Hello all - It has been some time since I have been to the forum and worked on my truck. Side tracked with honey-do's of adding an office on for the boss. She is happy for the moment. So I went to the Nethercutt Museum this weekend with my son and that was enough to get me re-energized to keep the truck project going. I was able to get everything out of the cab and tip it backwards (as seen in the first pic). Once we did that I started removing all remaining parts on the front end and under the cab. In doing so I was able to get a close up of the frame cross member that the motor mounts/motor attaches to. To me it looks like it is bent like maybe it got into a crash at some point but I am not sure if it is bent or that is how it is supposed to look. One side definitely is bent in more than the other side and I can't imagine that is right. If it is bent, what are some suggestions to fix? Should I try to get out the big convincer and bend it back to shape, do they make a replacement part for this that I could drill out the rivets on the old part and bolt in a new piece? Ultimately this is going to be a complete frame up and the frame will be powder coated. I want to pretty much make sure the frame is as perfect as it can be before sending it to the blaster/power coater. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Slight bend, but no big deal. A large adjustable wrench or big adjustable pliers should be able to bend that lip back.
That's a pretty stout piece of steel with compound bends to make it stronger. I doubt a wrench would be able to straighten it on it's own. You would need to use some heat to massage it back in shape & that might compromise the strenght of the part. You could blow out the mounting rivets & replace the X member with a nice straight one we have removed from a frame.....
Unless I'm mistaken that's your tranny cross member. That bend is really not that bad, a small sledge hammer and taking your time will bend it back. Remember it does not have to be perfect. Depending wether your going stock or changing to a V8 you may be removing it anyways. Whatever the case it is still useable .
Looks to me like somebody tried to lift the entire truck up by jacking up on the cross member. If it were mine I would: Lay a straight edge on the frame and gather dimensions from the straight edge down, comparing drivers side dimensions vs. passenger side. If the passenger side is indeed bent upward, and I intended to keep the cross member, I would temporarily fasten a steel beam across the top of the frame and using a bottle jack push it back down. Might be able to do it cold, might have to add some heat. If you don't want to mess with it a good frame shop, or a well equipped body shop, can fix it for you, probably fairly inexpensively if you take them a bare frame. That's my take... and I hope that helps!
Thanks for the input everyone....some more questions and pics So I took a straight edge and measured. On the drivers side and passenger side it is the same measurement so it hasn't been pushed up, it has just been pushed back. Instead of the front edge being perpendicular to the top, it is bent back towards the rear of the truck - a little more bent back on the passenger side then the drivers side. I realize it is just a cosmetic thing but I am re-doing this thing from the frame up so I would like it to be as perfect as possible. No plans to put a V8 in being as I have the original motor already re-built and just needs to be picked up from the shop. So taking it to a frame shop to bend it out is a little of a pain because at the moment I do not have a trailer but I could make this happen if I had to. Would a good option be to replace it with a used straight part by drilling out the rivets on the old one? Just out of curiosity DeadZone, what would the total cost (cost + shipping) be to have that part shipped to CA (LA Area)? On another note I have attached pics of the brake/accelerator assembly that I removed tonight from the truck. Can this part be bead blasted? If so do I need to protect the shaft where the brake and accelerator pedals go on it? Also can I blast the pedals and if so do I need to protect the inside part that slides onto the shaft? Lastly, does anyone know where to get some replacement parts for this assembly (the washers, the spring, the spring cover, keeper, etc)? It sure would be nice if there was some sort of rebuild kit. As always, thanks to all for sharing your knowledge.
Mine looks just like yours, Steve. Only my ding is on the back side IIRC. I just painted it. I figured it ran like this for years, it should continue on. Also, I don't plan on looking at the underside that much, I just wanted to protect it from rust more than anything. Some year it will be replaced with the automatic transmission mount anyway.
