Frame Repair

[69fourspd]

I was hoping someone could give me some insight as to how much of a problem this is.  Are there aftermarket ends for replaicing, or do I have to go down the custom plate route? The one thing I have always been leary about is cutting into and welding the frame.  Should I take to a frame shop and if so what do you estimate to be the cost? Any help would be great!

[dodgecharger-fan]

I think a lot depends on what your plans are for the car.

If you're just going to drive it and enjoy it, a good fix is the Safe-T-Caps from Autorust Technicians.
They are butt ugly pieces, but they are strong and work as advertised.

If you're restoring to show quality, I'd look for used original pieces and replace what's there. Texas Acres might be the best source for frame pieces. Someone else might be able to suggest other sources..

[69fourspd]

Thanks for the suggestion Charger-Fan.  I will look into both you had mentioned.

[Mike DC]

Generally, the recognized "correct" way to fix that stuff is to replace the crossmember.  Drill out the spot-welds, grind everything smooth, and carefully reinstall a cleaner used one.  All this involves a LOT of careful measuring & squaring of the car body, and if your welding ability even crosses your mind then forget about doing it yourself.

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Another way to deal with this kind of issue is to cut & patch sections of the rusted rail with some sections from a solid donor framerail.  You'd be butt-welding the two sections together after doing a lot of careful trimming on the pieces for a seamless fit.

In your particular case in the pics, I'm not sure I'd wanna do this because you've got a lot of area to deal with.  That looks more like a job for the entire crossmember to be swapped.  But it's worth knowing that it is acceptable to patch framerails if the job is done well.

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As the previous poster said, the frame patches are butt-ugly but they do work as advertised. 
It's not rocket science.  ART basically took the concept of your redneck neighbor's patchwork, and elevated it by laser-cutting the parts and doing professional welding work.  They start with some flat steel of the same thickness as the framerails, and then fabricate a copy of the original area to slide right over it & weld into place.

This stuff grew out of a lot of people just wanting to save fun drivers and not getting wrapped up in the "correctness" of it all.  A lot of cars would be deemed "totalled" if you tried to drill out & replace every single rusted framerail area, but they are salvageable if you just want enough metal patched back into the weak areas to make it solid again. 

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Another option to consider:

If you're on the fence, you might think about using ART patches on the car right now, and also buying & storing away a rust-free crossmember for future use if you change your mind and want the car later on.  The ART stuff is much less labor-intensive and invasive on the car to install than a crossmember replacement job.  And if you eventually just hack it all off in favor of a new crossmember, it hasn't hurt anything while it was there.


(Yes, buy the crossmember NOW and store it away.  Don't wait.  They're never gonna make a new reproduction piece out of decent-grade steel, and our supply of low-rust framerails is drying up a little more each year.)

                     

[69 charger man]

this is what i did.. imm very pleased with the results.. cost me approx. 30 in materials+ my time... i think it looks much better the the "t" cap repalacement... then i added frame connectors.. and replaced both floors.. not that hard just takes time, and the hardest part is taking the old stuff out
-ray

[69fourspd]

ChargerMan - your repair looks pretty clean.  I like what you have done, and that is what I needed to see!  Thanks for the pics.
Mike, this is one of your suggestion also, and I think I could get away with it.  The rail is solid for the most part where there is no hole.  I dont think I will need to cut to much out to get a replacement piece welded in.   
Again - Thanks!!