Ok, I had to cut the front off the engine crossmember to get the draglink to clear.

I know this weakened it, but I'm wondering how much bracing is needed to make up for the area?

I'm considering just building a new engine crossmember, but that is kind of difficult cosidering the entire front suspension is together, which makes access problematic.

Suggestions?

I thought about welding a piece of 2.5x1.5" square tubing to the back side to reinforce it. Think that would make up for the strength loss?

It would be hard to do anything with the front because if the draglink wouldn't hit it, the differential would proabably hit it on uptravel.

Any and all suggestions/input welcome.

A new crossmember would be ideal, but a pain to get in there. Not to mention I would have to hold up the drivetrain, while I cut the old crossmember out.

Ryan

Another from the side:

i'll be cutting mine all the way out as i need to relocate the motor mounts up 2". i plan to build a completely new one.

i was going to use 2 pieces of round tube right next to each other and then have 2 legs going forward and 2 aimed rearward to brace it up. i havent got mine cut out yet so i really havent seen what i'm up against yet.:beer:

Could you go ahead and cut the rest of that 'lip' off and weld in a section of angle iron with the angle going up instead of down? Just an idea.

From the pics it's hard to see where the top of the differential will fit under full stuff relative to the crossmember. To preserve the existing crossmember I suggest using a piece of fairly thin plate that will run vertically around the crossmember from the front cutoff edges side to side just like the one you removed, but relocated to the rear at the bottom-center of the member and welded to it. This should make it about as stiff as it was (if the plate is the same thickness and width as the ground-off front bit) and triangulate it well. It may be necessary to do something creative on the pass. side for clearance; a big cardboard template will be helpful.

As for a new one you've probably already seen the GM design from Missouri Offroad:
http://www.mo-offroad.com/replacementxmem.jpg
In something like this round tube should be nice, I've scrounged up some 2-3/8" 0.120" wall DOM recently.

I agree with lloyd to run a piece of bar stock vertical around the edge you cut off, but I have a feeling that if you do that, you will end up replacing it anyway.

If it were me, I would build one like the one jason watson built for his blazer.

http://www.offroaddesign.com/techtips/crossover.htm

Short of changing out the whole thing, for now I'm going to cut mine like yours and then about 1" in I will plate it at an angle back twords the bottom rear lip with some 1/4"x 2" flat stock. I'll probly use 5 pices evenly spaced.

Todd

Originally posted by GRMhick


If it were me, I would build one like the one jason watson built for his blazer.

http://www.offroaddesign.com/techtips/crossover.htm


same idea i'm runnin with. ;)