1997 ford explorer need love can someone help

[Fixmyfordplease]

The trucks been sitting for a few months I realized it needs new rear shocks but where the rear shocks mount to top of the frame is badly rusted swollen and flaking apart how do I fix this or is it even fixable ? Same for the shock mounts on the bottom the. Came to realize the leaf springs are laying strait they have no arch in them is this normal ? Please email me ASAP I love my truck wanna save it if I can all help is greatly appreciated rthritis@yahoo.com

 

[obie]

Can you post some pictures?

Frames and shock mounts are made of some very thick steel that is difficult to actually rust through. If you can hit it with a wire brush and knock most of the scale off, and then clean it with some good degreaser and rinse it with water, you can spray some type of rust preventative paint over it. There are lots of threads around here that talk about Rustoleum, Eastwood Rust Encapsulator, and POR15 and how to properly apply them. Even a wax based undercoating spray, such as Amsoil HD Metal Protectant (I use this stuff) will help to slow down the rusting process. That should do well enough to support your shocks.

As for your leaf springs, if they are completely flat, you're probably going to need new ones. Leaf spring re-arching is expensive, and unless the shop really knows what they're doing, they tend to flatten out again.

Back to the topic of rust, you can check out my restoration thread to get some ideas for preventing it and slowing it down. I went to the extreme, but there are ways to get another few years out of your truck that aren't very expensive.

 

[Fixmyfordplease]

I think the rust is to far gone on the brace that the top of the shocks mount to I can't upload pictures for some reason how much are leaf spring usually ? And what are my options for replacing that brace for the shocks to bolt to I know it's kinda part of the frame but tere has to be some kind of way to fix it any ideas or help again will be greatly appreciated