Mocho

I guess joe blows in a auto body shop know more then welders with over 40 years experience that will not touch a frame, there is a GOOD reason for that. Any real inspection shop that seen a crack welded up in the main frame wouldn't pass it, nor would they accept joe blow welding on his bumper, track bar, traction bars, etc. Once again, drag cars are like comparing apples and oranges, semis are also very different, and you just cannot weld anywere you want on them. I have NEVER seen a recall that requires welding on the frame, and Chrysler would be paying me out for my truck if it was touched with a welder I can tell you that right now.

Weld on your truck if you like, but do not complain if 10 or 15 years down the road it has problems, or one day your frame cracks. Because I can assure you there is very few shops doing it right. If you think a piece of metal is stronger after it has been welded, you have no idea how it works, it is only as strong as the weakest point and is impossible to become stronger.

dropped2500

Wow dude you know everything! The reason welders with 40 years experience wont touch a frame is they dont know how it works. I can show you many of instruction sheets (from manufacturers) that show how to section a frame splice in a front clip. Like you say drag cars are like comparing apples to oranges, its the same for that 40 year building structure or oil rig welder and a 40 year frame welder. If welding something on your frame is Chrysler's procedure to fix it then i will bet you money that they arent taking your vehicle back no matter what you say! An as for a piece of metal being welded and being stronger, your right it wont be. But when you weld it like you weld a frame (with a backing plate behind your whole weld) then yes it is stronger, or if you over lap and weld. So until you step into the frame business you shouldnt tell us how to do our job and what is right and wrong. Cause i know for a fact that 99.9% of our customers have no idea i welded a new frame rail on there car and never will. An 5 to 10 years down the road you transmission will take a crap before MY weld breaks!!!

Blake Clark

I said I was done with this thread but I guess I was wrong. I just cannot let something that is blatently wrong go by.

Mocho I think you and I are of the same mind when it comes to welding on the frame of a vehicle. Its a very maticulate procedure and should only be done by someone who understands welding processes and how to control what is going to happen to the metal.

That being said I think you should be more informed before making assumptions concerning how welding works. You said that when a piece of metal is welded it is impossible to become stronger. You my good sir are wrong. It all goes back to the procedure and how it its welded and then tested. One of the standard test for a piece of weld metal is a tension test. This will determine the maximum yeild and load pressure of a weld metal and its parent material. Basically a section of the test coupon containing both the weld metal area and the parent metal is put into a huge machine and pulled apart. Now this machine is constantly taking precise mesurments at to the amount the metal is streching and at what pressure the metal or weld area will break. IF a sample breaks in the weld metal it fails because the weld metal MUST BE STRONGER than the original metal to be accepteable.

Now a welding procedure determins what type of material a said weld will consist of, including what type of welding media (rods) to weld with. What that means is if you have a piece of parent material that is rated at a 100,000 psi sample and you used a rod rated at a 60,000 yeild then yes the weld will be weaker than the parent material. No one in there right mind writing a procedure under normal circumstances would do this, your welding rods are always stronger than the parent material. But, this isnt the only factor as I have said many times before, its how its welded. If you dont moniter heat input and control how the metal cools then the parent material WILL be weakened, but if done properly then the weld will be STRONGER than the parent material and the parent material will retain its original integrity.

Now if you want to argue this fact its up to you, but this is something I do on a daily basis, matter of fact, its 5 mins to 6:00, bout to fire off my stacked up 6.7 and go and do it for about 13 hours. Yall have a good day.

Ace

Considering this particular repair was in the neutral axis forward of any major flange or area of torsional or vertical load, they probably could have gotten away with rivets and JB weld.

But I wouldn't recommend that!

dropped2500

But i would recommend bailing wire and jb weld!

Colo_River_Ram

Then why did it break in the first place?? It was not abused....

There is a problem in the design or manufacturing process that caused this to break..

dropped2500

AN WE ARE OFF AGAIN! That didnt take long.

dropped2500

How about we leave it at this....his truck is fixed no taking it back now. When you get to that fork in your road, take which ever turn you like. An to the owner of this thread, you take a chance when you get in your truck every day with all these stupied drivers running around so now just know that there "may" be a chance of another. But if we were all scared of chances that something might break or something might happen to us while we were driving then we all would be walking. At the end of the day the only choice that matters is yours!!

turbohi

ok guys....this was almost flamed out...lol but to a serious note..i have a 06 mega cab 2500. and it started to do the popping thing after i had put a 2" lift in (leveling kit) it has 190k miles on it. the lift was put on at 189,500k. i have been told its my sway bar bushings... but after reading the first post....im wondering about this now??????any good inputes ? dont want to flame on this anymore. just want the popping to stop.

Colo_River_Ram

I did not want to create a flame war myself, this has occurred on several trucks that were not abused.. I still believe it to be a design / mfg. problem.. With that said everyone needs to keep an eye on this potential "Safety Issue" with their truck.

Ace

I attribute this particular problem to Dodge's resurgent "minimalist" design theory. They build to the minimal standard necessary to get a product through warranty. As long as everything gets assembled correctly, bolted tight and not abused in the first three years, they will usually hold together. Add just one flaw like a bolt or 2 not torqued, additional stress from improperly installed leveling kits or lifts, robot missed a spot weld by a hair or two or a few episodes of DW wailing on it and next thing you know they are falling apart.

The 1st Gen steering box mount was simply a bad design - literally no bracing behind a C-channel frame section where the box mounts. The newer design is OK, just minimal steel thickness in the frame will let go if any of the above mentioned factors stress it too much.