Crack in my frame

[Toms01PSD]

If you could afford a new car you could get $4500 for it.

I'm only 18.

Well, I guess I have shitty luck. When I pulled the bed I found another crack by the upper shock mount. I also took some pictures of my rusty cross members. On to the pictures:

 

[wrecking-crew]

damn. was that truck always in nc

 

[Toms01PSD]

No. I had a carfax ran when someone on here was doing freebies and it was formerly a PA truck. According to the carfax it was then brought down to Wilmington which is a city by the ocean and I assume the sea salt had a lot to do with it. I also assume the previous owners may have pulled a boat with it because I had to replace a section of the rear frame last year. I believe they used it quite often to back the boat down a boat ramp and that's why the frame is shot to shit because they never rinsed off the salty water. These two cracks are new to me and weren't there last year.

 

[ati190]

Time to find a rolling chasis in a U-pullit JY.

 

[fourwheelford]

Man to bad I don't live closer to you, I would lend a hand with the welding. As long as you know what your doing or find someone who does, and by that I don't mean just anyone who knows how to weld, they need to be someone who can weld vertical UP and OVERHEAD with either dual shield or 232 innershield(not 211 MP innershield if anyone tries to fix it with hardwire(solid copper colored wire) send them packing and find someone new. You will learn and understand everything that I have just said after you take that course but I tell you this PAY ATTENTION I went to school for welding and paid attention and Im the best welder in my shop. Don't be happy with passable, perfect the art of vertical and overhead welding those two things will be what seperates you from lazy people. Sorry I got a bit off topic there, like it was stated before don't just weld the crack it needs to be boxed the best that it can be with at least 1/4 inch plates anywhere you can.

 

[rngr4x4beast]

call your ins company have em check it out they total you have money in the pocket buy it back have it fixed your good and you still have some extra money

 

[Toms01PSD]

It has liability on it...I'm not putting full insurance on this thing since i'm only 18, and it has 185,000 miles.

 

[Will]

That thing is fawkd. Worse than I thought, and I thought it was bad.

Hey, fourwheelerford, though I certainly appreciate your dedication to your craft, this doesn't have to be that perfect. I'd rather he just half assed welded it it up with a $100 stick welder and kept an eye on it while looking for a new frame then to keep driving it and have the back tear off. You get paid for your work, and I would be upset if I paid you and it wasn't perfect. But most of us weld on our trucks and they don't fall apart. Sure, we are peons and you are a god in the field of welding. But we get by.

I wish it were cracked at the place where the frame rails are straight C-channels. But it isn't. You could back-half it and weld another rear half of a Ranger to it if you didn't want to swap the whole frame. I wouldn't try to repair it where it's broken. No clean place for the reinforcement.

 

[Mac]

Once you get the bed off, I'd take a really good look at the frame and see if it's really realistic to try and fix. I know it's a '99' but that's the kind of stuff you'd find up here more in the rust belt, not down there. Hope it's not as bad as it sounds.
Dave
Little bit late, I posted on the first page and didn't catch up on the latest news. Rust is a bitch.

 

[Toms01PSD]

When I did my brake lines I pretty much knocked all the rust out of the frame rails so you guys aren't seeing the 2 inch pieces of rust that was under there.

Will, the funny thing is, I have already welded in a rear section out of another ranger that I got from a JY around here. You can see it in the first picture. What do you think I ought to do with it now? I was thinking about pulling everything off it, getting another Gen 4, and doing a body swap and swapping in all the shit I have depending on the condition of the other one.

 

[warrior24]

Sounds like your rust is terminal.

 

[Mark_88]

Well, you could cut pieces from a similar frame and weld them over the bad spots...as long as you give yourself enough extra to be reinforcement on the good frame...

I've done plenty of welding myself, but never on a truck frame...but it can be done...although I'd seriously consider going with the rolling frame replacement...the truck body doesn't look too bad...and with only 185 thousand on it you've probably got another ten years left...

 

[Toms01PSD]

My main concern is "fixing" it if it's at all possible and then having another part crack. I wouldn't have the heart to sell it to someone in the condition it's in either so i'm going to see about keeping it and getting another truck.

Thanks for the help so far guys!

 

[Blueranger99]

that sucks dude. makes me wanna check my frame for cracks. that frame looks like its screwed. i would find a rollin chassis and swap the body. you can only see so much in the pic on your avatar, but the body looks like its in great shape, better shape than mine. thats what i would do.

 

[Toms01PSD]

There's a guy in the next town over that has quite a few Rangers that I may go look at. I'd rather just keep everything except the frame as spare parts.