Im getting ready to build a frame, and was wondering if you could use 10ga plate on the corner gussets, and have it be sturdy? I made fairly large gussets out of 1/4 on my last frame, but have wondered if it was overkill. Also, Ive come into a good chunk of 10ga through work, so im not out anything. My frame will be 1/8" 2x4 tubing arc welded together, and you can see from my style of gussets that there is more than adequate weld surface. Do you think this will be fine? Im often told im bad about overkill on certain things, but Im just wanting some pros advise. Thanks guys!!
10 gage is a very close match to the tubing thickness, so all should weld easily, you will have doubled the amount of steel in a critical joint. In having built a .188" thick frame that did not flex, I doubt that you'll have any issues with a .254" thick Zee joint! (.120 + .134") The radius on the inside corners looks good by-the-way. I thought you may want a doubler bracket on the frame ends of the 4-bar mounting, similar the rear end mounts.
If you place the your 4-bar frame mounting in "double-shear" like pitman says it will be much stronger. If I listen to all the talk then it sounds like I'm planning on over-engineering my frame. I just started cutting the frame pieces this weekend but I was thinking of using 5mm (0.1968") plate for my fish-plates (gussets). IS that overkill? The tubing is 4 x 2 x 0.120
ahhh yes. . . speedway's parallel four bar brackets. trust me when i and others tell you, ditch them frame brackets that speedway sent you and fab a set up that captures the bar ends. i got the very same kit from speedy bill, and the frame brackets lasted LESS THAN ONE WEEK. yes, i WAS running the car hard, but ****... aint that the POINT? here are some pics of WHY i tell you this, and what i did to correct the problem.
Can i mount my 4 link bars on the upright part of my kick-up. Was planning on sleeving a bolt hole through there with some tubing if so.
not unless you plan to move the upper bag/coil mounts back the same distance as the bar ends are gonna move. leaving the rear where it is in that mock-up pick and shortening the bars to move the frame ends to the vertical of the "Z" will render them a LOT too short to work well. move your axle brackets inboard so as to center the bars where you have the frame mounts welded to NOW. then, make a set of brackets like the ones i did, or some other sort of captured mount. would be the best way to get it nice 'n strong and keep the rest of your work intact.
Fiddy- Different frame, I was just showing that pic of how i set my gussets up for the previous question. So should i ***ume that mounting like i asked would be okay? BTW- How long did it take to thrash that set of speedway mounts in your pic? Thanks, Leebo
less than a week dude... maybe a total of 300 miles or so? toasted to the tune of: 13.5* out on the lower right mount point, 11* IN on the lower left and about 20* forward on both lower sides. moved the pinion angle from 4.5* positive angle to 7-8* NEGATIVE. . . thank God for that CV joint i have in the back of the driveshaft! as for mounting them, ANY mount that is strong, and stable (like inside the tubing on the "Z" vertical) that also captures the rod end completely is gonna be rock solid an damn near bulletproof
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