I decided to pull the body off the frame to gain access to drive train and suspension.
What I found was lots of grease and gook:



Frame had been repaired previously:


Radiator support has ripped metal:


After a few hours of scraping and scrubbing I started to make a dent:



Lots more cleaning to do and then I can start thinking of making repairs.
I pulled the cover off the steering box and found chunks of what looks like a nylon bearing retainer in there. This is sure going to be a fun project.

Major crack in frame.
The right front shock mount is holding things together on this side:




Opposite side welds cracking due to the added stress:

Dang, glad you found that before there was a catastrophic failure. So do we get to see pictures of your welding and plating skills 68 ?

CaBoy Coy wrote:Dang, glad you found that before there was a catastrophic failure. So do we get to see pictures of your welding and plating skills 68 ?

Depends on how it turns out.

That frame crack is scary. Hope they weren't driving it around like that.

Started working on frame but had to stop when my Welder Fan Motor burned out. Can't complain since I have had the thing for a decade now and its the first problem I have had with it.

Area sandblasted and hit with 60 grit disc to clean up:


Drilling holes to stop cracks:


Carbide burr to make grooves for welding:


All the cracks get Grooves:


Welds ground down:


Still need to apply a patch over the welded seam area before it will be complete. You can see the bar clamp I used to pull the seam together.

Cut a rectangle patch and then cut the corners off and welded in place. The top and bottom are not welded to allow some stress relief:


Welded the cab mount:


Cleaned up the old repair and welded the cracks closed:




Had some work to get the rear bumper support semi-straight and weld the cracks closed:


For some unknown reason the right side of the bumper support was shorter than the left side. This caused one bolt hole to fail and another to be non-existent:


You can see the line I drew for my proposed patch placement.
Here its welded in. I had to match the original hole placement which was a little off:


Tomorrow I will test fit the bumper and then begin cleaning and painting the frame with epoxy.

Epoxy primer going on:



Using a brush to apply the epoxy. No way to get a spray gun into all the tight spots.

Nice work on that frame.

Installed rebuilt steering box:


Looks much different than when I started:


Installed the fan, fuel pump, filter and alternator:


Going with aftermarket heater so needed to chose a location:


Wanted to get all the holes drilled before painting:


There was a plate riveted on the firewall and when I took it off the original heater box cut outs were underneath. I used the plate and cut some patches to weld in:


Moved on to the body and started cleaning underside:


Found a few places that needed attention:


Cleaned, repaired, epoxy primed and then Upol Raptor:



Plan to prep and paint firewall and then reinstall body to frame. From there it will be body work and paint for a while.