First Gen frame “plates”

Hey y’all, new here and I’m gonna do a little write up on how I chose to repair my frame…My local dealer said even though my recalls (spray and inspections) where done on time and documented from the previous owner my truck is out of eligibility for replacement of the frame. Anyways here are some pictures of the rust I’m gonna be working on today and a stock photo of the plates I ordered($90.00) shipped from Amazon
I’m aware there are better ways to fix this but on my budget this is the route I’m going for now so for anyone interested follow along and I will be posting updates today or tomorrow on how it went and some finished pictures!

 

Good luck with the project. I had to do a Safe-T-Cap on mine last year

 

That’s definitely a lot of rust, good luck,

I had one shock mount rust out and had the trail gear brackets welded on for extra strength

 

Thanks! I looked at those last year, about $150 a side, didn’t realize you didn’t have to cut that section out before I ordered the ones I got!

 

That looks really good! My leaf spring shackles where I see a lot of peoples rust are pretty solid in mine the only thing that worries me is the shock bracket up top is rusted in almost a compleat square..gotta get another three years outta my truck and I’m moving from pa to Florida in a month so I have to do something lol.

 

Get the shock bracket from safety caps,
Easy

 

Oh snap! See this is why I joined after looking around on here for a year! Y’all got solutions for everything haha!

 

Awesome! Thanks for the post man I hope mine turns out half that good! Gotta burn some rod with a stick machine but regardless ya know a grinder and some undercoat to finish her up!

 

Did you pull the bed?

 

Haha that’s currently my plan of attack

 

First step…….

 

It’s better to pull the bed so you have full access,
Pulling the bed is very easy,
I rented this engine jack for 30.00

 

I ended up finding my cross member that holds the fuel tank is pretty rotted, so after the frame is fixed I need to find one of those and the bed is gonna have to come off for that project

 

Oh man what a genius idea. When I pulled my bed off my old truck I had a friend help me lift it. Also did POR15 on the entire back side of the frame after wire brushing off all the loose rust.






If I could do it over again I would have taken the entire truck apart, but it was the only way I had to get around so gotta do what you can when you have time.

 

Make sure you replace the shock mounts if you use the frame plates. Frames are meant to flex, frame plates make them stiffer, resulting in more pressure on the mounts. I did exactly what you did without replacing my rusty shock mounts and they tore off.

 

good to know, I cut a couple plates out to gussy up the shock mounts today right where I’m
Cutting the rust out so hopefully I can reinforce them before I put the plates up tomorrow!

 

Man, I’m glad I live in Arizona! Even still I welded on CBI frame plates a few years ago to stiffen up the bed. Nice safety measure. Good luck to all the rust buckets out there!

 

Come on now, that whole rust belt thing is just a myth

One of mine:

 

So far I cut out all 3 bad spots, cut plates to fit, got them welded in and ground down and primed, plates are next!

 

Next up gonna burn the plates on may not be pretty but I’m adding a couple years to the life expectancy over here