I think you can make it structurally sound but keep in mind that the width of the dropout has allow you to pull the tranny all the way out of the bell-housing. However, a 1 piece fully removeable crossmember might be easire and cleaner. Charlie
I am adding another tube that goes threw the cross member to take some of the stress away from the bolts. right now there are 5 counter sunk bolts in each side of it
From a black swamp during a full moon rises the THINGLER... you should make THINGLER tshirts I'll buy one. those motor mounts are beef did you think those up cow-tipping? haha Tuck
OPINION; Like assholes, everybody has one. Here's mine, (opinion) Bolt it on, in three pieces. Saves getting out the cutting torch or sawsall later. Easier to change if you decide to make it better later. Good clean bolt jobs look cleaner/ better than most welded in.
Instead of making only the middle section drop out, I'd think that it would be far easier to make the entire crossmember removable. That way you will free up room if and/or when you need to swing and engine and trans in and out at the same time. Take some burly angle iron, weld it to the sides of the inside of the frame rails. The just make a crossmember that has the correct bends you need, and it can sit on top of the angle iron stantions. Drill holes vertically in the angle iron, and corresponding holes in the crossmember, and slip a bolt straight through. Easy and effective.
Just a thought in case you're worried about the structural strength... You can make it so you have bolts in different planes. For instance, You could make a one-piece crossemember that bolts to each frame rail (as mentioned), but set it up so that you have (on each end of the crossmember) 2 bolts that go into the inside vertical sides of the frame rails, then one or two that go into the bottom of each frame rail. That way you have bolts at right angles taking different kinds of load.
Here's the one in my 31 on 32 rails roadster. Similar to Deuce Roadster's. Making the complete crossmember dropout works well. Makes for plenty of room. Even so, I like this style because I usually have exhaust tubing hangers and other stuff bolted to it. The trans doesn't have to come back very far so make sure you do have room for it to go down through the opening once the drop-out is out. 7/16" bolts and 3/16" plates are adequate although I used 1/2" bolts here.
I knew that it would be a bitch if I ever had to pull the transmission out of the wagon so I made a bolt in crossmember for the tranny,,,, The only problem with that is the 5-speed was so much longer than the original transmission that I had to modify the K-member to unbolt and drop out also,, Pictures ya want,,,pictures ya got,,, HRP
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