevy

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Why do you need to do that? And which end?
It helps to stop the crack from spreading. This end:
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You want to capture the end of the crack in the footprint of the bit:
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The purpose of drilling the hole at the end of a crack prior to welding is to relieve unforeseen stress on the metal by the crack. By relieving it you make it less likely to crack there again as frankenchevy stated.
 

RedGeneral

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The purpose of drilling the hole at the end of a crack prior to welding is to relieve unforeseen stress on the metal by the crack. By relieving it you make it less likely to crack there again as frankenchevy stated.


Okay drill a small hole at the back of the crack like the drawing (frankenchevy), than you for that by the way. Weld the crack then plate it. Should I will it on both sides of the crack or that's not necessary since I'm adding a plate?
 

Frankenchevy

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Okay drill a small hole at the back of the crack like the drawing (frankenchevy), than you for that by the way. Weld the crack then plate it. Should I will it on both sides of the crack or that's not necessary since I'm adding a plate?
You can take a die grinder and groove the crack out a bit for better penetration and fill, but I think even a 135amp mig could get pretty solid penetration as is, from one side. If you’re plating it, do a bit of research on the best way to do that.

I don’t have any experience with that specific repair location. But when welding a repair or bolster on something I’m mindful of the fact that by beefing up a particular area, I’m transferring stress to where it transitions back to the thinner (original) material.
 

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