Bracing the 'ol Saginaw

In the course of my winch mount/front bumper fabrication project I found problems with the power steering conversion. Although the Saginaw box is nice for larger tires, care must be taken in the conversion. The increase in frame stresses can be substantial. In my case other modifications left the frame ends essentially loose. Don't think for a moment that the frame rails are rigid. They are not!

So the winch plate/bumper is designed to secure the frame ends together and limit torsional movement forward of the original crossmember. To further distribute stresses from the power steering mount I fabricated a brace.

 

Hey CJ that's a nice looking brace - I am in the middle of rebuilding a '55 CJ frame myself (bought it as part of a basket case project last fall) the guy I got it from has the Saginaw box mounted just about like your's but he has cut out the original front crossmember - looking at your pix it would seem that you retained the x-member, did you notch it or what??

I'm kind of at a loss as to which way to go, I obviously need a front x-member but I don't know where to locate it or what it should look like - any help or ideas would be welcome.

Tnx, Rogueboater

 

I like it Joe!

 

Hey Rogueboater,

Thru the crossmember is OK if it is done correctly. Meaning as long as the modification doesn't weaken the crossmember. I can snap a pictue of mine & post it when I get home.

 

Mine is routed under the crossmemeber, very close, then used a couple u-joints and a support to get the shaft to the steering column.

 

Here's a pic of the through the crossmember method. Keep in mind others work well too. I beefed this up as the original was about to fail. Cut out a section, welded in 2" x .120 tube. Then re-boxed the member. Probably stronger then original.

Notice behind the crossmember (lower left in picture). The gray slip coupling. Very important!! Prior to adding that wonderful little piece of hardware any frame flex would pull the shaft away from the steering box. I lost steering while on a steep hill. Since the coupling has some wobble and there is another u-joint further back I also added the pillow block just behind the crossmember for stability.

 

Wehn Imounted mine, my box was so long i had to notch the cross member to get it too fit, my cross memeber looks different that the one in the above pictures, but all of my linkage runs underneath the member

 

Foothill Offroad has just the clamp that fits the snout on the Saginaw box. It's Grade 8 $20.00 It's the same one Currie uses to make their $69 version. You can fab the rest from there. www.foothilloffroad.com