Quote:
Originally Posted by BamZipPow
Thanks fer yer insight and opinion... 
I inspected the rear crossbeam (same setup) and there are no cracks on that piece. Wouldn't the rear have the same cracks as the frame flexes there, too? |
You got a point there.
Quote:
I know the low side skirts contact speed bumps as I'm driving over them as well as the oscillations of the road impacting the supports. Those impacts may have contributed to the cracking. 
|
If that's the case, then you could extend the wood further into the crossbars, and shorten the PVC tubes accordingly, so any upward push on the crossbar is spread over a much larger area than the 2 bolts, PVC pipes and washers on either end.
Quote:
|
There's no way I can have the belly pan crossbeams have any sort of play with the side skirts and belly pans hanging off of it.
|
It doesn't have to be
loose, it just needs the ability to give and take a little.
Quote:
The T-100's boxed frame has boxed crossbeams near the same point and they are welded in place. Those haven't cracked over the 375,000 miles on the T-100. 
|
But they're not made out of the same material.
Steel for frames does have some flexibility in it, or it'd destroy the frame.
We usually don't think much about it, but stresses on a car are relentless.
So some play needs to be built in, or it'll rattle and shake itself apart.
Quote:
|
...maybe extend the 2x4 inserts to include the fastener points and about 6" inwards from that point. I will have to include a thick steel plate on the bottom where the washers were in order to distribute the forces across that plate. I guess I could even go with 2x4 wood beams all the way across along with the metal stud as an outer protective shield.
|
Sounds like a good plan.