Does anyone have welded subframeconnectors? I've the Us Car Tool full subframeconnectors in place.

What did you do with the route of the e-brake cable?

Could you share some pictures of it?

I just went through this yesterday, I ran a piece of masking tape from the e-brake cable hole in front to the spot in the rear that the cable runs through. That gave me where the slots had to be cut. I marked where those spots were on the frame connector then took a grinder and ground slots in the frame connectors so the cable can pass through.
It didn't take longer than 10 minutes but now I have to repaint them because of paint burnthrough.

Sheldon

I have welded 2" x 2" connectors with slot cut in the sides for E brake cables.

Sure. These are ART sub frame connectors.

Thx! This does the trick!

When installed, the e-brake cable rides on above the top of our connector. I can't imagine that elongated holes in the center of the connector do much to add to their rigidity. That adds a huge twist compromise to the integrity of the connector and diminishes it's effectiveness.

By "huge" do you mean miniscule? That short section of the beam is now effectively a C-channel, this is not a huge compromise.

Now I agree that closing those holes and guiding the cable over would be a better solution and a little stronger, but I think you are overstating the issue. Frame sections on large trucks often have holes and openings through their sides, the majority of the loads are carried on the top and bottom surfaces of the box / beam structure.

If you were able to quantify the load this beam would actually see we could actually run the numbers, but I doubt the difference would be significant. Now, if you wanted to make this significantly stronger, make it taller, you could still put holes in the sides, it's OK.

And yes, I am a Mechanical Engineer, so, for the sake of argument lets just assume I am correct.

Spoken by a true old school engineer. LOL

Damon

Just trying to have a sense of humor - Moparts lacks that sometimes.

Well I would be the first to admit I am not an engineer, I'm just a lowly fabricator. However, when coming up with our designs our engineer (Aaron) does all of his wiz-bang stress and failure analysis. That said, I'm fairly confident that a boxed frame is always stronger than an open channel and while you are right that the forces generated may be insignificant enough to render the hole moot. In my opinion, I wouldn't want a gaping hole in my subframe connector where the part would be experiencing the most twist.

If anything the sub frame connectors are on tension/compression

You would need a hoop in the passenger compartment to be effective at truly minimizing torsion.

I.e. I don't think there is much twist acting on that part.

Ps all the frame rails have drain holes in them! Hurry break out the welder or she's going to blow

The chassis sees significant torsional twist especially when combined with higher spring and sway rates. The rockers (which don't have any holes) are what carry that load and prevent a large amount of the structural rigidity. A great example to this is when jacking up a vehicle by a corner before and after installing the connectors. Our subframe connectors tie the subframes in at a second place, adding to the chassis's ability to resist twist. And yes, adding a proper 6 or 8 point cage reduces an even greater amount of chassis cross flex, since you are controlling it on a broader 3 dimensional space.

I like to weld in a section of tube angled through the frame connector for the cable to ride through clean simple and strong......... [img]http:// 100-0528[/img]

It has never been substantiated here on Moparts exactly what forces the SFC actually resist. With handing my priority, I believe "twist" is my primary concern, and my last set I installed were 2.5" square, with twist resistance my first concern. Drag use would I suspect be more compression/bending forces. The hole for e brake cable is doing the least harm by being located in the vertical center, but being close to mid span is a down side for bending loads, it is larger? then absolutely necessary If I can make out the pic correctly, the oval holes are across from ea other, offset would I think be better, and any compression/tension loads are concentrated at around this hole, not ideal. Good way to make a 2x2 member act like a 1x1 member IMO.

I will b upgrading my Mopar with subframe connectors later this year. I'll be getting the new Magnum Force e-body unit for my Cuda.