Cracked steering box mounting
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:31 pm
Finally got around to addressing this issue while I have the front end out of the truck. My inside of the chassis rail had significant cracking emminating from each crush tube hole as well as a long crack following along most of the top half of the bracing mount for the cross brace bar.
Not sure if it adds to the stress over time but toyota do not fully weld around the crush tube holes/inserts and the retaining bolts are a loose fit within the crush tubes so they add no strength to the mounting other than to stop the chassis rail crushing in.
Had a small crack or 2 on the outside of the rail and I've welded these all up, jus tnot sure now whether to go to the effort to plate over both or either side. Easy to plate over the outside but it is not too bad. Bit of a pain to plate the inside around the exposed portions of the crush tubes but I'm thinking I should go to the effort to shape a plate around them and weld around them and stitch it to the rail maybe folding it over the top as well. Would not go any bigger than 2-3mm plate as there is only about 2mm extra in the bolts if I were to plate the outside. Plating the inside makes no difference as the bolts sit on the crush tubes which I would not widen.
Not sure if it adds to the stress over time but toyota do not fully weld around the crush tube holes/inserts and the retaining bolts are a loose fit within the crush tubes so they add no strength to the mounting other than to stop the chassis rail crushing in.
Had a small crack or 2 on the outside of the rail and I've welded these all up, jus tnot sure now whether to go to the effort to plate over both or either side. Easy to plate over the outside but it is not too bad. Bit of a pain to plate the inside around the exposed portions of the crush tubes but I'm thinking I should go to the effort to shape a plate around them and weld around them and stitch it to the rail maybe folding it over the top as well. Would not go any bigger than 2-3mm plate as there is only about 2mm extra in the bolts if I were to plate the outside. Plating the inside makes no difference as the bolts sit on the crush tubes which I would not widen.