theBlake
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2017
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Manual
I bought my '99 2WD 5-speed earlier this year for $2,400. Everything was on the up-n-up with the test drive, motor was and still is in good condition. The next day I gave it a thorough inspection (mind you, I had never done any real mechanic work before this, but I figured I could get my feet wet... I got the 5-speed to force myself to learn how to drive a stick so that should tell you something about my previous mechanical knowledge)...
This is when I first noticed the frame (originally a NJ truck) was ruuusty. The frame was beginning to rot away on both sides: starting about a foot behind the shock towers, it had "split" in a straight line across the underside, continued the split straight up the inner side, and halfway across the top side (almost like the rust was trying to make a clean cut behind the shock towers, the outer sides were still intact enough to drive regularly). The driver side was worse than the passenger though... That "split" continued in a squiggly fashion up and over and halfway down the outer side of the shock tower (near the end of the swap you could actually hear it rattle if you whacked it hard enough)
SO, I took a gulp and told myself I'd swap the frame, maybe, sometime within the next year. In the meantime, shocks needed replacing, got some new drums/rotors/pads/shoes/calipers/hardware to revamp the brakes. Also replaced the upper arms and ball joints (lower arms looked fairly new, or at least recently painted). A couple vacuum lines had draped too low at some point and melted, so I knew that would have to get figured out. Also got some new Cooper Discoverer AT3's, 235/75/15s.
Fast forward to early August... I drove out to Ohatchee, AL to sell my motorcycle ramp for some much needed moolah. When I hit the brakes to park it the pedal went to mush immediately... huh?... pushed it again, same thing. The brake line coming from the master cylinder, just before the 3-way junction thingy on the driver side, had rusted through and was spraying fluid with every push. So... Sold my ramp, yay me, but now I had a problem to solve.
I got lucky, reeeal lucky. Long story short, came out there with a car hauler abd a plan to haul it back home so I could replace the brake line(s). When I got there, someone had slashed 3-of-4 tires and left a cute little note on my windshield... yippee. At that point I was grounded... no money for tires, no money really at the time. So my boss (I'm a "caretaker" for a 30+ acre property) offered to let me do the frame swap in his garage and stay out there til it's done. The next day I bought a frame for $150 and we hauled it out there. Time to embrace the suck...
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This is when I first noticed the frame (originally a NJ truck) was ruuusty. The frame was beginning to rot away on both sides: starting about a foot behind the shock towers, it had "split" in a straight line across the underside, continued the split straight up the inner side, and halfway across the top side (almost like the rust was trying to make a clean cut behind the shock towers, the outer sides were still intact enough to drive regularly). The driver side was worse than the passenger though... That "split" continued in a squiggly fashion up and over and halfway down the outer side of the shock tower (near the end of the swap you could actually hear it rattle if you whacked it hard enough)
SO, I took a gulp and told myself I'd swap the frame, maybe, sometime within the next year. In the meantime, shocks needed replacing, got some new drums/rotors/pads/shoes/calipers/hardware to revamp the brakes. Also replaced the upper arms and ball joints (lower arms looked fairly new, or at least recently painted). A couple vacuum lines had draped too low at some point and melted, so I knew that would have to get figured out. Also got some new Cooper Discoverer AT3's, 235/75/15s.
Fast forward to early August... I drove out to Ohatchee, AL to sell my motorcycle ramp for some much needed moolah. When I hit the brakes to park it the pedal went to mush immediately... huh?... pushed it again, same thing. The brake line coming from the master cylinder, just before the 3-way junction thingy on the driver side, had rusted through and was spraying fluid with every push. So... Sold my ramp, yay me, but now I had a problem to solve.
I got lucky, reeeal lucky. Long story short, came out there with a car hauler abd a plan to haul it back home so I could replace the brake line(s). When I got there, someone had slashed 3-of-4 tires and left a cute little note on my windshield... yippee. At that point I was grounded... no money for tires, no money really at the time. So my boss (I'm a "caretaker" for a 30+ acre property) offered to let me do the frame swap in his garage and stay out there til it's done. The next day I bought a frame for $150 and we hauled it out there. Time to embrace the suck...
Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk