'87 Ranger - Rotted Radiator Support - Rebuild

[Dustincoc]

I purchased this truck last September and just got it home yesterday. One thing I noticed shortly after I purchased it is the lower 4" or so has rusted away leaving the front valance panel resting on the frame rails as the only support. The radiator is also dangling by its upper bolts.

For now I'm planning on fabricating a support system for whats left of the radiator support with the intention of eventually replacing the panel. One thing I'm concerned about is getting the height correct for the support I'm going to fabricate. I have no idea how far the front end has dropped since the entire bottom of the panel is gone leaving me no reference points.

Although it would be better to just replace the panel now, I'm have other things that need work first like solving the oil burning problem with the engine and attatching the exhaust to the manifold with something better than a C-clamp and a big spring.

 

[Dustincoc]

A few pics of the damage. Currently the jack and red 2x4 are what is holding the front body up.

 

[Diablo]

that's a lot of cancer, I would be looking the whole truck over now

 

[Dustincoc]

that's a lot of cancer, I would be looking the whole truck over now

I have several times, the only other place there is any severe rust damage is tail end of one of the frame rails. That won't be a hard repair since the frame is pretty much straight at that point. There are a few little spots up on the firewall that have a few little holes as well but I'm not to concerned with them at this time. The bottom of the cab has very little rust. The frame is a bit rusty but is very solid other than that one spot. I'm sure I could strip all the rust off with a wire brush on my grinder.

My last truck('95 Nissan D21 Hardbody) had the frame crack repeatedly. It had been welded & plated before I got it and I went back to the guy I bought it from a couple months later to get a crack in the frame above the axle welded.I really wasn't happy with the quality of work that time(blow through, ect) A couple months after that I had the frame crack at the front leaf spring mount break and I rebuilt that myself and that side I'd say was stronger than it came from the factory(3"x3/16" plate steel boxing in a section a foot either side of the crack as well welding the crack after removing all rust). A week after I got all that fixed, the frame broke in the same place on the opposite side. I scrapped it at that point since repairing it would have necessitated the replacement of all brake and fuel lines.

After that, I made sure I checked the frame out really good before I bought this truck.

I'm thinking my plan of attack to repair this is going to be either taking the core support off and fabricating an entirely new lower section for it or to run a piece of tubing across the frame brackets and either 3 or 5 verticals up to to top of the radiator support with another piece of tubing spanning the top. I will then de-rust the remnants of the radiator support and use that to skin the tube frame so I can preserve the headlight, ect mounting locations.

 

[Dustincoc]

Does anyone know what that plastic box next to the passenger side headlight is? It appears to be empty.

From what I've seen, this truck has had quite a bit of "creative" repairs. When I got it, it had 2 coils, the functional one was zip tied to the cruise control mechanism on the drivers inner fender which itself was attached in an awkward location with 2 roofing screws.

 

[Dustincoc]

Got out to work on it a bit tonight. Got the bumper off, headlights off, nd laid out what parts of the radiator support I'm going to save. Also got the cruise control unit almost mounted back in its stock location and got the coil bracket derusted and painted.

White lines mark out the parts of the radiator support I'm going to save.

 

[Dustincoc]

Blue is the existing frame rails and radiator support mounts. I may end up building a new set of frame brackets since the holes in the existing ones are quite a bit larger than I need and have ragged edges from rust and it appears they have a hexagonal hole, possibly a bolt head tore through of something. They are also 1/2" lower than I would like. Green in the rubber mounts. Red is the brackets made of 3/16"x3" steel. Magenta is the radiator support cross member I cut out of a 88 caravan, basically a 2"x3 1/2" tube. I still need to figure out the wings that will extend on the outside of the frame rails. I may also add some sort of rib over the red section to stiffen it up further. Won't make that call till I get it built and see how stiff it is.