Hat Channel

I looked at mine the other day. It has cracked again. Thinking of a new way to reinforce it.

 

I have a buddy who's a retired bodyman and very good at sheet metal work....he's going to weld some new metal over the top of what's there.

Definitely need to do this.

 

Mine are shot and I subscribed to this thread for ideas to fix.

 

How about a Hat Channel Cap. I bent some 18 gauge steel with my new bender. It may not look pretty when I'm done. There's a few weld in the corners I had to clear.

I also noticed a crack where my floor and tool box are welded. The hole at the top left is the inside box floor drain.



New bending tool. Magnets hold the dies to the vice.



Channel Cap ready to be tack welded together.

 

More info on this tool please!

 

Four sizes available. I got the 5.5".

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015U6VMLE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The cap is made, not sure when I'll get around to install it. Still need to clean the paint off the floor supports.

 

There's gotta be a story behind that ...

 

Forget buying the dies, sheet metal and maybe a vise that's large enough....

You could manufacture these!

 

Got my tool in the mail yesterday, I an going to attempt to build something similar to Scott M's....probably won't be as good though!

 

Luckily being a aircraft structural mechanic, I have access to all sorts of shop tools at work, to include several cornice and box and pan breakes. I’d much rather get the Eastwood version of the tool mentioned above if I absolutely needed one.

Eastwood 6 Inch Vise Press Metal Brake

 

My progress.

Welded the cracks in the supports.


Applied weld though primer.



Fit tested the cap.



Welded the cap. (My over head welding skills needs work.)



Applied more primer. Now it's ready for finishing.

 

Nice! Wanna come to Colorado and do mine?

 

Me too

 

You guys can do this. it's not hard.

 

Nice work Scott. That'll probably take care of that spot for good.

Mike

 

Yeah, but ball park figure here—what would you charge for a pair (L and R)?

 

Lets all just peer pressure him into doing it

 

Progress today...I cut the rivets off and removed the body mount from the frame, then cut open the hat channel and chiseled all the old wood out of there. I need to come up with a spacer to replace the wood, I'm open to suggestions for that.


Then, using Scott's pictures as a guideline, I made a cardboard template for the reinforcement.

And cut and bent some sheet metal.