RU7376vettes

Was leaving Cruise-in on Sunday night, made hard turn left and heard loud pop sound. Found that the Power Steering Bracket had pulled a section of the frame out. This frame was sandblasted and painted about 8 years ago during a frame off restoration and showed no cracks at that time. I would appreciate comments on how to repair and prevent from re-occurring. My thought is to weld plate on inside, then chamfer sides of broken piece and weld it back on frame, then weld plate over bottom of frame. Seems like this old car is after me lately, last week it was heater core leaking. It was new at time of restoration. Guess it is time for some serious TLC again on the red one!

Unk

oldalaskaman

I would un-bolt the bracket, get a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" steel about 2" longer and the same width as your frame then that hole on each end, re-bolt your bracket to it and weld it up. the absolute best fix would be to un-bolt your steering box also and box your frame. Thats a real popular break with chevy trucks in alaska, except its usually the steering box that breaks loose.
hope this helps

RU7376vettes

Many thanks OldAlaskaman, I looked in the archives but only found one posting about someone who pulled the nuts through the frame. I will take off the steering box because I want to make sure that there aren't other cracks in the area. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

Unk

oldalaskaman

if you remove the alternator also, it will be easier to get at to weld. if you have the skills to do the job, you dont need me telling you how, but I would use 1/4" behind the steering box so you wont have clearance issues. Thats not a real high stress area, what usually causes that is rust. should be plenty strong

RU7376vettes

I plan on doing repair when it is on the lift. 55 Chev is growing a tap root into it at present, just started rewiring it today. 73 goes on it as soon as i can get 55 started up. I think I have enough clearance to the headers for A 1/4" plate. I didn't see a lot of rust in the area, at least no new rust since the frame was sand blasted years ago. Good old DP-90 sealed it up pretty well.
Thanks again,
Unk

oldalaskaman

looking at your pic, you appear to have rust bubbles inside your frame