after i looked at your post last night, it occurred to me that i had never really looked at the outer frame rails very good. went out this evening to check them out. i think i'm in the same boat as you. the inner frame is toast btu the outer seems to be in pretty good shape.

i guess in a wierd way, thanks for posting this thread. you may have saved me a lot of work.

 

It runs

 

Funny whats necessary in different parts of the country. I see good frames on craigslist all the time down here for a few hundred bucks. Good work on your frame. Hope everything else goes well putting it back together. I've had wrists in casts before and living one handed sucks.

 

Okay so it's pretty much back together. I have a few odds and ends to do but I'm driving it at least. I'll get a picture tomorrow in the daylight, it was crappy and rainy today.

Required Repairs:
Frame damage from rust

• Inside of Driver's Frame Rail
• Inside of Passenger's Frame Ral
• Bottom of Passenger's Frame Rail
• Passenger's Spring Hanger
• Hole near transmission Crossmember
• Hole near spare tire carrier

Along the way I had to remove the bed, cab, and rear suspension which lead to the replacing of all metal hydraulic lines (brake and clutch), all body mounts, all rear suspension bushings, and rear shackles. While I had everything open and with easy access I also changed out the original clutch, replaced the sway bar bushings, added Zerk fittings to the upper ball joints, changed the fuel filter, painted the insides of all the marker light housings silver, and replaced all the fluids.

 

Several people have asked me "how much did this repair cost?"

Well with access to a quality welder like the Millermatic 252, a plasma cutter, some steel and some skill this can be done pretty cheaply and easily.

For the actual metal repair had about $100 in steel, $150 in consumables (welding wire, grinding discs, gas, electricity, etc.), and $50 in misc. supplies. In addition I had about $100 in POR-15 products to deal with the rest of the frame.

Extras I had to purchase as a result of damage during disassembly that may not be the same for everybody:
Shackles ($79)
Bushing Kit ($150)
Brake Lines ($40)

And some extras that I did while I had the time and access:
Clutch ($150)
Fluids ($100)
Fuel Filter ($20)
Parking Brake Cables ($60)


Time wise I had about a weekend for disassembly, 15-20 hours in fabrication in welding, a weekend for POR-15, and another weekend for reassembly.

I would estimate if you had to pay someone to perform this work you would have $1500-$2500 in welding/fabricating and anywhere from $0-$2500 in mechanics labor depending on what state of disassembly you were able to do to strip the chasis.

 

I believed that I had 3 options for this repair: purchase a new frame, purchase another truck with a good frame and swap, or fix my frame.

Purchasing a new frame is about $2000 and is set up for SAS. If I had the time to plan it out and acquire all the parts I would have needed to SAS then that might have been a more viable option. As it was this came up unexpectedly and so the new frame was out.

Purchasing a truck to swap had several flaws in the plan. Being on the East Coast, the best place to find clean frames is in the South and especially the Southwest. Transportation makes most of these cost prohibative. Plus there is the time and luck associated with finding a good frame. And to do a total swap is very time consuming as you sift through a lot of parts to determine which is better yours or the swap truck, swapping the entire cab, motor, trans, and doing any repairs to the swap frame or truck.

And finally repairing my frame. As I have or have access to all the equipment needed and have ability to do all of the work between my brother and I, this became the most cost effective, quickest and best option.

I hope this helps anybody else faced with the same situation. Feel free to contact me with questions. If you are within a reasonable distance I might even be willing to do this again for a great YotaTech discount any other bodyshop, machine shop, or fab shop.

 

So here she is, basicaly done. I have some minor things to finish up, putting the dash together ater I fix my fan switch, adjusting the alignment of my doors, etc.

 

I think the 5" shackles brings th tail end up nicely to even out the truck, I did have a little bit of sag before.

 

Fantastic!

 

Great job on the Frame repair. I always like seeing a truck being saved from the scrap heap. Your getting that truck looking better all of the time. Since you have a metal background, is there anything you could suggest to help keep a frame from rotting from the inside out? I spend a lot of time washing my frame and keeping the drain holes cleared and am going to POR the out side. Not quite sure about the inside as that is where the problem apparently begins.

On a side note to others that may run into frame rot, pulling the body off to do a repair or a frame swap, really isnt bad at all. Except for lifting the cab and bed it can be done by one person.

Great job again, that frame looks better than new.

 

Thanks for the compliment. As far as the frame damage and stopping it before it starts, you are definately on the right track. Keeping the inside of the box clean and debris free and keeping the drain holes open to llow quick drying of any water is paramount. The damage to my frame took probably 15 years to get to this point. Anything you do now will have to have repair in mind since rust has most likely had a really good jump start.

Here are a couple of ideas: Add oil to coat the inside of the frame, this should help lubricate the metal and displace water, periodically.
The other idea I had thought about while doing this was to fill the frame rail with medium expansion isulating foam. That would take up all the voids that water normally collects in and give the frame additional strength. Again the problem here is that should have been done 20 years ago when the truck was new and didn't have rust.

 

Nice job. Do not put expansion foam in the rails. I' ve seen lots of evidence that it waterlogs and will hold water against the steel. Eastwood makes an internal frame spray. Or you can get a cheap garden sprayer and pump undercoat into the frame rails.

 

Awesome job, you did an amazing job and saved another toy from certain death, we thank you :}