welding cracks in Blitz chassis

[aj.lec]

Originally Posted by Jason Linders

Thanks for that aj.lec so would it be wise to cut past both the crack at 45 then replace with a new peace of rail

One old bloke I was speaking to that repaired trucks for years suggested cutting frame in between hangers and doing the join there and plating to past the hangers in either direction

[Jason Linders]

Thanks for the advice the only problem i have is if i put between front hangers ill loose my vin number, but rear hanger is no problems.
Thanks

[hrpearce]

Jason post pictures of the cracks for accurate replys.

[Jason Linders]

cracks in chassie rail someone at some stage did a crap fix on them.

[Jason Linders]

another pic

[aj.lec]

She has definately had a hard life
That chassis is a mess
Personally I would look for another chassis. F15A and add the double rail at rear and transfer winch mounts and assorted bits

[hrpearce]

I agree with AJ. I was hoping you just had some small cracks that were easy fixed. It looks like you might need some new spring hangers as well as the repairs. Good luck you have a lot of work there. The MB-F1 recomends hot riveting chanel or angle reinforcing behind the weld and welding the outside edges together.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by aj.lec

She has definately had a hard life
That chassis is a mess

Not so much a hard life as a poorly designed jib. FGT chassis needs stiffening to fit a jib, they're only 15 cwt (ie. single thickness chassis rails) and the winch is located in the narrow section of the chassis rail, aft of the taper from the midsection. There's just no strength there, and with a jib fitted the winch cable pulls UP on the chassis rails instead of ALONG as designed. Unless they're stiffened like the pic below they'll bend and crack like Jason's. My FGT9 chassis is the same.

[cletrac (RIP)]

I doubt that you'd need to add the strengthening plates. On the 8 cwts Ford cut the frame rails at an angle and butt welded them together and that was it. How much rough use will a restored gun tractor get anyway?
I'd groove the crack a bit with an angle grinder then weld it with enough heat to get good penetration then grind it smooth. Do the same on the other side and keep going. Plates welded on will detract from the restoration in my opinion.
Personally I'd get a 15 cwt frame and stamp your serial # on it and forget the welding.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by cletrac

Personally I'd get a 15 cwt frame and stamp your serial # on it and forget the welding.

...or cut out the serial and weld it into the new chassis. That way it would be the "genuine chassis number"!