1004 Ford Ranger Edge Crossmember Rotted Out

[richspic]

I have a 2004 Ford Ranger Edge. The exhaust got louder the other day so I took a look under the truck today and found the exhaust pipe broken off the inlet of the muffler. Further investigation showed that the frame cross member that has the muffler hanger and one of the gas tank straps on it had rotted away. I can only see the attach point on the passenger side since the other point is behind the gas tank so I am not sure if the other side has broken free yet.

The crosmemebr is Item 10 in the attached illustration described as crossmember #3. Does anyone know of a supplier that may sell an aftermarket bracket that would get installed with bolts?

I found other threads that reference rangerframefix.com but when I go to that webpage it no longer exists.

 

[chvlfrk]

F y i >>>

I have a 2004 Ford Ranger Edge. The exhaust got louder the other day so I took a look under the truck today and found the exhaust pipe broken off the inlet of the muffler. Further investigation showed that the frame cross member that has the muffler hanger and one of the gas tank straps on it had rotted away. I can only see the attach point on the passenger side since the other point is behind the gas tank so I am not sure if the other side has broken free yet.
The crosmemebr is Item 10 in the attached illustration described as crossmember #3. Does anyone know of a supplier that may sell an aftermarket bracket that would get installed with bolts?
I found other threads that reference rangerframefix.com but when I go to that webpage it no longer exists.

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Must be in one of the SALT states! The crossmember isn't available thru Ford, and don't know of anybody repoppin them.

I'd be concerned as to what else is rusted through.

You could check your local boneyards to see if they'd sell ya one.....I can tell ya its held in with 16 rivets that you havta drill or torch out and that same crossmember holds the 2 frame sections together. Then you could reinstall it with grade 8 hareward.

I was gonna use a 99 frame under a 94 few years back and drilled out all those rivets to move the frame 4" forward to accommodate the 94 shorter cab. The project fell through, but I had done all the frame shortenin work to it before it fell through.

 

[Mazda]

Do you know anyone at a body shop in your area.? Even if you don't you can go into a few of the "family Owned" ones and ask if they can order the part for you. Body Shops can get 99.9% of the frame and body panels anyone would ever need. The body shop my friend owns may have what you need but I will not know until the week after x-mas. That's the earliest I will see them.

 

[Grey_04]

I'd either find a wrecking yard and get one from another truck or find someone who has some fab skills and have them make something from scratch.

 

[richspic]

It has spent a lot of its life between MA and NH so it has seen it's share of SALT!! You should have seen the mess when I replaced the leaf spring shackles!!

Thanks for the info.....since I just found this today, I gonna have to start looking around for options. As a temp fix I'm looking at possibly attaching the crossmember to the bed, There is a hole in the middle of the member. At first glance tonight with a flashlight. it looks like I could put a hole in the bed and attach it with a piece of all thread just to pick up on some of the weight of the exhaust and the gas tank.

 

[Mark_88]

Funny, I found the same problem with the 96 frame while doing the front spring hanger. Mine wasn't rotted right through but on the extended cab it is actually sitting under the cab and hard to get at from the top.

My gas tank strap connection was not quite completely gone so I was able to clean the area up enough to soak it with rust converter and then spray it with rubber guard, but I was considering replacing the cross memeber.

This is not an easy task on my truck. To get at the rivets you need to remove the rear cab mount driver side because they over lap. I might consider this in the spring but it got too cold to do anything with it this year.

The frame on mine seemed to be OK...no major rust...yet. But the area where it rusted is actually a jumble of brake and fuel lines as well as the wires for the rear lights...and it is complicated by the tank strap.

What I did was I ordered the tank straps for a 1992 truck. If you check them out they have a double strap on the back end with one going behind the tank...this might give a bit of extra support for the tank should the front one not be attachable...

Replacing the cross member would be the best thing over all...but it should involve removing the cab to get at those rivets from the top and replace everything...maybe reroute the light wires (since they don't need as much protection) and hang them somehow to try to reduce the amount of salt that gets trapped in that bottleneck...

And...put in some flaps or something to keep the spray out of that area...but that would require quite a bit of work.

 

[bobbywalter]

just build a new one if the rest is ok.

its a regular thing round these parts.