Narrowed Beam - DIY

[dubba]

I have my old front beam in my garage. The end plates are shot but the tubes are solid, I have noticed I can buy end plates to weld on and make a narrowed beam. This seems like an affordable option. Does anyone out there have an idoits guide/list of things to consider and be aware of when doing this?? :?:

 

[mychatype3]

http://www.kustomcoachwerks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1974

Greetings mycha

 

[dubdubz]

to narrow and keep the needle bearings and the whole thing straight is a mare and time consuming - not trying to put you off but it can take ages just to clean the ends of the beam.

Also I found a couple of donor beams to be shot and very thin behind the towers! So my suggestion is weld angle iron so the tube remain relative - also mark/measure from centre to the back of the towers for reference.
It sounds obvious but when the towers are cut off you lose the bolting in reference, so you need to mark and make sure the beams stay together...

 

[stuif]

I did my own, and it's not that bad to do
Some pics of the work

 

[89Rallye]

I did mine, details here

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38541&start=20

Stuif how much did you cut from your beam, 2 or 4 inches? I'm struggling to get my air shocks on with mine but I think I'll have to machine the lower trailing arms for clearance

 

[89Rallye]

Oh, I think I have a spare pair of end plates somewhere too if your interested.

 

[AndyO]

Some pics of when I did mine: http://photobucket.com/albums/l593/purepassionkiller/Beam" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[dubba]

cheers all,
Pictures have helped no end clarifying a few things. I certainly feel more confident about tackling this now.
Cant wait to get started, ......although that will be after all the others items on my list!

If things go wrong be sure to expect a few messages from me.

Thanks again