Should I add angle iron?

[Chris_Dresbach]

[B)] To start, I didn't do it!!! The old owners had to hack away part of the frame in the '40 to get the OD tranny to fit. I don't mind having OD, but...[xx(] Should I weld in some angle iron or is it safe[?]

Chris Dresbach. South Bend, In.

1940 Champion two door.
Parts of the 1952 Model N prototype.
1963 Prototype moon cart built by Studebaker.

[PlainBrownR2]

I would probably add some angle iron or fishplate with a cut of this nature. The structural reinforcements are all concentrated at the top of that X, so if the body flexes in the middle, it will flex through that little bit of metal at the top. This can probably be done a hundred different ways, but the problem lies in what do you do if you need to change out the tranny or a U-Joint? What I would do with something like this is weld some 3/16 fishplate strips at the top of the X, where it runs from above the transmission to the adjoining portion over the driveshaft. I would do this to both sides of the X. That would leave the bottom accessible for service. If I wanted to really get fancy, I would weld in a triangular shape fishplate that covers the driveshaft side, goes up to the center, and crosses over to the transmission side as a strip(think of the shape of a pistol, and you'll probably get the idea). I'd also try and do this on both sides of the X. But it would spread the forces out beyond the little concentration of metal at the top, in this case it would be spread out over the sides of the fishplate as well. The thing to remember is you may need to do repairs in this area later on, so you'll need something that allows you to separate the tranny and driveshaft and move it out of the way.

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[Chris_Dresbach]

I wonder what this area origionally looked like[?]

Chris Dresbach. South Bend, In.

1940 Champion two door.
Parts of the 1952 Model N prototype.
1963 Prototype moon cart built by Studebaker.

[PlainBrownR2]

Looking at the pictures, I think there used to be a large plate on either side of the X there, and the driveshaft ran through the center of the X. When the OD was put in, apparently it necessetated the use of a larger "hole" so they removed the extra material so the OD could slide into the crossmember. I may be wrong, but the chassis portion of the manual would probably be able to tell you what the crossmember originally looked like before the OD was installed.

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[Dwain G.]

Can't find a full pic of that area. This is the best I could find. You can see that it is riveted and tack welded to the frame. It originally had an access hole with a flange or lip around it.
My first thought was the cut-out might have been made because they didn't have the proper tools to remove the driveshaft u-bolts.
Then I remembered that the driveshaft can't be removed as an assembly on the earlier cars. It has to be disassembled in the car because the hole in the center support is too small for the driveshaft to go through.
I'm thinking when they R & R'ed the transmission they didn't want to go to that much trouble. They just wanted to disconnect the front joint and lay the shaft off to the side, but they needed a little bit more room.

http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=2514557015/PictureID=105066770015/a=5952707_5952707/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=mypoints/

[Deaf Mute]

Sometimes one can weld nuts onto the plates you install and bolt a flat piece of steel into those from the bottom. That adds a lot of strength and can be unbolted when the tranny has to be dropped.
Good Luck!

duane miller

[PlainBrownR2]

There we go, weld in some angle iron to act as standoffs, drill some holes in the bottom of the angle iron, and then drill some holes in some fishplate. After that use some large grade 8 bolts and secure it to the angle iron.

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