I have already done this job,four times.The first time on my own truck to see if it was feasable.(Had to do it twice on my truck as the Ford sealant was NG.)
It works.It is an easy way out of a crappy situation.
If it's not for you,fine.

Just don't tell ME IT'S WRONG! WTF!!!

Spend 15+ hrs or more pulling your engine and replacing lots of other frozen parts at the same time.

....To replace an oil pan.

How senseless.

I gave people the option of either pulling the engine out (the "correct" way)or doing it my way.

They all chose my way and saved a LOT of money.

We are NOT talking about the main frame rails people.

...and I have welded them too.

Shame on me! I am soooo politically incorrect.

 

Don't mean to interject - but I might refer you to our guidelines.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/guidelines.html

Specifically the final sentence on point two:
Ensure you heed it

 

That's OK, Dave. Thanks for the nice words.

When Kwik told him in this thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...ml#post5440121
that he wouldn't cut his crossmember either, he got told basically the same thing.

I'm in good company.

Pop

 

Well i agree 100%, you probably just worded it so it made more sense. I would hate to see you get into an accident, and that part fails, you get in a serious situation quick.

 

It's just metal people.Nothing mysterious about it.Ford (and most other manufacturers)says not to do a lot of thngs to their trucks,mostly for liability issues.

They say not to hang a plow off it.

They say not to lift it.

They say not to mess with the engine,exhaust,intake,tune etc.

They say not to drill the frame.

and yet,people do,and live to tell.

Those devildogs!

 

Ford Guy - I own my own heating & cooling company for over 20 years - Be careful of law suits that may arise from this type of repair - If manufacturer specifically says "Dont do It" that means you (or your business) are liable for any damages to persons or property from such a repair. Good Luck

 

I was pretty much agreeing with you up until this post. This was uncalled for. I have been a do it yourself man all of my life. I just can't do it anymore because of physical disabilities. If I were to ever need an oil pan replacement I would probably opt for the cutting and welding. If I were going to go to the expense of yanking the engine I would have to do a complete rebuild. Which is something I will never have the money to do anyway. So if I am ever careless enough to allow my oil pan to rust I will contact you and ask you to cut and weld away.

 

dont cut anything
try drilling out the rivets
remove the crosmember
replace rivets with class 8 nuts & bolts

 

My pan was rusty as well, I just took a paint scraper, scraped the rust of, I then took steal wool, with works toilet boil cleaner(this stuff works good for taking of rust) took me few hours to get the rusted areas down to nice shinny metal again. The I bought some good quality high temp primer, and then sanded it, then repainted it with high temp paint. Worked great, no more rust can't even tell now, mine was only surface rust though. I would also think some type of high temp sealant would work, you just have to prepare the metal properly or else it won't stick.

 

I really like this idea. Have never had a reason to look at mine closely, but that sounds like the way to do it. The manufacturer's today go out of their way to make things difficult for the shade tree guys nowadays. So whatever it takes to do it yourself I am all for.

 

We did this to the frame on my brothers 78 f250. It was easy, seeing as the frame was stripped, but it went back together perfectly.

Frames are made of a different grade steel and have different heat treatments. Welding creates stress points and changes the metals properties. This is most likely the reason Ford says no to welding the frame. We did do some welding to the frame and know that when something on it breaks, it will probably be near the welds (this is strictly an off road rock crawler though).

 

It will be VERY difficult to remove the under engine crossmember in one piece as the engine rests on it and it is placed into position when the frame is constructed.There is no room to manipulate it out in one piece.I considered this option the first time I needed to do this job.

When you refuse to consider something as possible just because you have been TOLD you can't do it,you are giving up your ability to reason.

I was TOLD it could not be done.

"You will ruin your frame"

How?

"Because...you have altered it from stock"

SO?

"Uh...it will break!"

No it won't.

"Yes it will"

Why?

"Because Ford said so"

And that's when I decided to try it on my own truck.

I'll be willing to bet you could leave the cut piece OUT and nothing would happen.

Sorry I have pissed off a few people,but you have to break a few eggs to make an omlett. You tell me I'm doing something wrong based on theory,I say it works,based on the fact I've already done it with 100% success.More than once,so it's not just luck.


I am sure some who read this will benefit from what I have done by saving COUNTLESS hours of frustration by not yanking that engine outta there when there is an alternative that works.It may not be theoretically "by the book" but a LOT of what happens to trucks out in the field is improvised.

My tow truck has to work every day and replacing the pan in this manner (from below)assured it was ready for service the next day.

If you want to do it by the book,fine.Just don't tell me it's the only way.

 

Tomorrow I am going to crawl under mine and see just what the big deal is all about. When I was drag racing and building my own car nearly from scratch I welded a complete Chevette front suspension to my already highly modified 1964 GTO, I proceeded to drive this car at nearly 160 mph in the 1/4 mile and never feared for my safety in the least. I wonder what GM would have had to say about modifications like that??? I did it only for the weight savings the rack and pinion and disc brakes gave me. Plus I got to offset the wheels 3 inches, a real good way to trick the tree!

 

I build cars myself. I have welded countless frames.If you know what you are doing,it is usually stronger than the factorys job.I know the frame needs to be flexible on many applications,but I did not alter the engineering by welding the Xmember back together in this case.

Hell,it has a HUGE hole right in the middle anyway!

Too bad Ford didn't make that hole just a bit bigger...

 

Too bad Ford didn't make that hole just a bit bigger...



Cuz they don't want us fixing this stuff ourselves, that's why. It is what every manufacturer does, they all do, they want us going back to the stealership to do everything. I go there only in the event of an emergency.