Cheapest way to purchase frame extensions is to go to a truck junkyard and get a piece from a salvaged truck frame. Truck frames are remarkably universal, the steel is 1/4 inch thick 12 inches high and the the flanges are 3 inch wide. You shouldn't drill the flanges and you shouldn't heat or weld the frame (tempered steel). That's the general rule discouraging the amateurs from doing it. In the real world of truck conversions and modifications, flanges are drilled and frames are welded, however with an experienced eye where and how it is done. The safest bet is to have a bonafide frame shop handle the work. I know it's "against the code" of you do-it-yourselves (who's gonna tell me I can't do it, I ain't paying nobody), but that's one area where you shouldn't "train yourself" how to do it.
Frame rails are a special tempered steel either 80,000 or 120,000 psi, very tough to bend or drill and tough to find. There is one company in Vermont that carries both, can cut it, shear it and bend frame rails upwards of 30 feet long, they service entire New England. We bought some from them when we did 6 foot rail extension and yes we welded it on. The material was not prohibitively expensive, but junkyard rails will be obviously cheaper and there is nothing wrong with using salvaged ones.
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