Found a crack @ the passenger side front bag plate, cleaned the weld away & added a filler piece into the center that was a open area & welded up. Good again!!
Just a question Gary, did you drill a hole at the each end of the crack to keep it from spreading anymore?
Mather of fact I didn't! Didn't even think of it,was in a rush to fix it, & my neighbor Mat looked @ it, he's a engineering student, & he even forgot that! Should be good, & I keep a eye on all the suspension parts!
What does the rest of the bag mount look like? it looks to me like it is flexing a bit to have cracked the metal across there. You may need a bit more reinforcement to keep it from happening again. If it cracked once, what you did to fix the crack won't permanently solve the problem, as it will likely crack below the weld you just installed.
You may be right,but my engineer neighbor said he thinks because the frame metal is thinner than the plate it was metal fatigue. There's a lot of force of the bag pushing upward! The top gussets are what CanDo supplied & wild to the stock metal piece. If happens again I will in deed add some type of bracing from the plates sides to the frame!
I thought you had used Steve's plates and gussets. My only thought is that yes, it is definitely metal fatigue, but that only occurs because of movement. I have the same setup, so it concerns me slightly. The only thing I did differently is that I added the gussets that he developed within the last couple years for a pre taco build he did. I can't remember the name of the build though... The gussets run from the backside of the bag plate along the frame rail at a slight downward angle. I'll see if I have a pic somewhere.
It was project Anti-Hack. But I can't find a pic of it right now. When I get home this weekend, I'll try to get a pic for you.
I tried finding the picture but myspace did something different or Win 8 sucks because it won't let me go to it. Maybe I'll do it from my iPad...
Yeah,mine are from Steve,I don't have the side wings going to the frame like in your photo.Not sure that they make a difference as on the same plane as the bag plate!
Seems like you do have some room to put some side gussets in a diagonal angle. I may have to do this if I ever get my bags... Almost there...
Yeah, you can't tell from the pic, but they do slant downhill at a 25 to 30 degree angle. They definitely would add some rigidity. Plus, even if they weren't angled, they'd spread that load over a larger area of the frame rail.
I recommend putting the extra gusset on the set up. I usually cut my own from scratch. The gusset starts out almost flat with the bag plate and I'll put a bend after the gusset clears the bag and run it to the bottom of the frame. Just like the pic posted by Litneon, but I prefer to run mine forward for the extra shock clearance.
Right... So what if you weren't an Owner/Head Fabricator with all this cool shop equipment...? Then what would you do?
Make some with 1/4" or 3/16" plate then use a vice to get your bend or torch to heat it up an bend it. And some cardboard to make a template. There's always a way. I've built most of my truck buy finding a way to either bend the metal or make gussets an I have barely any hand tools an only a drill welder an grinder
