Leaf spring hangars

admin

Hey guys, I am justlooking for some critique on my work. Is it strong enough? Anything I can do to make it stronger?? This is a 74' f100 and I put a dana 60 front axle from an f350. 6011 rod is what I have used, material is 2" square reciever stock, some 1/4 and 3/8".  heres the whole assembly. poor quality pictures, but you get the idea.  I plan on boxxing the frame horns later. Thats what th back of the frame looked like when I was through... Good or bad??  I am just a young kid trying to build my truck and need some advice. I have been welding for a few years now.Last edited by MicroZone; 04-30-2007 at 07:05 PM.
Reply:Your material seems thick enough. It's tough to tell from the pics how you welded it or how it's put together. Maybe Paul from ZTfab can give you a better idea as he works on the 4 wheel drive trucks alot. Keep up the enthusiam!!John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Ok thanks. If some extra pictures or something would help you critique my work, I will get them. Maybe what I am worried about is having the hangars welded to the frame and workin in a "shear" rather than being underneath the frame and not having the side loading on the weld. With this axle, this was the only possible way to mount the springs without retubing the axle and getting custom axle shafts.
Reply:Clearer pics would be nice..But spring perch hangers are rivited to the frame from the factory....Ya might want to drill and bolt them also......zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:I will try and get some pictures. Are four rivets really stronger than all that weld? I mean they have shackles and poly bushings so theres a good amount of flex. The other end is "solid" mounted. I am putting a 36" spring perch width axle under a 31.5" frame railed truck, therefore the leves mount right to the outside of the frame rail and I had to make my own spring perches. theres not really anywhere to bolt it the way I designed them....
Reply:They sure look alot uglier in a picture... Would you say I should have an extra pass with some 7014 over the welds to the frame?
Reply:How about a little pc of 1/4 x 1 under the frame, butted to the perch? You can get good fillets on both sides (if you can overhead) and it will kill the worry of it twisting off.
Reply:Thats the one part I havent welded! I think your talking about where the 2" square tube and the frame meet underneath right? I have to get under there and do it, dont have much welding experience with overhead. Any tips?
Reply:Can't tell how good the welds are but I am sorry to say I don't like the setup. I would have cut the tubing at a 45 degree angle and capped it rather than weld in seperate pieces to extrend the tubing. Also I am not sure if the frame is setup up for the applied forces. You might want to run a piece of tube between the pieces you have welded on under the frame rails. How fast and ruff do you plan on driving this and is it going to be street driven. You might want to check with the inspection laws.As to bolting the parts on like zap suggested. Shackle mounts tend to get damaged if offroad running. Bolting the parts on would allow you to replace them later if needed.I think you might have some safety issues.Miller DVI2Lincoln Precision Tig 225Thermodynamics Cutmaster 38Everything else needed.
Reply:For any kind of heavy duty use I would have liked to have either L cut your tube to fit up the side and across the bottom of the frame or cut slots in your frame so that your angle braces would have passed through both sides of the frame. Passing the braces through the frame would double the weld area. Both of the methods I listed would give some degree direct connection to the frame besides the welding.
Reply:Thats a real upset. I spent alot of work on them, so should I cut them off and start from scratch? Is there anything I can do to further make them structurally sound? I will explain exactly how they are built. I started with the 2" square that I notched and welded the piece of tubing into the notch to locate the bushings. From their I added two gussets to the frame. I welded inside and out on those, I boxed that in, then I added a 3/8" gusset from the square tube to the frame, then I boxed that (the funky triangle piece). Could I try and drill a 1/2" bolt through that all? Anything at all I can do?
Reply:Yeah with all the added stress you are adding to the front of those frame horns, you should make a cross member that will go from side to side.Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American G. I. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
Reply:Originally Posted by fordmanThats a real upset. I spent alot of work on them, so should I cut them off and start from scratch? Is there anything I can do to further make them structurally sound? I will explain exactly how they are built. I started with the 2" square that I notched and welded the piece of tubing into the notch to locate the bushings. From their I added two gussets to the frame. I welded inside and out on those, I boxed that in, then I added a 3/8" gusset from the square tube to the frame, then I boxed that (the funky triangle piece). Could I try and drill a 1/2" bolt through that all? Anything at all I can do?
Reply:I can't tell from the picture but wouldn't you have been better moving your spring perches on your axle tubes to line up with what was on the frame?  I tend to agree with Jamlit.  I think you are going to have some flexing and I think the frame will start cracking up the sides of your welds if the tubing doesn't break off first.   There needs to be some kind of brace put to "tie" the two mounts together, and stop them from trying to spread..  I also agree you would be better cutting the tube on a 45deg and not using pieces.  The underside of that would need to be welded very well if you still plan on using what you have, and when you say you don't have much experience welding overhead  That concerns me also.  I'm not trying to rag on you, but you got to think what will happen if they break off, not just what will happen to you, but what can happen to the innocent person who's passing you when it happens. ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:I dont plan to street drive it too much but I dont want it to be unsafe for street either. It is not possible to move the sprinch perches on this axle. One side is cast into the pumpkin. I have always planned on boxing and tieing the frame rails together, but would it be ok if I found a way to tie the hangar in with the bottom of the frame well? I am going to practice overhead welding now and try and get a solid weld under there. I am some what new to stick welding but I have a decent amount of mig experience. I feel I have gotten ok with SMAW, just dont have the experience to overhead weld. Thanks for all the help, and if anyone knows of any ways I can tie it into the bottom of the frame I am all ears!Last edited by fordman; 04-30-2007 at 11:47 PM.
Reply:I havent done much but I am still looking for some ideas on the front. I plan on tieing the horns together so dont worry about that. Heres the bottom backside of the hangar, its not welded yet because I want to do something in order to tie the hangar into the frame better.  Does anyone have some ideas that will make these strong?? I dont want to have to worry about them, I was thinking doing some angle iron or something but I am not sure... Any advice would be really appreciated.. I just want to do this right if possible from this point on.
Reply:Originally Posted by zapsterClearer pics would be nice..But spring perch hangers are rivited to the frame from the factory....Ya might want to drill and bolt them also......zap!
Reply:I put a piece of angle in that empty space. I notched it so that a piece of the angle went underneath the frame rail, I got a few good inches of weld to the frame, then I welded to that triangle gusset and then to the square tube. I think its ok, as long as I have a spread bar tieing the frame horns together...
Reply:Whatever you do, box that frame in.  The C channel won't like the forces exerted on it.  And then as others have suggested, build a crossmember for it that ties the frmae sides together.
Reply:I know I had alreayd planned that out.
Reply:Box the frame rails and add a cross member for sure. The cross member is the first thing that you should have fabbed up next to boxing the frame. Once you have that done then you add your hangers.
Reply:Yeah I was thinking that I wanted to tie the framehorn crossmember into a front hitch thing too that goes back to the engine crossmember and some big gussets .
Reply:Its been a while, heres what I have got. I hope that you guys think this is good, I just tacked it in place.  (note jackstands!) and I plated the inside of the frame to spread the load better. 1/4" wall, rectangle tube. FOund it in the scrap bin and couldnt pass it up! DId some notching with the plasma.  (some poor looking welds in that segment, they are usually better) I think this should tie the frame in nice and stop the peeling effect (outward) on the hangars right? I also plan to add some shackle tabs to this piece, or a trailer hitch that extends through this to the engine x member.
Reply:Woops, heres updated pics.
Reply:I will weld it all up, then grind the whole front of the hangar smooth and do a plate from the rectangle tube to the hangar, basically some extra plate/weld material to tie it in some more.One more update.. I could use some comments if possible! My welds arent terrible, 6011 has a funky/ugly texture from what I have seen, compared to 7018 and 6013.   Here I am providing lateral stability that ties in with the cross support. 1/4"
Reply:Does this look any better? It is plenty strong now, they are tied in vertically and horizontally, and the front of the frame is boxxed with that channel I also added a hitch down the center and some trinagle gussets about 8" Long HTP Invertig 201Lincoln Idealarc SP250Miller 180 AC StickBy farmall:They should have held the seagull closer to the work, squeezing evenly for best deposition.
Reply:itz plenty strong now, it was probably good enough to start with.However, you should just scrap it and give me the d60. It resembles my front leaf setupHave we all gone mad?
Reply:Nice thats awesome, cool use of diamond plate there! Yeah I would have loved to make a cross member like that, looking back I should have but I couldnt see how I could do it without lifting the truck more or cutting the crap out of the frame. Sure I probly didnt go the best way, but I added so much plate to it, its plenty now! Welded front and rear 5.13 gears. Gotta get my high steer and hydro assist next then toss in another 390 and run the bitch! I need new tires now its got 36" iroks but I need to hack the fawk outta the fenders to fit tire now HTP Invertig 201Lincoln Idealarc SP250Miller 180 AC StickBy farmall:They should have held the seagull closer to the work, squeezing evenly for best deposition.
Reply:I have 5.13's locked f/r with highsteer and 36's, its a pretty nice setup.  However, if your just going to run 36's, seriously give me the 60. Have we all gone mad?
Reply:For now I will until I can afford tires I will go 39.5's. I dunno well see I gotta get the truck on wheels and see where I want. Maybe even 42sHTP Invertig 201Lincoln Idealarc SP250Miller 180 AC StickBy farmall:They should have held the seagull closer to the work, squeezing evenly for best deposition.