cracked welds on frame

[68C15]

I was going to put this in S10 forum but feel it is better here.
a customer brought in his newly purchased 95 S10 4x4 for ball joints and anything else it may need. its a real nice ext. cab truck and he paid a fair price for it. while doing the lower B joints I noticed the drivers side torsion bar had the adjuster cranked all the way in while the pass. side had 13/16 of threads left. I also saw that when on the 2 post hoist that the drivers side wheel had almost no camber while the pass side had almost 6*. very interesting, hmmmm. I saw the drivers side upper arm had the front adjuster up and the rear was down. I figured the alignment shop could get it back straight agin and all would be fine. I finished the B joint job and took a test drive. then I noticed a snapping noise while turning left over a dip. while jerking the wheel back and forth @ 10 MPH the sound was worse. back in the shop to replace the suspect T bar thinking it was cracked and ready to snap in 2. after that reapir was complete it did the same thing. the noise sounded like it was coming from the LF area. back in the shop but on the drive-on this time. I had the boss sit in the box and rock it back and forth while I looked all around. it made no sound so I gave it a good look over in the LF paying close attention to the lower A arm. then I saw it. where the rear of that arm attaches to the frame there is a large bracket. the welds on that bracket to frame point are completely broken. all the way around and the bracket has been wearing its way up into the frame about 3/16". the whole front chassis is going to need disassembly including the differential removed in order to weld it up. we ended up showing it to the customer and recommended he take it to a frame shop.

my question is should he/could he go after GM for reimbursement? ahs anyone else seen this before? I looked on IATN and found only 1 case of the same thing with no fix listed. the truck shows no sign of abuse or collision damage.

[cdowns]

a 13yo 4X4 and you think GM is going to pay to repair it?? QUIT SMOKIN THAT STUFF

[LONGHAIR]

That's a rather harsh way to say......Ah, NO!

It is well beyond any kind of warranty or responsibility of the factory. Nearly anything could have happened to it in 13 years.

[bad6772]

i agree with Jim on this....Being that it is a 13 year old truck....A dealer ship would probably not even care to see the truck...It is 13 years old and being a 4x4 i would suggest either finding a new frame or repairing the one you have....

And on a side note.....Cdowns........Does all your posts have to belittle people and be smartass comments..? Just curious.... because thats about all i see you ever post...

[Dooley]

We have a lot of S-10's in my immediate family. We've run a couple of these 4x4's up to 300,000 miles without that happening to them. Likely that vehicle suffered some kind of event to precipitate this damage.

[70cst]

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeee...I bet that wouldn't have happened on a 67-72 Chevy Truck. I do agree the warranty has long expired. It's posible these were bad welds from day one. JMHO

[truckdude239]

depends when did he buy the trucks if not long ago and from a dealer then yes he should take it back tot eh dealer. for the frame to have broken welds the truckl had to have been wrecked bad

[bad6772]

Regardless of what happened .Its 13 years old....A dealership nor G.M would be liable for anything.....Having Worked at a G.M dealership most my life..Warranty has its limits....And in this case it would succeed those limits and then some... Another thing to add....If he is not the original owner( which he is not), This would also stop most if not all warranty work...When said vehicle is OUT of warranty.....Edit: IMO of working on wrecks all day i would say this truck has been in a (hard hit) accident ....Further more....With this guy not buying this from the dealership....I would almost bet the farm....That the dealership will tell the guy to take it back to where it was bought....Most states have a lemon law....This thing would be a lemon....

[68C15]

I'm not saying GM has to foot the bill for it. I just feel it would be the right thing to do.
I'm also asking if anyone has seen anything like this before. I've been a tech for well over 15 years now and have never seen it. I pride myself on discovering previous damage, there was none to be found. (my Dad was a damn good body man and he taught me quite a bit on this)
this is why I decline to do certain work at times. if I dont feel 100% sure it will outlast me I pass it on.

as far as some board member having a perceived negative post I just take it as though he accidentally missed some icon to mark it as sarcastic humor.

[68C15]

I gave the wifey's 96 Blazer an annual checkover last weekend. guess what i found? that's right! it is now only about 3/4" long and on the outside. but you can bet the farm I will weld it up next weekend. first i gotta do a T belt on some guy's Geo.

[corn]

[Myself]

My bro-inlaws '92 S10 4x4 had a similar problem. His upper arm on the p. side broke loose this summer. We suspect it is from rust, as there was a fair amount of it on the arms.

[Garagedude]

Originally Posted by bad6772

And on a side note.....Cdowns........Does all your posts have to belittle people and be smartass comments..? Just curious.... because thats about all i see you ever post...

I was thinking the same thing. I hate that when somebody rights something asking use a question expecting good honest advice and somebody has to write something very sarcastic back.

[mekdad]

I have a 1996 4x4 s10.Guess what I will be checking for.

[68C15]

guess what guys? yesterday I had another one in the shop. a 2000 4x4. yep, it had a crack starting as well. tomorrow I will be doing some work on another customer's 99 Blazer. you can bet I will check that one as well. I may even post pics soon.

[Arad68]

Originally Posted by 68C15

guess what guys? yesterday I had another one in the shop. a 2000 4x4. yep, it had a crack starting as well. tomorrow I will be doing some work on another customer's 99 Blazer. you can bet I will check that one as well. I may even post pics soon.

Have you seen any cracks on 2wd frames?

[68C15]

nope, all 4x4. it starts at the upper rear outside of wheer the driver's side lower arm bracket is attached to the frame.
add another to the count. the 99 has a 1/2 - 3/4" long crack.
next weekend I will be fixing the wife's and I will try to take pics then.

[Arad68]

Thanks,
I appreciate the answer.

[68C15]

good news this time. a 97 Blazer with no crack.
that is it for now, time to get some coffee.

[Chicago5]

I just brought my bro's '00 S-15 Jimmy back from Oregon. Same type of fracutre in the frame, at the same locations. He, however, hit an object at speed. Is it fair to treat this as a problem area then?

[fixit-p]

I would check with the dealer (nothing to lose everything to gain) it's a long shot but maybe a campain was issued for this. I just received a letter that my '04 T@#$%* was extending my chassis (frame) warranty to lifetime for rusting issues.