Seadog

Seems like every time I closely inspect something on the car (I have owned it a couple of months) or take something apart I find a surprise.

The latest is a severely rusted frame rail where the leaf spring shackle attaches at the left rear. So my thinking is that the last 24" need to be cut out and replaced. I have ordered a repair section for this. I'm considering farming this out to a local shop but I cringe at the thought of what it will cost.

Have any of you done this on your car? Any words of wisdom?

Fast Jack fords

I have done this a lot . If you are just sectioning it's fairly easy. You will need a mig welder and be able to weld pretty good.
For a proper and safe repair you will want to sleeve the joint and stagger the joint.

Seadog

Thanks. Since I'm barely a novice at sheet metal work can you expand a little on "sleeve" and "stagger" as these terms apply to this frame rail?

rmodel65

basically what you will do is cut a little bit of the new rail off and put it under the old rail and spot weld it in place as a backing plate. so you will have a piece of metal you are over lapping with the original rail and the new rail. this lets you fill in the joint easier and its stronger. as for staggering you want to lay a small bead. and let it cool then do another. etc because you dont want to much heat to warp things up. you will also have to shorten the ends a little so it will fit behind your repair(other wise its the same size and wont fit)





because this is where the spring hanger goes on i suggest getting a measurement to make sure you put the hole for the part in the same place...dont weld anything in till after youve fitted it with self tappers and got the placement right