hey guys i just bought a 95 f150 with a 6" lift and 36" tires. the cross member where the ttb hooks up to is cracked. i have a dana 50 up front and a dana 60 in the back. I know the cross member is notorious for cracking. i really dont want to take the whole cross member out i would rather weld the crack and then weld support steel all over it to beef it up i was just wondering if any one has done this and if they could give me some ideas or advice? the crack is almost all the way through the cross member and my steering is shot because of this.

 

Welcome to FTE 95greenmachine,

I assume the truck has an SAS?

Try this question at the 4x4 forum too.


Offroad & 4x4 - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

You know you will have to pull that closed to even come close to

Making a "repair".

Looks like it is still TTB. F250?
Did you do that or did you buy the truck like that?

 

Thank you! correct its a dana 50 ttb f150 i bought the truck like this.

 

The D50 is the leaf spring TTB used on the F250. The F150 got the coil spring D44.

Does your front end have leafs or Coils?

 

it has coils but it says 50 on the axle its off of an old bronco

 

If it came off an old Bronco, the D50 was installed by a PO, not the factory.

Are there 8 lug wheels on the front and rear?

 

the rear has the 8 lug and im pretty sure the front is 6 lug

 

sounds like a sweet machine....IF it truely is a D60 out back someone swapped it in, I dont think the D60's had the speed sensor hole so...if it has 8 lugs on the rear it's most likely is a Sterling 10.25

As for the front it's entirely possible for someone to throw a D50 TTB from an F250 under it, but then the fronts would be 8 lug also.

I myself would ditch the truck if its a pile, or do a frame swap if its semi decent. The other option is to pull it back together, weld it up and then weld a couple plates over the crack.

Diesel Rod

 

E350 and E250's had 60 rears with speed sensor on the diff

 

Bronco's never came with a D50 TTB and the D50 never had coils. It would take a bit of fab to get a 50 to run with coils.

This is the D44 with coils vs leafs and you can see the difference in the ends. Not saying it's impossible but why...

Note, the coil is outside the frame where the leaf is under. Look at the C and you'll see there is nowhere to put a coil on the F250 beam without fabbing up a place for it to live.

IIRC you can swap the D44 and D50 chunks but the D44 has more gearing and differential options.

As for an 8 Lug swap it's possible using some GM parts and has been covered on this site somewhere.

6 lug IMO would definitely be non-ford parts.

 

The way that's cracked (more like ripped open) it leads me to believe it's the result of collision damage. Is there any frame damage near where the crossmember is attached to the frame? I would measure spacing between the frame rails to make sure the frame doesn't need to be pulled. It takes a lot of force to split something that badly.

 

the guy i bought it from jumped the truck 40 something feet. thats what cracked the cross member he then welded it and put some support metal which put stress on a different part of the cross member where it is now cracked

 

Looks to me like the front diff hit the cross member.

I wouldn't even bother welding it up. Find another frame that hasn't been beat to death. God knows what else is gonna crack on it. I wouldn't be surprised if the frame is cracked behind your steering gearbox as well.

 

Damn, and I thought my crossmember crack was bad. Mine was just that, a crack. Not a big split like yours. Previous owner "welded" (more like "pretended to know how to operate a welder") some sheet metal in an attempt to "repair" it.

If you weld it you'll have to be careful to get everything lined up good first. Then plate it. But it's a pain to plate the crossmember because of all the curves and angles. I didn't plate mine (mine cracked in a different spot, right below the steering gear) but I did cut the bad repair the PO made out, and replaced with steel bar stock. Then my frame developed a hairline crack on the passenger side rail. I ground it down to a V and welded it in a single pass, FCAW. It's holding together just fine, we'll see in due time if anything else cracks and whether I end up needing a frame swap, or if she'll hold strong. Should, since I don't abuse my truck. The worst she really sees is the occasional offroad ditch crossing at an angle, no jumps or anything.

You can also swap the engine cradle (the front crossmember), just be aware that not only is it riveted in, it's also WELDED in. Not full seam welds, but a bead here and there in the corners. Looks like grinder time if it's gotta come out.

Or you could do a frame swap. Probably what I'll do if it keeps cracking.

Notice the TTB mounts to the bottom of the engine cradle... if you do a SAS you can get the stress off of that cradle. Planning on doing that too, just gotta get some coin and start roundin up parts.