Folks,

While laying under the truck today contemplating what I've gotten into, I did notice some rust on one of the cross members on the frame (serious rust-out, more than surface rust).



To me this looks rather serious. In that it would seem to have compromised the integrity of the frame under the bed (I do plan to haul my motorcyle with this truck).

I can imagine a range of solutions, from mild to heavy duty. One thought is to just manufacture a new cross-member and bolt it to the frame right in front of the rusted out one (for the time being).

Does anyone else have any ideas? Can I just ignore it for now?

Thanks,

Gustave

 

Well if your going to spend time to fix it, i would do it right the first time. But this is only my .02....

 

I would not ignore it. The x-member itself does not look too bad. You may be able to remove the rivets from the 90° brace and make one to replace the rusted out one with. The brace should extend to those 2 rivets on the lower frame rail below it and be fastened there too. I would use grade 8 bolts with self locking nuts and lock washers.

That is the main x-member that ties the frame sides together at the front of the leaf springs and should be solid to maintain integrity of the frame. It looks like someone has already replaced the spring perch rivets with bolts so go for it.

 

There are too many frames available here in SoCal to mess with one like that...get rid of it. If you need some help finding one then send me a PM or email.

 

with that much rust thru, you need to check the rest of the frame.. if THAT is the only pace, then you are lucky.. but I bet there are other problems..

I have that cross member laying in the shop.. don't know the price of a frame in CA or what this thing weighs.

Sam

 

Thanks very much guys, for all the help.

I gather I do not want to ignore this.

I now understand the idea about just making a new 90° piece and bolting that in. That seems doable, though not very period. But I'm not too worried about being authentic on this truck, so much of it is non-original already. Sam - thanks for the offer of a cross-member. When the time comes and I know exactly what I want to do to fix this, I'll ask and see if you or anyone else still has one.

A whole new frame is an idea I would not be opposed to, but I would probably want to sand blast it and paint it, and oh, add and IFS etc, if I was going to go to all the trouble of swapping everything over. And then I see shops offering complete frames for sale with IFS and four-bar linkage built in. Not cheap, no, but what an upgrade!

But honestly, my main goal right now is to get this thing driveable. So I can at least get the experience of what one of these trucks is like. Thus, a temporary "patch" type of solution might be best.

If I end up feeling I really want to take one of these trucks on as a full project, I might do it with this one, or a different one. Or perhaps buy a better one to drive around and take time to fix this one. Something like that, not sure yet.

The wood in the bed floor is pretty rotted out and needs to be replaced. The lower bed extensions are wrinkled and rusted, so perhaps I pull the bed to replace those parts, and that would give me better access to the frame to fix this issue.

For what it's worth, the rest of the frame is ok. Sure there is rust on the surface, but nothing is close to rotted through. I was sort of surprised when I saw this one area being so bad.

Gustave

 

if that x member is rotted check behind the spring perches etc. i bought another truck that was a stripped out pos for the frame as it looked solid . yeah right after dissassembly it had been wrecked , bent and fixed poorly and the rails behind the rear spring perches had been rotted out . . i bought another one yet . mine is free of rot but has been bent in an accident many , many years ago and i wanted to start with a fresh one to do what i wanted while i was driving it originally , but the wiring and valvesprings in the flatty had other idea's ..................... so look good and hard . frames are out there as well as aftermarket , and egads the dreaded subject , frame swaps .