Rust pitting on frame repair

[Adam Akers]

I am working on my 1925 Dodge Brothers Touring car, and I have some significant pitting on the frame where the body was sitting on the frame.  I am wondering what thoughts are in brazing in the pits vs mig welding the pitting. There are a few areas that the pitting is deep enough that it almost is a hole. The largest pits are around 1/4" in diameter.  I would like to fix the pitting rather than cut a section of the frame out and weld in a new section of metal.  This was my Grandfathers car, and I am trying to use as much of the original parts as possible. 

[capngrog]

I would fill in the pits using a welder.  My preference is a MIG, but those with more knowledgeable than me, prefer the TIG.  Then of course, there is "stick" welding and gas welding.  They will all do the job, and , if done properly, will not warp or distort your frame.

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers,

Grog

[kgreen]

If brazing you might as well consider bondo.  Brazing will not add any strength. 

 

[F&J]

Depends on how extensive the pits are as to welding it all up, versus filling with some sort of cosmetic filler..  

 

The frame rail's most critical strength requirements comes from the bottom flange and the sides. 

 

 

[1912Staver]

Not an easy fix. I had a similar problem on a 1918 Buick and figured the best solution was a better frame.  Welding will add stress to the frame and may promote cracking later on. You could replace the entire top flange but a ton of work and the possibility of warping with that much welding. 

Frames flex quite a bit and anywhere  you weld sets up a stress riser.

 

Greg

[franklinman]

There were a lot of those cars built and I don’t believe a frame would be that difficult to locate. I recently acquired a virtually complete ‘25 running gear sans the actual frame just as spares for my own ‘25 DB Roadster and I have been kicking around the idea of picking up a frame and throwing a speedster together just for fun. I have a lead on a pile of stuff that supposedly has a few frames but I haven’t had time to go check it out yet. If you shoot me a PM I will let you know what I find. A frame from 1924-26 (early style 116” WB) will work. Good luck.

[tcslr]

Send a picture of the pit and frame and some scale of the thickness ( original).  As Mssrs capngrog and F&J said, the repair can be done but needs to be done properly. 

There is techniques to repair problems on members.  It involves 'killing' the issue, some reweld and adding a diamond stiffener(s).