Front Frame Rust 1998

[Gnommad]

Hey there, not sure if this post is in the appropriate section.
I recently purchased a 1998 4.0 4x4 ranger. The vehicle is in pretty good shape for its age, and when i got it, i was sure to check out the rear frame as the previous truck i had was rusty there. it seemed ok, so i paid the guy and drove it the 3.5 hours back home noting little things here and there i wanted to fix on it. one of which was the abs sensor.
when i took off the front drivers side wheel to do so i discovered that the whole front drivers side of the frame was very very very rusty. like its basically non-existent.
i have done some looking around and it appears that the frame is separated front from back. but the only piece i can ever seem to find to buy is the rear section. not the front.
i suppose my question is, did i just purchase a vehicle which is irreparable? if not, does anyone know where i could find the front section? if so, has anyone here done this repair? im assuming that i will have to grind out rivets/welds.... would it be sufficient when the time comes to replace the rivets with bolts? these are just a couple questions i have as this is not a repair i have attempted before. i'm sure more questions will surface if/when i get into this for real.

 

[Ranger850]

Rusted out rear bed frame on a 1999 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4

Need some advice from another Ranger owner, I have a 1999 Ranger the body is in great shape it has 165,000 mi I bought it for 1,000.00 about 3yrs ago I just replaced frount/rear shocks and both rear shock mounts. I noticed the rear end of the frame near leaf spring mount and behind bumper is...

www.therangerstation.com

maybe y'all could get one frame and split it

 

[Gnommad]

Wow! i guess i am the first person ever in the 36 years that ford has been making the Ranger to have this issue. that just blows my mind!

 

[Dirtman]

Maybe some pics would help...

 

[Ranger850]

Wow! i guess i am the first person ever in the 36 years that ford has been making the Ranger to have this issue. that just blows my mind!

idk for sure, but maybe, people just replace the whole frame, if they need a front section, because that's the most complex area of the vehicle. for the cost and effort it would take to replace the front section, they could replace the whole frame. i really am just guessing though because all i deal with is surface rust and have never dealt with the frame rotting away.

 

[Gnommad]

I'm not sure how pictures of a rotted out frame would help.... i'm pretty sure we all know what a frame looks like, and i'm pretty sure we all know what rust looks like. I guess i was a little vague when i said "front" and "back". Basically on the drivers side, from the back of the cab/front of the bed all the way to the front bumper is in terrible shape. as far as i can naively tell, it should be like..... what, the body mounts, the suspension mounts, an engine mount and some hardware for the front bumper. remove those things, separate the front frame from the rear frame, insert new frame piece, re-attach all components, go get an alignment, and call it a weekend. seems like replacing the entire frame on a 21 year old vehicle would be kind of ridiculous when just one piece needs to be done. especially given that the frame seems to come in four pieces...

 

[Ranger850]

all that work plus six bed bolts gets you a complete frame, without breaking down any frames into pieces. and yes pics would help even though we all know what rust looks like.

 

[Gnommad]

unless i am missing something, how does replacing the front left frame rail + 6 bolts = replacing the whole frame? what about the front right rail? wouldnt replacing the front left, and the front right frame rails be = to 2x the work of replacing the front left frame rail?

 

[Ranger850]

i assumed you were replacing both sides, i wouldnt just do one side of anything on my truck, but hey, thats just me. good luck finding you part. i obviously have nothing you want to hear, so ... ?

 

[Snoranger]

The front half of the frame is an assembly. It has crossmembers that are riveted and/or welded depending on the year. You can't just unbolt the left side and bolt a new one in. If it were me, I'd get a good frame and swap everything over.

 

[pjtoledo]

instead of looking online, call or go to a yard and see what they may have.
check the sites for a roll-over, sometimes the frames survive.