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Front frame rail, patch vs replace

Patch or replace?

  • Patch

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • Replace

    Votes: 2 50.0%

  • Total voters
    4

TexasRoadRunner68

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Working on the cowl area on my 68. At some point I’ll need to work on the driver frame rail. The ~10-12” past the crossmember is thin and has pinholes on the lower sides and underneath. The rest seems solid. I have a full AMD replacement piece. I planned on replacing the whole thing, but if sectioning in the first foot won’t affect anything in terms of strength of the rail, I might go that route. Assuming the welds have good penetration, would sectioning make a weak point at the weld site or would it be as good as the replacement rail?

Sectioning would allow me to avoid cutting off and replacing the shock tower and save a bunch of spot weld cutting and prep, however I want to do it right…so I want the frame rails as strong as they should be.


Any input?
 
I would section it in, after I went over the original frame rail with a pointed body hammer to find thin spots
 
If it's done right there should not be any problem .

Can actually make it stronger than original if u want
 
Without pictures it’s hard to say.
If you section it you could not only butt-weld it in, but also make a sleeve and plugwelds also.
 
Last edited:
Like this:
upload_2022-3-25_20-49-18.jpeg


The benefit is you leave a lot of factory welds in place in the areas that are still good. It’s less invasive.
 
Grind / clean off a area of the rail you think is solid. Fire up your welder and run a hot 2 inch bead.
You will know then what your working with.
 
Grind / clean off a area of the rail you think is solid. Fire up your welder and run a hot 2 inch bead.
You will know then what your working with.

It’s the area underneath the driver foot area. The floor was rusty and there may have been a nest or something there to further the issue. The crossmember is solid, and the rest of the rail looks good.
 
I just did this on my car, sectioned it from the torsion bar crossmember to just past the firewall.
Sleeves, plug welds, butt welds, and welded to the crossmember same as factory.
 
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