Hello guys,

i was going through my power steering system and noticed some cracks in my frame where there were pervious repairs, all around the steering box area. I have a Borgeson box and brace, but the repairs were done before I installed it. I am concerned that the box is putting extra stress on the frame and causing it to crack more.

Is this repairable? If so, would someone be able to ballpark an estimate, and/or know any frame shops in or around metro Atlanta?

Thanks in advance!

 

Don't bother with any frame or body shop. Find a good welding shop. And I mean a place that only does welding. A good welder can do amazing work.

 

I'm no welder - never done it - but I am a certified welding expert, having attended the YouTube School of Welding. Looks to me like the previous welds were done half-assed, just laying on the surfaces with little to no penetration. (that's technical welding jargon) Should have V'd out the cracks - and maybe drilled stop holes(?) My point is to not judge welding's ability to hold from what's there now.

My concern is what caused the cracking in the first place.

 

As another non-certified welder I believe the technical term for those welds are "bugger" welds.
I do have wire feed welder and on none critical stuff I'm happy to do the welding myself. I am lucky enough to have a pro welding shop about 3 miles from my house and they kind of like the odd ball stuff I bring them.
Per your pics I would grind them down flat and V them out as said above. If you do that and then take it to a welding shop it would take very little time to weld them up.
If you are really worried about strength you could weld up the cracks, grind them down flush and then fab a "L" shaped plate (1/8"- 3/16") that wraps around the top of the frame and weld it in. You could add a hole in the plate big enough you could weld it to the hole in the frame also.

 

One thing that is clear here is that the factory holes stamped into the frame can be a source of cracking. Since I am in the process of fully seam welding my frame now, I may also fill those holes with welded in inserts to prevent this. Has anyone else ever seen cracks in these locations.....? Its the first I have seen it.

 

All of these cracks are around my steering box. I suppose the hard driving I do combined with the other modifications stressed an already weakened frame. I'll have to wait until Monday to contact some shops around me.

 

There are some chevy power tips in here

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...e-frame-2.html

 

Correct......the big hole needs filled....but the hole in the pictures above is on the bottom of the frame.. The Power Book has no mention of filling in that hole. And this hole on the bottom is clearly where his cracks are from.

 

I would let the weld shop grind them down and v them out. If you don’t know what you are doing you can make it worse for them.

 

You do want some drain holes in your frame. Condensation will collect in there and you want any moisture to either have a way to evaporate out or drain out. *** for the cracks, drilling a hole at the end of the crack will help to relieve the stress and prevent run on of the crack. using a wire wheel and removing any paint and rust will show you more of the crack and where its going. The new welds themselves will be stronger than the metal around them so getting a professional to repair it correctly is a very good idea. Plugging that specific hole is a good idea to me as it does appear to be a weak spot. If you are putting severe loads on your frame to cause these issues would warrant adding gussets and stiffening your frame in other areas to prevent this section from twisting so much. Do you have a spreader bar in stalled? are your crossmembers sowing any cracking either in the welds or the areas they are mounted?

 

The Chevy power book has been used for years to modify frames for racing,.....so, I have no doubt about its function and purpose. And I am absolutely no engineer, but I have heard engineers talk about what happens when you strengthen on area of a machine, like a car frame, airplane frame etc.......that now the twisting forces the machine endures will move the stress point elsewhere. Just as a matter of conversation on this thread, are there any engineers among us who could comment on that?

 

No engineers please, unless they are racers or have lots or experience building and many failures to fall back on..... I work with too many young engineers that play with numbers and no actual experience. The older Engineers just shake their heads with what the young guns come up with. No calculations will replace raw experience, and that comes from engineers..LOL

 

That was never fixed, you need to give the frame a good cleaning and check for more cracks, everything thing is fixable.

 

That long crack in the bottom of the pic, from the hole down, is concerning as it appears separate from the steering connections to the right. That's the motor mount horn, right? Are there any vertical cracks up the side weld where the horn is or at the front of the horn where it meets the frame? Does your engine have solid mounts? Does the other side show any repairs?

 

This is no big deal.
Many GM cars and pickup trucks have a designed weakness in the frames at and around the steering box.
I recently restored a GMC 4x4 where the frame was severely cracked at the steering box.
Most pickup and 4 wheel drive shops offer aftermarket kits to do this repair.
It basically consists of a 1/8” steel plate welded to the frame.
Those kits may not work for a C3 but you get the idea that this is a common occurrence.
If you aren’t a welder find a good local shop or someone who does mobile welding and will come to you.
I would remove the steering box and clean up the frame as best as you can to save yourself some money.
Have the welder repair the cracks and strengthen the frame per the Chevy Power Book and be done with it.

 

I just went down and looked at my frame.....and my frame does NOT have that hole in the bottom. Interesting. So no need for me to fill it.

 

I will need to check the other side of the frame rail.

I do have a spreader bar, and I have stock-style rubber motor mounts.

 

So - to answer your question - YES, that is repairable, and relatively easy to repair for a pro. My guess is that just a repair would be about a 2 hour job, an would run in the $200 - $250 range. (Most of the work will involve getting the prep work done, and moving things out of the way, then putting them back after the repair in made.) MAKE SURE to disconnect that battery before doing any welding.

The repair would involve a thorough cleaning the area to be repaired, Grinding the coating off the surfaces, MIG or preferably TIG welding up the cracks. Now - if you want them to add some metal around that area to reinforce it - that will take time to fab up the metal, and then to weld that metal over the area. Figure at least another 2 - 3 hours for that.

You will want to check the other side for damage / cracking as well, and if it were my car - I would weld some additional metal to that area to strengthen it. Since this isn't a race car - you can add a fair amount of metal to that area - and thus distribute the loads over a larger area. If you add a few pounds of steel on a street car - WHO CARES ...

 

When I had my GMC repaired the guys at the 4 wheel drive shop showed me some pictures of other trucks they repaired where the only thing holding the frame together was the steering box.
It took them about three hours to remove the box, repair the cracks and weld in the reinforcement plate.