I bought a 89 f-150 longwheelbase 4x4 last week, there is several cracks in the body. The cracks are in the radiator support, right front fender, and driver side door. I was wondering if this was a common problem with the late 80's trucks? Or could it just have just been in a wreck early in it's life. Because the complete radiator support is painted completely

 

Not a common problem that I've ever heard of.

 

i was also wondering, if the lack of the front sway bar, could have caused the cracks in the body?

 

I'm going to say it was wrecked or heavily abused before. I got my '86 F150, and the passenger door always had to be slammed to shut it. Found out why, the truck had been hit on the passenger front side, and slightly tweaked the cab. The body shop they took it to here in town didn't fix the cab.

 

that's kind of what i was thinking. Because it was a maintenace truck to one of the local campgrounds here in town.

 

I have welded a crack in my drivers side door at the vent window pivot.
Seems to me it is from the weight of the mirror from when you close the door.

Radiator supports flex a lot and usually go around the frame rubbers if they don't rust out first. Is the nose of the truck resting on the bumper?

 

that sounds like the same place where my door cracked. the truck did not come with a front bumper. I removed the radiator support today, and i believe that it was wrecked at one time. The radiator support mount on the right side of the frame was enlarged, about twice as big as the driver side. When i removed the sheet metal, alot of the bolts was in a bind.

 

Definitely not a common thing - heck, I have solid steel mounts at my radiator support, and even that don't cause any cracks anywhere. My guess is there has been a heavy impact with something big at some point before you took ownership of the truck, and it's been partly rebuild - oddly enough this is also why I no longer have rubber mounts at my core support, my truck got hit very hard in the front right corner the second night after I got it...