How to repair a rusty rotten frame rail on a Ford Galaxie
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- While upgrading the 1965 Galaxie I acquired, I noticed a small area of rust on each frame rail. The rust turned out to be worse that I thought and I decided to remove the cancer and patch the rails. Hope this helps you guys a little.
Thanks man. I bought a solid 67 not knowing the frame was rotten. Had a fab guy come look at it and he said 5k to fix it. This video makes it seem like something I can do.
Heck yeah, glad it helped. No lie, I was overwhelmed thinking about this repair. I didn’t even know how to weld before this. Forced myself to learn so I could attack this repair. Good luck with yours 💪🏼 I did add a couple fish plates to the inside of the frame for additional strength. Better to be safe than sorry.
I have this same exact repair in my future. Thanks for the video.
Glad it helped 👌🏼
Pretty much all big Fords before 73 had the same issue.
What a headache. Glad I fixed this before it got worse
Watch you've proven there is the need for front wheel mud-flaps too to protect the forward frame rail from tire splashes.
Most def. That mud was super thick and set me back a ton of time to getting it running
How did you make out with the frame repair? I recently bought a '68 Fastback XL with the same problem. I knew it had the problem before buying it. Let us know how you made out.
It went really well, I added a few fish plates to the inner and outer frame to add rigidity. Unfortunately I sold the car or I’d make an update. If you do end up tackling this repair, you’re going to have to access the body mounts in the torque box. I strongly recommend adding some kind of penetrating oil to them for a few days because they’re tough to get out on older cars. Thankfully, I did not have a problem, but I’m gonna suggest spraying all of the body mounts with penetrating oil if you have to remove the body from the frame.
@@DCVenturesI pitty the poor bastar that inherited this mess
How did the 1965 weld project end up? Didn't see a follow up video. Have the same situation with my 66.
I ended up suffering a back injury and didn’t make up a follow up video. I did weld it up and get the car running and driving. If you have an email, I can send some pics.
So many questions... from a structural engineering standpoint, this patchwork involving more than half the surface area of the tube will not hold up under mechanical stress. It will effectively fail within a short period of time once the body is on and ground reactive forces are active. It will not have any tensile strength. You marvel at your spot weld congruity. But this is irrelevant. If you want to see a mock up before investing all your time and money on a failed frame repair, do the following: take your 1/8 inch tube stock, and support it on each end about 100 inches apart. Then load it with a mechanical press until you see plastic deformity. Then do the same thing on a piece that had a cut out and end to end weld for the same length as you demonstrated, and the load that piece in the same manner. You will see a load to failure at much lower loads. And this is just compression-tension. The tensile side of the frame is the under side, the most important stress point, not the compressive side on top. Your welds will effectively pull apart. And this is just 2 dimensional loading. Factor in 3D torsional loads and sheer stress, and it's even weaker. Finally, whenever you cut something at 90 degrees, the corner of the cut becomes a stress riser for crack propagation... another mode of failure. This "cosmetic repair" is a recipe for disaster. You're fooling yourself to think this is going to hold up. But it's your dollar and your life. I wouldn't give anyone else a ride over 25 mph.
Realistically it had enough rot in the frame and still managed to drive without issue. I shoved my finger through the rot after driving it home. I was under the supervision of a certified welder for the repair because I had never attempted a repair like this. Was either this or scrap the frame. I will agree having a rounded corner and not a 90 degree would have been the better option. The fish plate on the inside of the frame rail was robust in size to add additional rigidity. Only thing I could have done different would be to sleeve the inside but I don’t remove an entire section of frame.
Frames on cars are also suppose to flex and move. This isn’t a 1 ton truck that needs a rigid frame. All cars are meant to flex and move, same with their frames. But if you’re working on cars and frames, please let me know I’m wrong
@@DCVentures frames are designed for a certain amount of torsional rigidity. Once a frame is compromised, and any feeble attempt is made to reinforce or repair, the metallurgy is changed. It will only be as strong as its weakest link.
@@ronrico2314 I completely agree with you. And cutting into the frame was not something I wanted to do. I was sold the car without knowing there was rust, consuming a portion of the lower frame rails. I found out when I went to change my brakes. I toyed with the idea of replacing the frame, but that wasn’t an option so the next best thing was to repair it. Apparently this year and model has a lot of problems with these frame rails being rusted. I also sold the car and disclosed the repair because I felt that would be a concern to anybody. Believe me I did not want to do it but unfortunately, that was the only method I can take to repair it and I tried to make the repair as strong as possible and as safe as possible. I appreciate the constructive criticismand information