Trunk pan

[5.7 hemi]

This why you DON'T use air shocks in a MOPAR. I do realize that this 70' RR is 47 years old and I don't know the complete history on this car, but it's in bad shape.

My uncle bought this a few years ago and I've been fixing it up since, now it's trunk pan time along with the drop offs. I'll be surprised if the shock cross member doesn't have any fatigue cracks.

 

[snakeoil24]

People never learn. The same knuckle heads of yesterday as today!

 

[GetX'd]

I was going to put air shocks back on when I pulled my X out of long term storage. Didn't do it based on all the good advice I got from members here on FBBO. Went with new leaf springs and "add a leaf" from Summit to give my rear the boost it needed. Looking at your RR I'm glad I went the direction I did.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Never run air shocks on a Mopar unless you address the shock cross member. My uncle is gonna be pissed he spent money on those damn things and I'm not putting them back in.

 

[Mike67]

You mean supporting 1500 lbs of body on two 3/8 studs, run through a sheetmetal panel leads to problems??? Lol!

 

[5.7 hemi]

Lol!!!

 

[5.7 hemi]

Well, as I suspected, it's cracked and looks as though a blind person threw on some pigeon **** welds!! I sent these pics to my uncle so he can see first hand what air shocks do!

Con67bdere has offered up another cross member, and I could grind out the shitty welds, then re-weld everything. While my repair will last, it's not my car so I gotta wait to see how my uncle wants me to fix it.

 

[GetX'd]

Hmmmm that's interesting - I didn't realize what I was doing to my GTX all those years with air shocks. Not any more - I'm convinced.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Yeah, it's real fugly in person! I hope my uncle learns from this!

 

[5.7 hemi]

I'm on hold cutting anymore sheet metal out as what's left is keeping the car from moving (square, level). The reason for this is, the shock cross member has to come out and I'm waiting for my uncle to decide if he wants a repop in there or the oem piece that I've been offered.

 

[5.7 hemi]

My uncle called and wants to have a new shock cross member installed. I'll order it up and toss some pics on this thread.

 

[conv67bdere]

Well, as I suspected, it's cracked and looks as though a blind person threw on some pigeon **** welds!! I sent these pics to my uncle so he can see first hand what air shocks do!

Con67bdere has offered up another cross member, and I could grind out the shitty welds, then re-weld everything. While my repair will last, it's not my car so I gotta wait to see how my uncle wants me to fix it.

View attachment 430385 View attachment 430386

Glad to help out Zack . . .

and I can, at times, do some pretty nice "pigeon ****" welds myself, but I'm working on getting to happen less and less often . . . LOL

 

[snakeoil24]

Save yourself a great deal in head aches build the shock tower from rectangular stock. Cut out front for top of center section to have adequte area to travel and cut a square opening in bottom for shock top to slide in. Thru bolt shocks to long side of tower

 

[5.7 hemi]

If it was mine, I would, but it's not and so my uncle wants the AMD piece installed.

 

[snakeoil24]

their is a better piece if you have to use the amd
http://www.autorust.com/product/rear-shock-crossmember-art-036/

 

[5.7 hemi]

I looked at that one but my uncles car is slowly being brought back to factory stock.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Got more sheet metal cut out today, and I found the original air line to some air shocks!

 

[5.7 hemi]

I've got a piece that is about 18 inches long to drill out the spot welds and remove. The AMD cross member will be here tomorrow, so I'll get the old one out and prep the frame rails. I have a sneaky suspicion that the trunk pan is gonna fight me as it's 1 piece, so as a last resort, I may split it.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Got the new AMD shock cross member delivered this morning. You can also see the old trunk latch support next to the AMD piece.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Got the cross member out, what a bitch! Some welded the crap out of it! You can see where the frame rail is cracked, I'll fix that, but overall the rails are really nice.