Custom frames

Max I see all the time and money going into all these really nice frames. But I was thinking, if you had a frame and all the cross members are are fully welded, then the frame has no give. obviously the engineers at major companies feel the need to rivet items to the frame instead of weld them on. My question is will the frame begin to crack and come apart over time. Or is there enough flexibility to handle it. I would like to hear your thoughts on this, and anybody else for that matter.

I think that rivets are just a cost saving measure from the factory. Much cheaper than welding everything I would think. Also with all the new hydro formed frames that are coming out, they started to do that to make them stiffer and stronger to.

Import frames are fully boxed and welded, and in some areas they are internally braced.

Edited: 7/12/2008 6:45:45 PM by smithchassis

Colorado/canyons are also fully boxed and internally reinforced around the cab mounts, they are also internally reinforced in the fron spring pocket area, but they still do have a little flex in them stock vehicles need it because they ride alot rougher and it mostly distributed through the frame, because of coil springs. When its bagged it takes alot off stress of the rest of the frame

all commercially manufactured truck frames are deisnged to flex a certain amount. just turn into a driveway at an angle and notice the cab to bed flex. The frames that have the front boxed and the back not (s-10) etc, are deisgned to flex some in the front but alot more in the back. The stiffer the frame the more crisp the handling of the truck.

The other school of thought on this is that a non flexing frame with lots of braces is better for a racing environment. This also applies to the minitruck scene. In our case the rear clip is braced so much because of the bags and other items mounted to the frame. The mix of bracing and non bracing on the same truck is not a problem becuase of the bed and cab not being welded together.

On a unibody there is normally a stiffer frame and/or the cab is very strong where the cab and bed meet and the whole thing is mounted on rubber mounts to add some flexability.

A tube frame used as an air tank has to be very strong and not flex. When overbuilding a frame at a certain point you overcome the stresses of daily driving with larger tube and large very well prepared welds.

Originally posted by Toddgoesfast



all commercially manufactured truck frames are deisnged to flex a certain amount. just turn into a driveway at an angle and notice the cab to bed flex. The frames that have the front boxed and the back not (s-10) etc, are deisgned to flex some in the front but alot more in the back. The stiffer the frame the more crisp the handling of the truck.

The other school of thought on this is that a non flexing frame with lots of braces is better for a racing environment. This also applies to the minitruck scene. In our case the rear clip is braced so much because of the bags and other items mounted to the frame. The mix of bracing and non bracing on the same truck is not a problem becuase of the bed and cab not being welded together.

On a unibody there is normally a stiffer frame and/or the cab is very strong where the cab and bed meet and the whole thing is mounted on rubber mounts to add some flexability.

A tube frame used as an air tank has to be very strong and not flex. When overbuilding a frame at a certain point you overcome the stresses of daily driving with larger tube and large very well prepared welds.



Very good points Mike White, how's the shop doing nowadays?

what were the good points? or did you even read them? do you even understand why a frame flexes on some things and doesnt on others?

Originally posted by Toddgoesfast



what were the good points? or did you even read them? do you even understand why a frame flexes on some things and doesnt on others?

whoa there guy, how bout an attitude check!! lol.

Yeah you know I'm just going to um go oooover here and um slam my dick in a microwave.

One of the main reasons frame flex is comfort for the driver. When you have a half ton truck with leaf spring suspension, it''s not the softest ride. If the frame is flexing, it takes alot of the roughness out of the ride. Seth is right, an import has a fully boxed, welded frame. In the case of older Nissan's, there was internal zigzags inside the frams for extra stiffness. If your running a full air suspension set up correctly, your bags will compensate for having very little twist. If the frame is fully welded, fishplated and gusseted, you will never crack or have failure if done properly. I see beautiful frames that have all the joints ground down and smoothed out. It looks awesome, but in reality, you've ground away half the strength of each and every weld, no matter how much you bevelled each joint. You must fish plate, it's the best way to retain strength.