1998 kenworth w900 cracked frame rail :'(

IDK I buy most all my bolts from Fastenal frame bolts most the time from there also part of it with me also is It would drive me nuts to have mismatched bolts in a truck frame in fact that’s 1 of the things I look at closely if I’am looking over a truck to buy

 

Sometimes it's better not too. Not that I'm good at recognizing those times, i'm trying to get better.

 

Check the other rail, it takes the same beating.

$35/foot isn't a terrible price. I had a machine shop bend me up some sleeves made out of 1/4" T1 and it cost me about $30/foot CAD a couple years ago.

 

99% of them crack on the RH side. It is suspected it has to do with the added force applied by the power steering box pushing everything over towards that direction when doing turns. One piece of evidence in this theory is it never happened with manual steering trucks and the front suspension and frame design has been the same since 1965. You just don't see the cracks in the older manual trucks. Less stress.

 

Doesn’t the left side bracket also have a much larger footprint on the side of the frame and also 3 bolts in the side and also the 2 in the bottom flange. Seems they did on the older models just can’t remember on more recent stuff. I doubt this is the primary reason but the right side often rides on a rougher or more rutted road.

 

Seems they beefed the box side up with the expectation of the stress but didn't consider that the box being way forward like it is has enough leverage and can push the axle back diagonally towards the right rear hanger.

 

Its just like on the first square body chevy’s and the 78-79 Ford Broncos with power steering. The frames cracked behind the box from the stress. They weren't straight axles so there was way to much more solid mounted to frame stuff for the box to push against so the frame directly behind the box took it for the team.

 

Mine broke on the left.