- Joined
- Jul 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,940
- Points
- 1,601
- City
- Marshfield MA
- Vehicle Year
- 94
- Transmission
- Manual
- My credo
- to prevent Found On the Road Dead, Fix Or Repair Daily
While replacing the clutch, I noticed that the left frame rail was punky between the front cab mount and where the front trailing arm bolts onto . I'm used to a similar frame trouble in my Jeeps. I cut out the worst of the rot and drilled out the lower rivets on the cab mount. For a replacement piece I cut an 8 1/2 X 32 piece out of a heating oil tank. It is in good shape and about 1/8" thick. Then, I clamped it to a 5X 2 3/8 channel bar I had laying over a set of hosses. A few minutes with a 10 pound sledge and I had 4 5/8 web and a 3 " flange at more or less a right angle. Then I put the piece up in place kinda to figure out where to make the web cut to fold the web for the frame kick. I cut that and folded. Later, I will weld this lap joint before I final fit the piece. I am using the original bolt holes and 3/8 bolts to pull the piece into the frame. Tomorrow I am gonna enlarge two holes I "gu-estimated" on. Then, I will trim the web to within a 1/4" to a gusset plate backing up the top rivets on the cab mount. After, I will use the existing holes in the frame to pull the piece in to back up the frame to the tranny cross member. It is a lot of fit and trying. Progress is slow but steady. Reminds me a lot of the work I did at the ship yard 30 yrs ago but on a much smaller scale. 
