oh boy, here comes a good one for you guys, and before the critisisms come in let me say the body mounts are all good and nothing is loose or broken on the truck.

i have known about this problem for a while now but keep forgetting to take pictures of it to post. i went out to take a picture of my old 460 intake and it just poped in there so i opened the hood and snapped a few pics. anybody else run into this on their trucks?
first 2 are of the left side, 3rd is the right side, and 4th is a broader view of the left side so you can see the general area

 

thats very common for those cracks to appear. Truck from the rust belt or not doesn't matter many develop those cracks. My 95 and this truck had them. One was rusty ones isn't. Weld them and go.

 

what causes that? weak supports? looks like something you'd expect on a dodge

 

Mine has the same problem. Just broke out the TIG and fixed her up.

 

don't know what causes it. Happens to alot of trucks though. When it happened to my 95 I thought it was due to the rusted out core support but asked around and rust free state guys had the same problem.

 

i put a piece of angle iron on mine and welded it up...

 

haven ' t had that pleasure but my buddy with his 95 and welded it four times so far

 

Stems from chassis flex. Same reason some have that well known thud that comes from loose upper fender bolts.

Bill

 

gee, i wonder if this had anything to do with it?

 

not likely since I don't do that with my trucks

 

Tj

Does not take much to flex.
Pot holes, driveway, ect.
The plow mounts could help with flex.
Than would be until you hang the plow off the front of the truck.
That pict is just extreme flex.

Bill

 

I know normal driving causes enough flex, just letting Joe know that you don't need articulation to cause these cracks.

 

Very true!!!
You want the suspension to flex (articulation). Not the chassis.
The chassis will fatigue with time.

Bill