Angelo Voltura Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 Hello everyone, long time no see. Life is busy! Well it finally happened to me, my 90 finally busted behind the steering box and you all know right where. Apparently the TSB for the rivet was never done and the rivet where the 3 sections meet have begun to seperate causing flex and the crack. Mine broke a chunk about 1"x2" directly at the crease bent around the engine crossmember and around that further most inward bolt. Unfortunately, because it's flexing so much it cracked the rail itself behind the shock tower. From what I can see before I tear it apart is that I believe it extends from the bottom to the square hole just behind the tower and no further. The truck has since been parked. Tonight I ordered a new set of shock towers, rear mounts and hardware (Ebay has a deal for $90 right now. Get all 4). My plan is to get the tower and box off and assess the damage. I'd been hearing some noise but didn't make it in time. Luckily there is a factory brace in the boxed section of the frame...if that hadn't been there I'd probably have rolled the truck. So I am thinking about making tubes that the bolts go through in between the boxed section. It looks like I'm going to have fun cutting the welds and knocking the rivets out with the truck still together... I sourced a front horn from a 96 that the inside piece looks the same and is solid so I've been taking that apart in hopes I can reuse it. I plan on making some tubular gussets to go in-between the boxed section, ordering a Blue Top box and then buying longer bolts so I can nut the box from the back side. The frame horn I cut out had a 1/4" thick plate made to the bends of the outside of the frame rail to support a snow plow that I saved to brace the outside with. I plan on getting a 3x3 piece of square stock and bolting that into the front frame horns to eliminate anymore chance of flexing as apparently the bumper and sway bar cross member didn't do enough. Once this is taken care of I did source a 1977 Dana 44 for a straight axle swap...as nice as my TTB rides I think it's time since I'll be in there.....on the flip side I did just pick up a new fuel tank for it and rebuilt the front brakes, new stainless braided hoses and a couple nycop lines. Pics coming as I get in there. Here's one of the inside. Hard to see rhe chunk missing. Outside crack not shown. You can also see the rather large gap between where the 3 sections meet at the rivet. This picture below shows in red circled where rhe chunk is completely missing. Never have I ever seen one do it quite like this. I also shamlessely painted my wheels 2 tone... So hopefully I'm not in over my head but it's gotta get fixed sooner than later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 Bummer Angelo! I'm confident in your ability to fix this, and fix it right. Sounds like a complete front end upgrade. 👍 I'm not too familiar with the solid D44 swap. Mostly see D60 SAS in leaf sprung trucks. But I'm subscribed to tag along on this adventure. 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 Bummer Angelo! I'm confident in your ability to fix this, and fix it right. Sounds like a complete front end upgrade. 👍 I'm not too familiar with the solid D44 swap. Mostly see D60 SAS in leaf sprung trucks. But I'm subscribed to tag along on this adventure. 😉 Yes, that's a bummer. I've not seen one crack a chunk out. Wow! But that was a very poor design. If I understand correctly you are going to weld tubes in the holes that the bolts pass through and space the box off the frame by having the tubes sit proud of the frame by maybe 1/8". Right? If so, that is a huge help. The problem with the original design is that it puts the hard/sharp edge of the box right against the frame. So that concentrates all of the force right at the edge and the frame cracks. But getting the box off the frame puts the stress on the three round tubes. That cuts the stress by a factor of 3. And the round holes don't concentrate stress at a single point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 Yes, that's a bummer. I've not seen one crack a chunk out. Wow! But that was a very poor design. If I understand correctly you are going to weld tubes in the holes that the bolts pass through and space the box off the frame by having the tubes sit proud of the frame by maybe 1/8". Right? If so, that is a huge help. The problem with the original design is that it puts the hard/sharp edge of the box right against the frame. So that concentrates all of the force right at the edge and the frame cracks. But getting the box off the frame puts the stress on the three round tubes. That cuts the stress by a factor of 3. And the round holes don't concentrate stress at a single point. Radiusing the back of the box would probably accomplish the same thing, without messing up the entire steering geometry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Voltura Posted July 12 Author Share Posted July 12 Radiusing the back of the box would probably accomplish the same thing, without messing up the entire steering geometry. I ended up just grabbing a Napa box today just to have one. The idea is to replace that section that's welded/riveted on the inside of the rail with a new one and put the tubes in between the inner and outer rail for the bolts to pass through and then brace rhe front horns together. It looks like the factory did some thing like that in between the 3 mounting bolts which is why it didnt collapse in on itself fortunately. But I agree I have never seen one actually bust a chunk out of it. I had heard intermittent popping at, you guessed it, low speeds/not moving but chalked it up to a bad drag link. I guess I found it.... Either way I'm sourcing parts. I'm hoping it'll be a weekend fix but it's going to be a bear getting it done I feel. I wish the service kits were still available. Ford knew it was a problem as far back as 1984. I can't really say I'm surprised with as common as it is on these trucks. As soon as I could barely steer I knew something was very wrong. When you pull into the parking lot and the wheel has made 1.5 revolutions and you are still going straight there is an issue... Either way as far as the axle swap goes I plan on probably just getting the truck mobile as the axle needs a full tear down and rebuild but for free I couldn't say now. Eventually I want to 8 lug swap the truck, I already have rear springs for it and just would have to change the outers on the front axle so it'd be kind of nifty seeing an 8 lug coil sprung F150. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 When you pull into the parking lot and the wheel has made 1.5 revolutions and you are still going straight there is an issue... Yikes! That is "an issue"!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Voltura Posted July 12 Author Share Posted July 12 When you pull into the parking lot and the wheel has made 1.5 revolutions and you are still going straight there is an issue... Yikes! That is "an issue"!!! The drivers side frame horn actually was twisting enough that the edge of the pitman arm has made contact with the engine crossmember at one point or another. From what I can see I don't believe the crack on the outside of the rail has made it to the top yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85pig Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 I ended up just grabbing a Napa box today just to have one. The idea is to replace that section that's welded/riveted on the inside of the rail with a new one and put the tubes in between the inner and outer rail for the bolts to pass through and then brace rhe front horns together. It looks like the factory did some thing like that in between the 3 mounting bolts which is why it didnt collapse in on itself fortunately. But I agree I have never seen one actually bust a chunk out of it. I had heard intermittent popping at, you guessed it, low speeds/not moving but chalked it up to a bad drag link. I guess I found it.... Either way I'm sourcing parts. I'm hoping it'll be a weekend fix but it's going to be a bear getting it done I feel. I wish the service kits were still available. Ford knew it was a problem as far back as 1984. I can't really say I'm surprised with as common as it is on these trucks. As soon as I could barely steer I knew something was very wrong. When you pull into the parking lot and the wheel has made 1.5 revolutions and you are still going straight there is an issue... Either way as far as the axle swap goes I plan on probably just getting the truck mobile as the axle needs a full tear down and rebuild but for free I couldn't say now. Eventually I want to 8 lug swap the truck, I already have rear springs for it and just would have to change the outers on the front axle so it'd be kind of nifty seeing an 8 lug coil sprung F150. You got that front axle free?!? Those go for good money around here, I was happy to get mine for a few hundred, I had to pull it, and it needs completely rebuilt. I have so many things in the queue for my life right now that I'm not sure when I'll get to the SAS, but I have 90% of the parts, so it's just working my way up to it. Now I want to go out and look my frame over with all of this cracking talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Voltura Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 You got that front axle free?!? Those go for good money around here, I was happy to get mine for a few hundred, I had to pull it, and it needs completely rebuilt. I have so many things in the queue for my life right now that I'm not sure when I'll get to the SAS, but I have 90% of the parts, so it's just working my way up to it. Now I want to go out and look my frame over with all of this cracking talk. Yes my buddy and I part out 73-79 trucks on the regular. He bought a 77 plow truck for a couple hundred bucks that we gutted and sold off everything good on and then scrapped it and then gave me the front end out of it. It needs to be totally gone through and the radius arm studs are rotted through but it didn't cost me anything. I would check your frame. It's common enough that it happens on stock trucks too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 You got that front axle free?!? Those go for good money around here, I was happy to get mine for a few hundred, I had to pull it, and it needs completely rebuilt. I have so many things in the queue for my life right now that I'm not sure when I'll get to the SAS, but I have 90% of the parts, so it's just working my way up to it. Now I want to go out and look my frame over with all of this cracking talk. Yes my buddy and I part out 73-79 trucks on the regular. He bought a 77 plow truck for a couple hundred bucks that we gutted and sold off everything good on and then scrapped it and then gave me the front end out of it. It needs to be totally gone through and the radius arm studs are rotted through but it didn't cost me anything. I would check your frame. It's common enough that it happens on stock trucks too. Yes, it happens on stock trucks. Dad's truck had never been abused but its frame was cracked and the huck bolt was loose. Big Blue's frame wasn't cracked but the huck bolt was loose and there was movement that would have led to cracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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