Frame off Restoration?

[flips87c30]

Hey guys. haven't been on here much lately, work gets crazy in the summertime.

 My truck and I have been working non stop. Until the other day when I noticed the frame is cracked bad at the front of the rear spring hanger. I talked to the local welder and he was hesitant at first but eventually said he could fix it but it would be $1000 bucks.

Now Im trying to decide whether to go with the quick fix or jump right in to a frame off restoration. I found a rust free frame for $200 bucks off of an 84 one ton 4x4.

Ive never pulled an engine before or taken on a project this big before. Can it be done quickly and on a budget or is that a pipe dream?

The plan was always to do a restoration I just thought I had more time.

Just looking for opinions. Thanks in advance

[bake74]

     If you have the space for the two trucks side by side.  A few people to help when heavier lifting is required, it is simply swapping parts over from one frame to the next.
     I would go with new frame personally.  You could get it done in a week if you really put your mind to it.

[flips87c30]

Im leaning towards the new frame myself. But the dump bed means a lot of torching and welding.

How strong of a weld can a good stick welder do? I have a small Lincoln mig welder but I know its not capable of this kind of stuff. but I can barrow a good stick welder.

[hatzie]

I have an old Copper and Iron 1940's Forney 180amp stick welder.  If the welder is capable of 180-200A with a duty cycle above 70% or so it's up to the task.  With a welder of that size you'll be running it at less than peak power.
The weld strength then depends on your skill and choice of filler rod.  The question you should ask at that point is...  Are you up to the task?   

[flips87c30]

The weld strength then depends on your skill and choice of filler rod.  The question you should ask at that point is...  Are you up to the task?   

That is definitely the question on my mind

[zieg85]

New frame definitely...  Bigger issue is what the crack in the first place?  Aftermarket beds/boxes and especially wrecker and dump beds really put stress on the frames.  At the very least reinforce the new frame where the old one cracked..

[flips87c30]

  At the very least reinforce the new frame where the old one cracked..

Absolutely.

 Ive been wrestling with this for a day or two now, because my 87 is my primary work truck. the dump bed saves a lot of labor. but it needs a whole new exhaust, the driver side rear leaf spring is cracked and about half a dozen other little things need to be fixed.

Im thinkin its time to rework the whole thing and build it up, stronger than ever 

[jaredts]

Can you post a pic?  I'm not convinced by the description that a frame swap is necessary.  Fatigue is an issue around a crack, but there are ways of overcoming that and even making it stronger than new.

[flips87c30]

I will take some pics tomorrow. 

[Irish_Alley]

man 1k for a cracked frame? when we weld up big rigs that have cracked frames or when we stretch them we dont even charge that much. you dont need to stick it if you have a mig that will work just have to get it hot enough and put some flat bar on it for suport

heres a couple diffrent ways to do it

Well I had a long day yesterday. I had to deal with the snow storm after working all day but I had ants in my pants so last night at around 8:00 I decided to start. Let's just say I had a long night too LOL Here's some progress pix...

The new floor...







Remove the fuel tanks, driveshaft & cut the exhaust...









Measure it all out and start cutting! 14" section removed behind the cab and 6" removed from the back of the frame.









I lined up everything easier using turn/slip plates under the rear wheels so I could shift the frame around. Clamped and remeasured then I started to weld it up...









It got late so I was pooped and called it a night... One thing I did was I wanted to run the rest of the fuel out of the bowl so I ran it after I cut off the exhaust just to make some noise 




Now today I have do some more snow clean up and then I'm gonna have at it again...

[flips87c30]

Nice pics Irish. I will just drive my rig to your place .

 Im assuming you are using some kind of inert gas when you weld correct? My welder doesn't have that as an option. I always figured that's why my welds suck. Or maybe Im just bad at welding?   

[Irish_Alley]

dont get me wrong these arnt mine. if you click the pictures they are hyperlinks that will take you to the owners. but i was showing you how you can do it. but yeah inert gas is used. ive used flux core years ago for a specific job cant even remember what job it was for but it was 13 years ago i think lol
http://shdesigns.org/Welding/gasmix.shtml

[jaredts]

There's no reason that you can't do this with a flux core wire.  See if you can round up some steel scraps that are the same thickness as your frame and practice a little.  Get it dialed in on your scrap pieces and you might convince yourself that you can do this.

[bake74]

There's no reason that you can't do this with a flux core wire.  See if you can round up some steel scraps that are the same thickness as your frame and practice a little.  Get it dialed in on your scrap pieces and you might convince yourself that you can do this.

      I know that this can be done, I would be comfortable doing it on a regular truck frame.  But he plows snow with his and puts excessive amounts of stress on the frame.
      I still would not go cheap with this repair, you will regret it later I think.

[flips87c30]

Yeah I am going to start rebuilding my truck.

 Ive been working all week on getting my other truck road worthy (92 Chevy 1500). Last minute panic is a great motivator  It wont replace the dump truck but it will do for now.

I am currently looking for the right frame to go under the dump. Thanks for all your opinions. I don't think I would have pulled the trigger on this otherwise. Everyone I talked to said it would be to much work. They just don't get it.