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Rear strut bar/shock tower frame support
Rear shock tower frame supportWell I started on the frame support for the truck today. It's the last piece for the frame support for the car. Took a while to make the plate that goes on the tower, but now I have a template for the other side. Started out with cardboard, then transferred over to 1/8 inch plate steel. Burned off a few cut-off wheels on the dremel, but it was worth it. Once I have the other side down, it'll be connected with a length of 1/8 inch thick 1x2 steel (same stuff I used on the under carriage sub-frame).Attached Thumbnails |
Here's the next piece!Attached Thumbnails |
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The plates were made to have something for the bar going across to mount to instead of just welding to the existing tower. It's a lot thicker going from 18 gauge steel to 1/8 in (.120) steel.
I plan on welding a bolt on one side, inside of the tube with an adjusting nut to tighten up the assembly to give it a good pre-load. Though I like your idea of putting heim joint there. Might not be a heim joint, but it'll be something of the sorts. I'm really good at fabrication, but I'm also very cheap. Heh. But I'll check into them at the hardware store. I'll see what I can cook up. The plate itself will be bolted down via the shock mounting bracket bolts. They're large enough and a grade 8 to be able to hold it in place. The initial shape was made by using cardboard. Once I had the shape of it, I rough cut the flat steel and then shaped it to fit into the nook on top of the tower. The outer holes were drilled out using a step bit. They're a lot larger than the bolts, but I wanted enough wiggle room to be able to remove the bar if I needed to. The center hole was also drilled out with the step drill, multiple times to remove as much material I could. I basically just used the shock upper washer as a template, and scribed around it to get the general shape and size. I finished the hole and cleaned it up using a dremel and some cut-off wheels. I'm pretty good with a hand grinder from back in the days when I was a trim die machinist at the forging plant. Hopefully I'll have it done today at at least to the point of getting it painted up to look all pretty. Then I have to figure out how to cut the trunk carpet trim neat enough to make it fit. |
I did gather some parts at the local Rural King. I looked at the heim joints and wasn't too thrilled with them. I did find some rod ends that I'm going to put on both sides. That way all I have to do is rotate the steel stock to expand it outward. Not very cheap either. About 20 bucks each. But they're forged, so it'll be strong.Attached Thumbnails |
Ok. I have it assembled in the trunk. Basically I took the plates and drilled out holes for the rod ends to connect to. I tack welded the bolt in and ground down the head of it so it had clearance. On the square stock I took a nut and ground down 2 sides so it could be hammered into the ends of the bar. I was also drilled out so that the rod bolt could slide inside of it and be a guide for the bolt. A locking nut/adjusting nut on the outside will lock it down and provide the pre-load across the towers. All that's left is to remove all the mill scale off the steel, paint it, and pick up a few nuts to lock down the plate to the shock mount and it's done.Attached Thumbnails |
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Few more. Sorry about the quality. Not the best lighting.Attached Thumbnails |
Originally Posted by Mangoman Wow man that looks really good! |
Paint says it is finished.
Looks like it will do the job. I was wondering about placing a washer between the bar and the adjusting nut to keep from chewing up the nut....... It looks like the factory bar has a couple diagonal braces going downward toward the inner seat belt mounts, or the rear seat pivot hinge/braces. Maybe that triangulates the brace and provides extra strength on the factory bar. How thick was the metal on the bar? |
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