'72 bent front suspension

[Goose]

I had a little curb interaction with my crossmember and now the crossmember is bent. Not sure if it can be straightened by a body shop or not. Meanwhile I'm checking into replacements. Has anyone used the Fatman crossmember and parts for the 67'-'72 trucks? If so, does it tie into the stock steering arrangement or do you have to replace the steering setup as well? Are you basically putting in Mustang II equipment on a adaptable crossmember?

Other ideas? Thanks for any help.

[a squarecan]

If your front cross member is bent to the point that you feel it needs replaced you do not want a body shop to try and straighten it for you. I have never unstalled a fatman fab front cross member (only if I had the money) but I have heard good things about it. To my knowledge it is essentially a mustang II set-up and it makes use of R&P steering, so yes it will tie into steering and all would be swapped over in the process of the swap.

Hope this helps some
Keith

[Goose]

Thanks Keith -
I haven't let a body shop look at it yet so I'm not sure if it can be straightened or not. But I'm curious about your statement regarding not letting them do it. Is it you don't think they have the technology or the right experience with this old of a vehicle? Your right! Money is a big issue and Fatman is probably out of reach, but thought I would consider the possibility - doesn't hurt to dream - Ha!.

[a squarecan]

The main reason I said that if your cross member is bent to the point you are concerned it must be beat up pretty bad. I did not make the statement because I feel a body shop would try its' hardest to get it straight or possibly even get it straight. The thing is that metal (steel) has memory and when you put a major tweak in the metal such as it sounds like you did; the metal remembers that and even if you can accomplish to get it "straight" again it will have a tendicy to eventually tweak again. No garentee, but it is deffinetly not something worth chancing.

If I were you I would just pick up another cross member or even go a step further if you already havent and look into a later model cross member and front suspension and look into swapping over to power disc brakes.

Keith

[68LSS1]

I have a Fatman Fab stage III kit (they have 4 or 5 different ones). Mine has polished, tubular a-arms and coil overs with a power rack. As far as the linkage it's just a matter of adding a rod and a couple joints. Some pictures in link in sig.

[Goose]

Thanks guys! Yup Keith, I understand about metal fatigue. Very nice Fatman installation 68LSS1. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Decision time.

[Bagd74Jimmy]

It is possible to straighten it, but would probably be more cost effective to replace it, frame machine time is not cheap, try like $60 a hour with a minumum of 2 hrs set up time. Its like straighting a conventional frame. The body shop would have to have a experienced frame tech do it. I just pulled the frame on a 86 SWB Stepside Chevy. It got hit hard on the passenger side before my friend bought it. The person just replaced the sheetmetal and shimmed everything to make it fit. I set it up on the rack, did a couple of hard pulls. The last pull was the hardest, I put 2000 psi on the passenger rail. When it was under a load, I stress relieved it to make all the metal molecules remember where they needed to be and erase the memory of their current position. It was just a matter of a little heat in the correct places (not to much, don't want to go over the heat time on the frame), putting a block of wood on the spots and hitting the block with a sledge to vibrate the metal. I was able to get rid of all the buckles and when I was done, the 2000 psi on the frame pump was down to around 1400 psi. I relieved pressure on the machine and the frame was back to within tollerance. I know this was long, but the point was to say yeah it can be fixed but it's probably not worth the trouble. Just get a new crossmember and install it. They're all over the junkyards here, many of the trucks don't have motors in them so it's even easier taking them out.

[skidsteer]

We put name brand Mustang II front suspensionin an early (47-55) GMC Panel truck. After very few miles the lower control arms had to be replaced due to bending from braking. The name brand outfit (don't want to get sued) had to know there were problems because they had a new and improved set of control arms to replace the old ones when we called to complain. One wonders why we had to ask for replacements if they knew of a problem. These units might be ok for a light weight street rod but you take your life in your hands if you use them on a truck.

[68LSS1]

Originally Posted by skidsteer

We put name brand Mustang II front suspensionin an early (47-55) GMC Panel truck. After very few miles the lower control arms had to be replaced due to bending from braking. The name brand outfit (don't want to get sued) had to know there were problems because they had a new and improved set of control arms to replace the old ones when we called to complain. One wonders why we had to ask for replacements if they knew of a problem. These units might be ok for a light weight street rod but you take your life in your hands if you use them on a truck.

Welcome to the board. I'll have to disagree with you on the Mustang II control arms. They are more than sufficient for any truck. The ball joints are the same one used on full size Ford cars. There was a issue with lateral support on the lower control arms YEARS AGO which was corrected by Fatman Fabrications by a design change (strut rods or welded in gussets). This is all well documented on a lopt of the street rod forums. Also since your new here you may not of seen Tom Durhams truck (which was recently bought by another board member). It weighs over 3200lbs, runs low 9's in the quarter and pulls the front end well off the ground. He also runs a Fatman Fab front end. He also endorsed their units in a thread under the "Review Board." I'm not sure if you were using a Fatman Fab set up or not and I'm sorry you had issues with it yours but they are very capable of some extreme abuse.

Edit: there are some pictures in the link in my sig if you would like to compare the set up I have against the one you used.

[Hart_Rod]

68LSS1 - I think he was refering to the stock arms, not necessarily the Mustang II setup.

Rob

[Goose]

Final diagnosis on my crossmember was "not repairable." It was bent, twisted, and beginning to separate. Going for a stock crossmember replacement and some new control arms. Should be back on the road again next week.

[skidsteer]

Tell you what guys, Once is enough when it comes to safety. Be careful when buying this aftermarket stuff for critical applications.

[68LSS1]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rob

68LSS1 - I think he was refering to the stock arms, not necessarily the Mustang II setup.

Rob

??? Look at his post above. Your confusing me, Rob (ya, I know, it's not that hard to do).