Has anybody taken a look at the pics above of the K frame welds and see if they see any red flags?

thanks,

BG

Nothing that really grabs my attention from your pics. The factory - mass production- welds were pretty sloppy but functional. Two things to consider while the K is out.

First is to reweld the lower C/A mounting "tubes" (or weld in large washers to reinforce them)- that's the only failure that I've ever had on a K frame- one side cracked & shifted .

Second would be to loosely bolt in the steering box & linkage- then fab some gussets (that have clearance for everything) to reinforce the box mount & weld them in. Less flex = tighter steering, which is always a good thing.

_________________
63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

Thanks, yes, the welds are sloppy but the frame appears to be straight and in good shape otherwise.

The tubes for the LCA's show some wear on the surface where the LCA pin meets the tub, but the welds look really good. I'll weld the reinforcing washers around the tubes, some gussets for the steering box, and weld around the perimeter as some of the spots seem loose to me.

FirmFeel sells a kit, but it's $75 and is literally a few pieces of steel and a skid plate. I can fabricate these for a few dollars.

bg

Here are pics of the K frame after soaking in evaporust for a week - no more rust! I had to find a big enough plastic tub...thank goodness for Big Lots. I hit it with the pressure washer after the soak, it removed a bunch of the loose paint.

You can see some very sloppy factory welds, and a few that appear to be after the fact. There was a "nail" sticking down through the K frame into the section where the sway bar goes, I have no idea what this was welded in for....I cut that off with a cutting blade.

It's a little banged up on the bottom, but generally in good shape. On to the welding phase...

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... 7.jpg.html

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... 3.jpg.html

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... 2.jpg.html

bg

Here is my K frame all finished in black epoxy paint...

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... a.jpg.html

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... a.jpg.html

bg

can you zoom in, get photos and show these mods,, thanks!

You can zoom in pretty close with fotobucket if you hit the little magnifying glass icon.

I welded around the seams, and braced the steering box in a couple places with some steel stock I had lying around. Also welded a sheet to the bottom where a skid plate would go. My welds were pretty ugly so I cleaned up the ones around the edge seams with a grinder before painting. It's a little sad, because my Dad was a welder...he's probably turning over in his grave. I just have this little stick welder and the power is just enough to strike an arc and get it going, but it's kinda hard to propagate a good weld for too long because it has a short duty cycle. But, I do get good penetration on the short welds I can make so cleaning them up with the grinder is OK. These welds are just to reinforce the factory spot welds (which were OK, only a couple were loose).

Here's a link to another's similar work: http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/sho ... t=all&vc=1

I painted it with a rust inhibitor primer then (VHT) gloss black epoxy paint.

bg