Rear crossmember

[Al E.]

My rear crossmember has some rot. I need to replace it oneday, but can it be done with the body on? I do not want to pull the car from the came until my wife gets pregnant, but it needs to be replaced maybe before then.
How do I remove this sucker without tourching the car into flames or taking the body off. Should I just wait.

Al

[Thomas H.]

Re: Rear crossmember

Al,

I did this on my 60 last year. The original is riveted in the rear and welded in the front to the frame. I used a cut off tool to cut through the welds on the front. I drilled out the rivets. Once the crossmember was out, I found some rot on the frame where it met with the cross member. I cut the rotted areas out of the frame (about 1" x 2") and then fabricated some steel patches that I welded in. A bit of grinding to smooth out the surface and a coat of paint to protect the exposed steel finished up that fix.

Since the body was on the frame, I used bolts in place of the rivets and welded the front back on. It took me a full weekend of laying under the car to do this repair, but it came out great.

There are some pictures on my photobucket site of this repair. I have many more including the patch work that are not uploaded. If you're interested I can put them up there also.

Tom

[Al E.]

Re: Rear crossmember

Thomas,

By all means post the other photos as well. I will be forever grateful.

Al

[Thomas H.]

Re: Rear crossmember

More pictures uploaded.

Tom

[Al E.]

Re: Rear crossmember

Very nice work.. thank you very much for these photos I have to to the same amount of work on mine.. rebound straps, sway bar and leaf springs.

[Thomas H.]

Re: Rear crossmember

Al,

I tried to keep as much original to my car as I could while still returning it to a condition that was safe to drive. I did not change the rebound straps, left the originals in there. I did remove the rear axle housing so I could do a total mechanical overhaul. I was able to dissassemble the housing in the car (remove the center section and axles) then I was able to wrestle the empty housing out of the rebound straps without damaging them.

Take lots of pictures...........

Tom

[Al E.]

Re: Rear crossmember

Did you repaint the car? I have to cut the leaf springs since I cant get the dang bolt off of the rear homemade shackles. I do not know if the springs are original to the car . If I do not cut the springs out I will try to cut the cross-member. the rear needs a complete overhaul. Looks as someone replaced the shocks and springs before and done a crappy job.. leaving me stuck with the bill.

[Thomas H.]

Re: Rear crossmember

I did nothing other then buff the paint out once I got all of the mechanicals fixed. It appears as though it may have had a repaint at one point in its life, but given the fact that I have a ton of receipts from the original owner and there is no receipt for paint work, I can't say for sure. I had a local, well known, restorer who specializes in C1's look at it and he thinks it may have been repainted. It is tough to tell with the black as I can't see evidence of masking or blending. The car looks good in pictures, but the paint is really driver quality. I like it that way, no real worries about chips or scratches when I have it out.

Post some pics of the spring and rear shackles. Don't go cutting the leaf spring until you are 100% certain it is not original

[Al E.]

Re: Rear crossmember

They are not the originals. Some nutjob cut the rebound straps and installed some BS leaf spring shackles.. they are homemade...I will try and use a cut off wheel I dont want to melt my car down. I may have to cut the crossmember to taken the shackles off.

[Philip P.]

Re: Rear crossmember

You have to remember back in the day these cars were made to have fun and go fast with, my first one was a 1958 with a 396 stuffed in it. I am sure that there a few of us "nut jobs" left that did what is now considered unspeakable, but we did have fun. It can all be made whole again with a little work and a lot of money.