so i was at work the other day and tripped over a piece of angle iron that was 4"x5" and was 5/16" thick....i measured it and walked it out to my truck and saw if fit perfect...not only is it strong enough to jack the truck up on but i will be mounting my belly pan and skids to it...let me know what you guys think...
pics

 

Good job! It's likely very unnecessary with material that thick and with a belly pan but if you box that in even with like .125" plate it will add a fair amount of strength to it.

Frank

 

Nice...

If it were mine I would "round" out the cutout a bit - and avoid the "notches" in the corner of the cuts (tho I doubt the "stress risers" will be an issue as if that peice is stressed enough to bend/break you have other issues)

 

Yeah, I second the corners. Corners like that are the first place cracks will form. Also, I don't see it having much strength, because of the big notch for the driveshaft. That's why people use the boxed or tube design.

But, it's better than nothing, and will surely support the skid.

 

Looks plenty beefy to me. I wouldn't worry about it anymore.

 

i dig it i was actually just thinking about starting to design one. (my roommate is a mechanics major and i have unlimited access to solidworks!)

 

Does your boss know that you steal from work?

 

LoL, it's called being creative. making something out of nothing.

 

Anything there is better than nothing. IF the forces on those lower A-arms were so great ..enough to bend, crack or hurt that truss, then i think toyota would of engineered something there in the first place.

its fine, good job =)

 

How much do you think that truss weighs?

Frank

 

Looks good... especially considering the cost.

Maybe you could beef it up with some gussets like this:



Would help support the skid from impacts and probably prevent any possible cracking or bending of your truss. Seems simple enough... if you can weld. If not... then my idea is probably just overkill anyway.

 

It's already over-kill! (its 5/16" steel angle iron for crying out loud). If he ever manages to crack that thing I will personally weld it up for free

 

Haha true that. That corner alone has to be close to 1/2" thick. That thing isn't going anywhere.

 

Rocks should fear that truss and preemptively sink into the ground before you get there just to avoid the full punishment they are about to receive.

 

schweeeeeet!

 

thanks for the good words guys...it prolly weighs a good 15 pounds ish never really weighed it...yeah the corner of this thing is SOLID...i actually asked my boss about taking it and he said take more while your at it.....get the place cleaned up a bit...it was going in the dumpster if i didn't take it...i am working on a custom bull bar next...should a have pictures later on tonight...i incorporated another peice of this angle iron however it is only 1/4" will keep you guys posted...to tell you the truth i jacked the truck up on this truss and it didn't even bow...(i know because i put a 2 foot level up to it)

 

I think the bolts you used for it are probably the weak point. I'd nab some Grade 8 bolts!

Other than that, looks sweet. That is a thick hunk of metal. Have any more you'd maybe like to send along? I need to make a custom one since I have a lift and the Sonoran one won't fit =/

 

18.53 pounds

 

sounds right...jcfb i only grabbed two of the job site and one is the 5/16th on and the other is 1/4. the shorter bolts you see are grade 8 and the others are grade 5...i will be redoing all the hardware on it and the skids when i get the skids done

 

It's called "scrap iron" for a reason LOL

I would have torched round edges more for asthetics than strength but it looks nice and plenty beefy... anything you do that's narly enough to crack that is probably going to write off the truck anyway so no worries...