New guy from OKC, OK.

[Dangerman]

Howdy

I have actually been a member of the forum for a while. I have been reading posts and seeing how things work until I could start my own truck project.

My son bought his first vehicle - a '71 C10 lwb. He had it home two days and the neighbor girl across the street backed in to the truck and tweeked the bed a bit.

This is not where we wanted to start working on this truck, but his school mates have taken to throwing eggs and writing taunts in shoe polish across the dent. So here is where the questions start - btw I took lots of pictures.

After we took off the bed and spent some time at the car wash, I noticed some things.

First, I noticed that the rear frame cross member was tweeked pretty bad. (pics 5 & 6). Is there a place where you can buy aftermarket frame cross members?

The next surprise I got was the cross member near the rear wheels. (pic 7)

The hat channel crossmember - that the rear shocks attach to - is cracked several places. (pics 9,& 10) Here again, is there a place that sells aftermarket frame parts - or is it back to the salvage yards?

If I can find replacement parts it looks like I can drill out the old rivets and bolt the new parts without too much trouble - I mean aside from removing the rear axle.

Well it's good to be here and I look forward to reading any posts that come my way.