Cracked Frame! Advice needed

[Scotty]

OK well I was over at our local monthly Jeep get together and I had a parking spot up front where I had to ease up the curb to park the Heep. The rear rolled up just fine but the front wheels were kicked a bit to the left as I eased her up over the curb.. Then I herd it "POP" kinda made my stomach tighten up when it happened as I felt the pop in the steering wheel. Well I found it this afternoon a nasty crack inching its way all the way round the frame in front of the drivers side rear shackle.

I need some advise on how to address this issue so I can get it fixed the first time and not just do a half azz patch job..
Do I cut some 1/8th plate and come out off the crack a few inches on both sides? Do I weld the crack first then grind it down a bit then stick a steel patch over it? This is on both sides of the frame so take a look at the photos and let me know what you all think about this..

Somewhere down the line someone had an 8 stuffed in her and rather than doing the headers correct they heated the frame and pounded it in to give clearance for the headers..I'm thinking this made the steel brittle..Thanks for any help that you all can provide..

 

[Old Dog]

Do I weld the crack first then grind it down a bit then stick a steel patch over it?

^^^Thats what I'd do.^^^

 

[SrBeaver]

You are going to want to grind the crack into a "V" to allow for good penetration, weld the entire crack, then grind it flush, or very close to it, then you are going to take at minimum 1/8" plate and cut it to around 6 to 8 inches long, and angle the short ends, hell a pic is worth 1000 words right,

so in short once you've notched, welded, and ground the crack this is the best way to plate over it, it will disperse the torque over a greater distance than just plating a couple inches on each side of the crack. Hope this helps

 

[IOPort51]

I like the splice plates.
If you can find the end of the crack. drill a small hole at it. this may or may not stop it from running any farther, idealy you would like to normalize the hardened metal by heating cherry red and slowly cooling off but for the life of me I don't know how you would cool it slow enough.
like I said, I like the splice/reinforcement plates I don't think I would weld solid but it's your call, a 1 inch weld and 2 inch space should do it on the top and bottom do the diagonals solid if they are not too long and don't weld the ends at all.
This is the procedure Cat recommended for repairing heavy equipment frames about 25 years ago. There is a lot of stress in a weld.

 

[73CJ]

Suggestion:

Unless you are very experienced welder, take it a local weld shop. They do this kind of repair all the time. They will put the gussets on as well. I MIGed mine 3 times - it broke 3 time next to the welds.

hen I took it to the weld shop, never broke.

Mine was cracking do to a 4" TrailCrap (Master) springs with a 550#/in spring rate. Cracked the frame at the spring mounts, 3 different places.

Rode like a tank.

 

[Scotty]

Cool deal. I totally appreciate the help. I'm kinda stressed out over all this as I just dropped over 2 grand in the jeep in the last 4 days not factoring a cracked frame into the mix. I can hold my own with a stick welder and I can defiantly fab steel.. But im thinking this one is going to the local weld shop. I just ordered a superboxII with all the bells and whistles and a hd box support and a box brace so hopefully I can get the steering box stress off the drivers side of the frame..Thanks again folks!
Cool community here I tell ya!

 

[Kane]

I like the splice plates.
idealy you would like to normalize the hardened metal by heating cherry red and slowly cooling off but for the life of me I don't know how you would cool it slow enough.
like I said,.

You actually cool it with a torch. Use the torch with a bud tip and conitinue heating but slowly pull it away from the metal over the course of a couple minutes. This is how you cool a cast weld so it won't crack.