Rear spring perches

[byrd]

Here a couple of pics of the rear spring perches on my 67 shorty frame. It looks like they will need to be replaced I wanted to ask the board for their opinion, but I believe I already know the answer.So if this was your truck would you replace them? I know the pass side (first pic) is pretty bad, but the driver side is looks OK to me, very minor scaling. The frame itself looks great other than the perches.I have cleaned and ground it ready for PS dimple and eastwoods frame paint kit. But it looks like I will be doing more work before the painting part TIA Randy

[powell72]

It looks like you got them pretty clean, I would weld up the holes on the one side and use a rust treatment paint when I was done. I don't think I would be afraid to run those.
-Disclaimer- I am a mechanic though, so I'm not afraid to rig my own stuff!

[byrd]

Thanks powell72, that is what the bodyman said and I quote" there is a lot of metal right there so if I were you I would let it go"

I just wanted to get some other opinions to see if it was cool to run them like that.Had planned on welding them up, if they were usable.

[centsless]

I would also run them. Weld them up the best you can and coat them.

[byrd]

Thanks centless, I already coated them with some eastwood stuff to see if it would stiffen it up and it did. I know I will have to redo the coating where I weld ,but no biggie there.

[byrd]

Well after trying to weld up the holes, I realized very quickly that it would not be that easy. Both kept getting bigger, so I had to ultimately chisel the rivet heads off and drill a couple out to get the perches off, and what do I find?? a pretty good sized hole in the frame more to fix. I don't think the frame will be hard to fix I have some 1/4" think 4x2 angle iron I can cut and shape to replace the bad spot in the frame, but will have to be creative in heating the plate I weld in to the righ contour. The perches I'm going to take them to a machine/welding shop and have them cut out the bad with a plasma cutter and cut me a piece I can weld in to replace what they have to cut out, redrill the holes and bolt them on with Stainless grade 8 hardware and continue on with the chassis build.The PS of the frame looks pretty good, just some light scaling that has been checked and can just be ground a little to clean an treat with the eastwoods stuff I have for the frame.

[roj2323]

if you can try to find a peice of frame to cut up and replace that bad section with. the steel these frames are made with is an odd ball thickness. i think i might actully have a peice or two at my place. i can let you know tommarow. i'll even ship it your way free.

hey while i got ya. i've been concidering removing the spring plates on my frame so i can sandblast in that area to seal it up. did your frame rails visably turn out or spring out of position when you removed them?

ondrew

[byrd]

if you have the frame pieces to replace and repair the places in the pic I would gladly pay for the shipping.LMK..Thanks
As for the frame I'm sure it didn't move as I only removed one of the 2 brackets that holds the frame rails and crossmember together.

[jamie72]

i got some frame pieces if you still need them..

[byrd]

Jamie that would be great, don't care wher I get em, just need to get them in a timely fashion.I'm off work this week and could get them on and most of the chassis built if I can get the parts fairly quick.