Question for welder /fab guys

[F.U.IRS]

Looking at this dune/sand buggy. I like it but it has a broken chassi

. Can this be fixed easily enough? 3 breaks 1 on each side of the coil and one by the upper shock mount.

 

[riverroyal]

I can be fixed. But will break again
Theres a stress point right there thats needs to looked at. Gussets or some way of distributing the force
Poor design

 

[F.U.IRS]

I figured it would need reinforcement. Do you think it could be made strong enough ?

 

[rrrr]

That looks like it was caused by a hard endo event. If you could disassemble the car and put it on a fab table, I think it would show the frame was bent in a couple of planes.

Might be a good idea to keep looking. I'm by no means an expert on the dunes, but I think early November is a bad time to begin looking for a sand car. They'll be priced unrealistically or busted up junk, or both.

 

[F.U.IRS]

It doesnt look like it's been upside down at all, but I am worried about the chassis being bent, eventhough it looks straight to the naked eye

 

[rush1]

You can't see it from the naked eye you would have to use a plumbob and measure all four corners, being broken I'm sure it won't measure square but if it was welded up and gussetet up I'm sure it would be fine.

 

[HSR]

Just stress from the shock load. Probably during G outs. As riverroyal said, can be repaired, but that isn’t the fix. Needs a design change. Shouldn’t be that hard to come up with something better, and not reason enough not to buy it if the price is right and the rest of the car is in decent shape.

 

[nordictom]

3rd picture, looks like a bad weld. The weld to the left of the coil. could have broke, causing the other tubes to fail. Like other have said, need to put it on a table & start measuring.

NT

 

[arch stanton]

Is it a brand name car or is it home built if it is a brand name then the problem and fix may be know if home built still fixable but more trail and error
maybe a better project for a guy that knows how to weld and can fix himself than having to pay 1000's to a shop to chase problems

 

[DLC]

It looks like a home made car, it’s not boxed correctly. It can be fixed but won’t flow right and it will look modified which will Lower the resale down the road.

can you post a pic of the entire car. Is it a great deal and can be had on the cheap?

might be worth while just buying a new frame and swap parts.

 

[HSR]

3rd picture, looks like a bad weld. The weld to the left of the coil. could have broke, causing the other tubes to fail. Like other have said, need to put it on a table & start measuring.

NT

Not saying they’re great welds, but I don’t think that’s the problem. It broke in the haz, not directly at the welds. I’d bet the shock probably served double duty as a bump stop, and that, on top of poor design is what caused it. Again, it wouldn’t scare me off from buying it if the rest of the car is sound, and it’s what you want.

 

[HSR]

Not that I know everything, but for what it’s worth, I’ve built a handful of full tube chassis, raced king of the hammers, etc. I’m currently camped at a race track in page for my sons 170 race tomorrow.

 

[HSR]

It looks like a home made car, it’s not boxed correctly. It can be fixed but won’t flow right and it will look modified which will Lower the resale down the road.

can you post a pic of the entire car. Is it a great deal and can be had on the cheap?

might be worth while just buying a new frame and swap parts.

How do you know that it’s home built (not saying it isn’t) based on the pics that were posted? I’ve seen plenty of production chassis fail. Chenowith is my guess, and I’ve seen them fail plenty. Again, my guess is that the shock doubled as a bump stop, and that’s what caused it.

 

[rrrr]

3rd picture, looks like a bad weld. The weld to the left of the coil. could have broke, causing the other tubes to fail. Like other have said, need to put it on a table & start measuring.

NT

That's a really bad weld. Are there others? It would be difficult to determine.

 

[DLC]

How do you know that it’s home built (not saying it isn’t) based on the pics that were posted? I’ve seen plenty of production chassis fail. Chenowith is my guess, and I’ve seen them fail plenty. Again, my guess is that the shock doubled as a bump stop, and that’s what caused it.

1st off it doesn’t look like a well planned design.
The shock is only supporting the rear engine cradle without any type of gusset. The rear engine cradle Tube is one Continuous tube should carry the motor trans and not the suspension. It’s hard to describe in txt , but the shocks should be located differently And be triangled into the main chassis. The pic does show that and is only a guess on my end.

the welds don’t look good they get fat and skinny and don’t appear to be centered on both tubes, more focused on the flat of the tube and not the vertical tube sides.
difficult to describe in txt. The one has been cracked for some time.

maybe this is an old Chenowith frame they Built some brick shit houses back in the day

 

[Icky]

At a minimum put an internal sleeve on the one that broke in half.
Looks like you can put another plate/gusset on the outside of the shock so its in double shear and ties those 2 tubes together as well

 

[DLC]

This tube looks to be one long tube that runs around the belly of the car. There isn’t any suspension triangulation to reinforce the shock mount. And is now only used to support the engine cradle.

 

[DLC]

im guessing that thus tube bends around towards the back of the car and mirrors this side Without any up tubes

 

[DLC]

this is a bad weld and has zero weld (See paint line and rust line ) on the bottom of the tube weld starts and stops. This makes me think it’s a home job or a real lazy fabricator. The weld settings weren’t set correctly doesn’t look like it has any type of penetration, you can see a black shadow where my black mark is. This has been rusted for a long time

 

[DLC]

you can see where the welder started his weld but as he worked around the tube the weld gets skinny, he starts to get tired and moves to fast (he is in an awkward position to weld these) it appears in 3 of the welds - starts good but the follow thru install there.

 

[DLC]

This weld is one if the better welds its consistent in size and doesn’t appear to be hurried when it was burned. The others don’t look like this.

 

[mobldj]

probably had undercut,thats bad for a weld and in time will crack there.la cert and x ray cert for pressure vessels ( railroad tank cars ) and my welding inspector cert also.can be fixed and rienforced with gussets by a good welder.shit happens.lol

 

[lbhsbz]

No problem. Grind the paint off the broken areas, use ratcheting tie straps to drag it all back into place, weld it back together, then add gussets and structure to keep it together

 

[motormonkey]

That's a thin wall erw tube sand car that's done and problably used in the dirt which they are not made for. You would be buying it for the parts to build a new chassis. It's been rusty and the thin erw tubing is just used up from lots of thing said in thread.
If parts are good, buy it and swap to a chassis. That style can be had new for a reasonable amount.

 

[F.U.IRS]

It looks like a home made car, it’s not boxed correctly. It can be fixed but won’t flow right and it will look modified which will Lower the resale down the road.

can you post a pic of the entire car. Is it a great deal and can be had on the cheap?

might be worth while just buying a new frame and swap parts.

 

[F.U.IRS]

That's a thin wall erw tube sand car that's done and problably used in the dirt which they are not made for. You would be buying it for the parts to build a new chassis. It's been rusty and the thin erw tubing is just used up from lots of thing said in thread.
If parts are good, buy it and swap to a chassis. That style can be had new for a reasonable amount.

You're correct. Despite the picture with sand tires it has been used almost exclusively in the dirt, which is also where I would be using it.

 

[motormonkey]

I'd try and find a dual sport chassis in .095 molly. Dirt chassis are more beefed up.
If the price isn't a parts only buy, keep looking for a more dedicated dirt car.
If you already own it, chassis swap.
I would not repair that chassis at all, it's life cycle is over.

 

[motormonkey]

Ive known a guy that beat a extended beam Chenoweth chassis set up for dirt. It would come in on ratchit ties and no front wheel or cobbled rear swing arms. Haha. He ran to Barstow from Phelan quite a few times for lunch runs.

 

[BHC Vic]

Horrible looking welds. Im going to like being a cwi

 

[DLC]

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[jones performance]

View attachment 938157

this looks to be an old early mid 90's sand cars unlimited chassis or aq sand toys chassis. someone has redone that upper shock mount and that probably stressed the frame and caused the failure. also have weight of a roof rack and what other shit they carried added to the issues and this was a sand car, not a hard pack desert car.

 

[F.U.IRS]

Thanks for all of the knowledgeable and constructive feedback. Looks like this one is a no for me