Shorten a frame? Is this ok??

Down&Dirty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2005
Location
Greenville SC
Alright I shortened my grand wagoneer frame to try to get a good wheelbase for a 53 willys wagon project. Everything is welded with a lincoln 175. The rear gusset is the spare tire carrier modified and cut in half to do both sides. It was made out of a piece of 1/4 stock bent into a simple u shape with a 3 inch bottom and 1/2 sides. The gusset is 12 inches long with a little more towards the front of the cut than the back. Original wheelbase was 109. Now it sits at 106 and a stock willys wagon is 104.5. I am going to push the extra 1.5 inches out of the front to make room for tires turning. Does this need more reinforcement? Everything was beveled and burned in.
 
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I would have made the cut more like this:

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That would allow for more strength, as it wouldn't be an almost straight line for the welds to fail on. But I do believe that you will be fine with that. If you can, box that section right there for added security.
 
maulcruiser said:
If you can, box that section right there for added security.
Click to expand...

If you box just that section your going to put alot of stress on the part at the end of the box making it more likely to crack. Either box the whole thing or none.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have no plans for boxing in the rest of the frame. It is boxed 1/2 way from the factory and that keeps it boxed where all the engine and tranny forces are. At first I was going to cut the frame like you mentioned maulcrawler, but after talking with the fabrication/engineer at work I decided to go with what he suggested. He does design and build custom trailers and does rock crawling for a hobby so I figured he might have a clue. That cut shape that you mentioned was one in my head, where the one I used was mentioned by him to put the welds into different planes. I think that with that and the slight box that I built on the inside that I am fine, but just wanted to see what others thought. It is not like I can really cut it out anyway. The frame is the size that I wanted and really close to square the entire distance. I squared it up before welding, and squared the axles, but the welding shrunk one side a little more than the other. The axles are still square though.
 
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