Rear crossmember replacement

[Tbaumer]

Thought I would just clean up & seal the rear crossmember, but it didn't make sense with the extent of the rust holes, thinning & flaking metal separation. I'm not ready for the commitment of going "ALL IN" on a complete chassis yet. Here is my existing crossmember:



New galvanized crossmember & step bumper waiting to go in:



Checked out a bunch of threads/videos & it appears to be straight forward. As this is a first for me, advise is always welcome & I'll try to keep a simple job simple.

 

[Uncle Douglas]

straight forward, drop tank, pull wiring harness back so it doesnt get cut.
Welding galv steel sucks. It fizzles like a sparkler.

 

[4RF RDS]

Be very cautious welding galvie, grind off where you want to weld and wear a filter particulate mask at all times. Galvie welding can off gas cyanide.

 

[1of40]

Be very cautious welding galvie, grind off where you want to weld and wear a filter particulate mask at all times. Galvie welding can off gas cyanide.

Absolutely no joke. A local shop let one of their employees to weld a galvy crossmember w/o proper protection and it put him in the hospital with perm lung damage.

 

[Tbaumer]

Thanks for the warning all! I remember my grandfather drinking buttermilk before welding galvanized metal.
No, even as a kid I didn't see how it could protect his lungs, but the old guys seemed to think so...

I'll grind off the zinc to bare metal, exhaust fan to ventilate & wear a mask before welding.

 

[mgreenspan]

Thanks for the warning all! I remember my grandfather drinking buttermilk before welding galvanized metal.
No, even as a kid I didn't see how it could protect his lungs, but the old guys seemed to think so...

I'll grind off the zinc to bare metal, exhaust fan to ventilate & wear a mask before welding.

Haha that sounds about as real as women not getting pregnant while breast feeding.

 

[jymmiejamz]

Haha that sounds about as real as women not getting pregnant while breast feeding.

There are enough Irish twins in my family to know that this is not true!

 

[Tbaumer]

Removed my spare wheel carrier.



Haven't dropped the tank out of the way yet. Pre-marked the chassis to get an idea of where I'll be cutting & found that the rear sway bar brackets will make me notch the new crossmember flanges a bit on the bottom to miss them. I'm also splitting the floor rails, so I'll be grinding the front welds & re-welding them to the new crossmember. If I would've thought about it, I probably could have found a rear crossmember with the floor rails attached .

 

[Tbaumer]

I was out of town this last weekend, so tonight I drained the tank, lowered the sway bar, removed the muffler & fuel tank. The inside of the tank looked really clean & rust free.



Even before clean up, I noticed stress cracks in the upper floor rail (pic #3) that will need to be addressed.

 

[BarryO]

Be very cautious welding galvie, grind off where you want to weld and wear a filter particulate mask at all times. Galvie welding can off gas cyanide.

^^^This. But any real welding shop would know this.

 

[Tbaumer]

Tank & support removed. Looks like a bit of rust between them that I'll address before they go back in.



Because it 's working & easy enough to drop the tank that I'm waiting to replace the fuel pump (remember this comment if it quits on the trail ).

 

[Tbaumer]

Had to cut off the screws to remove the rubber protectors. Disconnected the harness & pulled the wiring down through the grommet.

 

[Tbaumer]

The replacement crossmember does not have the indentation for trailer hook up, so I'll be deleting that section of wiring for now. Harness disconnected at the rear & pulled down.

 

[Tbaumer]

Used grinder & cutting wheel to separate the back leg of the floor rail, leaving tabs that can be welded to the new crossmember. Cutting wheel to cut off the rear body bolts.

 

[Tbaumer]

I was afraid the wiring would catch inside & wanted to see what it was routing through before I started pulling it back, so I used a heavy wire to push the harness out of the way & carefully cut off the rear crossmember.