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Fish Plate Tech

Latest painters tape aided design, this one looks less chunky. I like that it still supports the frenched spring hanger as well.

As per Carl Jantz’s recommendation I’m probably still going to plate the top and bottom of the frame since I have to cap the angled cuts I made anyway and I’ll extend them front to back.
 

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semi-related. I'm not sure you can buy the steel for what they charge for these I stumbled on on ebay. If the shape kinda works for your application, its damn cheap

I probably would have grabbed them to hack up into pieces if I'd found them before my build was "done"

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budget76 said:
semi-related. I'm not sure you can buy the steel for what they charge for these I stumbled on on ebay. If the shape kinda works for your application, its damn cheap

I probably would have grabbed them to hack up into pieces if I'd found them before my build was "done"

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Anyone know if the frames are pretty much the same or very similar for the 96-2002 model year 4Runners? That price is crazy good. I dont' have a rust problem but may want to reinforce the frame for the SAS.
 
Sean said:
Anyone know if the frames are pretty much the same or very similar for the 96-2002 model year 4Runners? That price is crazy good. I dont' have a rust problem but may want to reinforce the frame for the SAS.
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96-02 4Runner and Tacoma basically have the same frame in the front, and completely different frames in the back. Tacoma is C channel, with leaf springs, and the frame is straight between the rear axle and rear bumper. 4Runner is fully boxed, has brackets for the coil spring, and droops down between the axle and rear bumper.
 
Sean said:
Anyone know if the frames are pretty much the same or very similar for the 96-2002 model year 4Runners? That price is crazy good. I dont' have a rust problem but may want to reinforce the frame for the SAS.
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there were ones for other trucks too. I just grabbed the first one I re-found.

go figure it was for a toyota:laughing:
 
After having this discussion in the past, all I'll say is that when looking to engineering specs for welding truck frames together: keep in mind that they're probably not designing said frame joint to need to handle the weight of the vehicle after dropping off a 4' ledge and taking a direct rock hit to the frame joint. I prefer the redundancy of plating over stuff like that, although plate really doesn't need to be thicker than material you're plating. My .02

As I was typing that I also had a thought - I've got a pretty large rock-shaped dent in the frame of my Toyota (boxed 1/8") that is probably 1" deep. If there happened to be an 1/8" plate on the side of the frame right where that hit happened, it would have made that dent much smaller. Just random data point
 
desertPOS said:
After having this discussion in the past, all I'll say is that when looking to engineering specs for welding truck frames together: keep in mind that they're probably not designing said frame joint to need to handle the weight of the vehicle after dropping off a 4' ledge and taking a direct rock hit to the frame joint. I prefer the redundancy of plating over stuff like that, although plate really doesn't need to be thicker than material you're plating. My .02

As I was typing that I also had a thought - I've got a pretty large rock-shaped dent in the frame of my Toyota (boxed 1/8") that is probably 1" deep. If there happened to be an 1/8" plate on the side of the frame right where that hit happened, it would have made that dent much smaller. Just random data point
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You do raise a good point as the OEM designs are for the “this is good enough to meet this structural criteria” which dropping off of a ledge is likely outside of the scope of their designs
 
$30 for a pair of 1/8" tacoma plates, 42" overall. I'm about to grab a set just to hack up for brackets/tabs/etc

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Unless you need those features I'd just buy flat stock from your local steel supplier because odds are the holes and notches and bends aren't gonna be where you need them to and you'll wind up making a lot of waste in the process. I can vouch for Sullivan Metals in Worcester and Springfield but IDK anyone in the Hartford area.
 
Winchested said:
Agree even the Scout Terras and Travelers in the 70s were done this way, I took a 118" wheelbase one cut the sleeves out shortened them mimicking the stock design, tapped em back on welded back up to make a 100" WB frame.
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Rust only took 18" from your Scout body? I find that hard to believe, usually it's the whole body.:grinpimp:
 
shortbus4x4 said:
Rust only took 18" from your Scout body? I find that hard to believe, usually it's the whole body.:grinpimp:
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Hahaha. My Scout is a cluster fuck and the guy who paid a drunk blind guy to weld it all back together frigged it so bad that I don't care if I smash it off trees and rocks.
 
Different idea, cut the spring hanger bracket in half. Basically, cut the frame width out of the hanger and weld the halfs to the sides of the frame.

Cut a peice of tubing in half to cap the frame notch.

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Gravy said:
Different idea, cut the spring hanger bracket in half. Basically, cut the frame width out of the hanger and weld the halfs to the sides of the frame.

Cut a peice of tubing in half to cap the frame notch.

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That’s an interesting thought as well… more work but maybe stronger? It would tie in nicer even though there are more individual pieces
 
2022ish GMC 3500 Sierra frame splice
While not a fish plate it has the forbidden vertical weld!
 

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Cut out the pattern with my jigsaw yesterday. This will make the plate about 1/4” undersized on all dimensions which should give me a good weld area away from the edges. I need to make eight templates so hopefully the wood survives
 

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