Frame Suspension Welding Question

I have attached a pic of how I am going to hang my rear springs. The hangers have been borrowed from the front of another ch***is of the same year. I have bolted them through the original rivet holes and have a big spacer behind them to act as a washer tieing the bolts together. Now my question is should or could I fillet weld the hanger to the frame around the perimeter just in case the bolts decide to come off? Is the cast metal piece not good to weld onto? Or should I just loc***e and peen the bolts. I do not plan to have access to the nuts after final ***embly. I would like to box the frame completely. Rivets would be cool but I don't want to buy the tools for 4 rivets. I appreciate any knowledge you guys might have.

 

Not sure if I have this pictured exactly right - seems like the back side (opposite of what is shown) will eventually be boxed in and unacessible, so maybe instead of using nuts you could get a thick piece of bar stock and drill and tap it- this way the "nuts" won't turn and you don't need acess to them. You could also tack the "nut bar" in place so you could dis***emble it later - need be.

On the same token - you could also weld in threaded sleeves going through both the origional frame and your boxing plate - bolt your hanger to that.

 

Yes, you are correct. However I guess I was more curious if you can weld the cast type steel structurally?

 

I'm not sure how much work, or welding you want to get into, but any time you start welding anything cast, its a BIG deal. You have to use nickle rod, which isn't too cheap, then you have to preheat the pieces first to the right temp.....weld it quickly, then take the heat down gradually so the cast pieces don't crack. You might just be better off buying the tools to rivet it like you talked about, or as everyone else suggested, come up with a different alternative to hold those bolts in.

From past bad experience, I don't like anything too "permanent". I don't think welding it in is your answer.

 

My two cents is to go with some type of threaded bar or nut that is permanent inside of your boxed frame. That's basically the way all the subframes go on and off on old Camaros and Novas. If you look at that set up they acctually have a square nut on the inside that is held in place by a sleeve welded over it. The nut still has a very slight amount of movement until one of the corners contacts the sleeve. If you did it this way you could use a grade 8 nut, but not have to weld on it directly which makes it too brittle. Kind of the best of both worlds. Sorry I have no Pics.

 

Thanks 53, that's what I was looking for. I don't have a torch so making the heat is an issue, not to mention I probably cant weld with nickle rod in my mig. Rivets take too much heat also. Looks like I will go another route. Does anyone have any more to share? Is the 1934 cast metal the same way with heat and cracking? The original front hangers have had stuff welded to them like the bumpers. I do know some good welders.

 

The question really is whether your cast piece is cast steel or cast iron. If it's cast iron I would reccomend AGAINST welding it to your ch***is. If it's cast steel then weld away. One way to determine which it is - is do a "spark test"

Cast Iron produces a short dull red (dim orange) spark - where as steel produces a brighter longer spark. Once you determine if it is steel then you need to determine if it is LOW carbon steel or not - again the spark test will tell you. Do a search on the net for a detailed description of spark testing. Basically you look at teh spark trail and color. The tip of the spark (end) will tell you what you need to know. A word of caution here: the grinding wheel you use can contaminate your spark test - so to be accurate first do it on a KNOWN piece of steel. What you REALLY want to weld on is LOW CARBON - as it is far less likely to crack.

The other thing you could do to determine if it is cast iron is to drill it. The iron will produce a more powder like "chip" it will not form a spirol drill chip like regular steel will. It comes off in small flakes.