I think this is what you'd call these. The frame where the leaf springs mount/hang to/from and the cross member that goes from one side of the car to the other that is welded to the same metal part. Anyway my question is what to do to replace these since you see rust or wear? Im looking for a winter project to make things better and avoid issues down the road. Can you just make or reinforce these if there are rust holes etc? Or are there replacements our there that one can just cut the old ones out and fit and weld the new ones in? And can I do it without taking the body off the frame when I do it? Thanks for any insight and expertise on such
If you only have small areas of rot through, you need to clean off all of the visual rust so you can see where the rust ends and the good steel begins (you can't weld to rust). You can then get new flat steel and weld it in to make it nice and solid again. If the rust through is serious enough and everywhere you look, you can buy a nice rust free used crossmember or frame rail from one of our dry state neighbors to replace your bad stuff with. All of the spot welds would have to be cut out to remove the old part. Then everything cleaned up like new and the replacement part rewelded into place. You won't find anything brand new to replace them with as no one makes them. You can't take the body of a Maverick off of it's frame as it is a welded uni-body structure. The front and rear "frames" are only sheet metal bent to shape and spot welded to the floor of the car and reinforced with a torque box system Hope some of my ramblings have helped
Is it just the frame ends back by the shackle that are bad? If so, maybe a Mustang kit could be pieced in. I have not used these on a Maverick but I have used them on Mustangs and Cougars with rear frame rot and they work very well. Basically, what you do is measure the new piece and cut the same amount off the old frame to remove the rotten part. The new frames have a tapered end that fits into the existing frame cut off end. Then it all gets welded to the car. One note - Mustangs use the same size shackle, but have a different size bushing for both the frame and the leaf springs. So you will need the right size bushings for your springs. Maybe someone else has tried these on a Maverick and can post what they needed to do to make them work. http://www.mustangsunlimited.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=8899103+01
I will try and get pictures. I just got up under there the other day and saw where things were deteriorating from driving her this summer--must have weakened or was missed after I bead blasted and sprayed with POR15 and undercoating.
Here are a couple pics I found on the web --- obviously a lot of the back of this Mustang has been removed, but it gives a great idea behind the frame rail end installation.
I saw that when I found the pic to post - my hope is they are just something to use during all the welding, fabricating and painting. Hopefully for the finished project he used the real ones .........
Did anyone ever try this? I would like to do this on my 77'. Driver's side has some rot. Is the only place on the entire car and want to fix it. Thanks
