Keep an eye on the frame of your mid 90's truck!!!

[cbxer55]

regular and thorough under-body flushes well help keep crap from collecting on horizontal surfaces under the truck and causing them to rot out

Yes, I do that at least once a year. While at the car wash, get down on my knees and blast the entire underside with the high pressure wand. I've not noticed anything untoward going on under mine. Was recently on a lift at Sears, and I did a pretty thorough inspection of the bottom. Saw nothing to make me cringe.

 

[ZMan]

holy necrobump

 

[Mark_88]

holy necrobump

I thought it was recent...

 

[Tedybear]

I thought it was recent...

Still applies!


Wife and I did a lot of looking for a replacement for our explorer (Frame is in excellent shape on it!!!....not bad for 245k and a 1995)...


Came across a large number of F150's with great looking bodies!!! But frames where Swiss Cheese.... Found 1 that was a 2001. Great looking body, needed rocker panels (like everything in this state). Went to do a frame inspection? From the rear axle back- Paper Thin!! I reached in and pulled about a 1/8" thick sheet of rotted metal off the frame.....

S-

 

[Mark_88]

Still applies!


Wife and I did a lot of looking for a replacement for our explorer (Frame is in excellent shape on it!!!....not bad for 245k and a 1995)...


Came across a large number of F150's with great looking bodies!!! But frames where Swiss Cheese.... Found 1 that was a 2001. Great looking body, needed rocker panels (like everything in this state). Went to do a frame inspection? From the rear axle back- Paper Thin!! I reached in and pulled about a 1/8" thick sheet of rotted metal off the frame.....

S-

Definitely! My original frame was done in 2003 and when I scraped the truck in 2013 it was still solid from that effort. The 1996 frame was in better shape though and required almost no work to clean up and coat. I was not going to sink any time or money into the project without doing the frame properly.

Pays off in the long run for sure.

EDIT: I should clarify a bit...the 96 frame was in about the same shape as the 88 rust wise...but it was stronger and generally better made overall...

 

[racsan]

i bought a 97 about 6 months ago that had a great body but when i pulled off the bed the frame was in really bad shape. kept the bed off to build a trailer out of and put a flatbed on the 97. ended up rolling it about a month ago while playing out in a field. just got a 94 with so,e issues, not as bad as the 97 though, damn salty roads in winter.

 

[RayInStl]

Another spot to check is the spring perches where they meet the frame for the front suspension. That's what nailed the coffin for the Farm Truck. I was putting the motor back in and looked down *through* the frame at the ground. The passenger side perch was starting to peel off of the frame, that's how bad it was.

Leaves and mud had collected behind the perch and were holding moisture against the frame there. So make sure to clean this area out once in a while!

 

[Mark_88]

Another spot to check is the spring perches where they meet the frame for the front suspension. That's what nailed the coffin for the Farm Truck. I was putting the motor back in and looked down *through* the frame at the ground. The passenger side perch was starting to peel off of the frame, that's how bad it was.

Leaves and mud had collected behind the perch and were holding moisture against the frame there. So make sure to clean this area out once in a while!

I recommend this even though it never happened on my 88 Ranger. I met a guy who offered to sell me two of his Rangers for the motor but when I went over to check them out they were rusted through on the coil spring perches and the firewall.

That wouldn't affect the engines but it turned out they were much higher mileage than I wanted at the time...and the wiring was different...too much work