Hi there, my name is Danny. I run a side op as a welder/fabricator in my area. Have a friend of mine with a 2000 Ford F250, Triton V10 4x4 with the 4R100 trans. Living in the rust belt is a pain at times, and in our efforts to combat the truck falling into pieces, I've been tasked with welding a new front frame horn onto the existing frame from about 2 inches behind the steering box to the true front horn of the frame. after doing some research, it seems most light duty truck frames are an SAE 1527 Alloy, seemingly with a low carbon alloy. I'm looking to weld the frame back together using a 1/4 inch reinforcement plate custom cut to the inside of the frame rail, and another reinforcing plate on the front. Any idea on any sort of weld procedure? id like to make this frame repair outlast the rest of the truck, and satisfy my customer to the highest degree. If there's any experienced frame welders here, id love to hear your ideas and thoughts.
Thanks in advance,
Dan, DAN Welding and Fab.

 

There's alot of stuff to consider when splicing a frame, especially if you want it to last. You want to "Z" cut the rail with the horizontal section being at least 3X as long as the vertical sections. So if you cut down 3" from the top, cut back 9", before cutting down the other 3". Longer horizontal cuts help spread the load over a larger area. The cuts through the top and bottom flanges and the down cuts in the side of the rail should be at an angle, again the longer the better. Don't drill near the edges or corners, stay at least 1" away. "V" cut the ends of the fish plates, and only stitch weld the plates in. Don't cross welds, so plan the stitch welds so they don't cross the vertical or horizontal welds in the frame. After welding the plates in, drill some holes through everything, staying away from the welds in the frame, put a clamp on it and rosette weld them all together from both sides. A step drill give a nice tapered hole to weld up. Where you're doing this at the steering box, doubling the plates is a good idea. Between the leaf spring mount out front putting vertical loads on that section of frame and the steering box putting horizontal loads on it, it's probably one of the highest stress areas on a frame. Where the frame is boxed behind the steering box, it might be a good idea to fabricate an internal sleeve to weld in for some extra reinforcement.

Of course, I've seen people cut a frame straight vertically and put it back together with a plate and a ton of bolts and it held up...not at the steering box though...