Kampy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- February 11, 1999
- Messages
- 347
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Rio Rancho, NM
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 90 Ranger
Dont remember seeing this on the site so I thought I should bring it up.
While doing some mods and maint today I needed to remove the crossmember. When I pulled it out I noticed it was cracked on the outside radius of the holes where the bushings fit in it. The drivers side was cracked on the top side about half way around, not a real big deal. The passenger side was a different story, it was cracked nearly all the way around. Both the top and bottom of the hole were cracked about half way around, leaving about a quarter inch tab of intact metal on each side. The top side also had 3 cracks a quarter of an inch long going away from the hole at a 90 degree angle. These could be seen with the bushing in place.
Folks pay attention! This is all you have keeping the front end from walking back and forth. If it had broken all the way through, a parking block, stump, pothole, or a good sized rock could have put the front wheel back underneath the passenger floor.
The fix was easy. Just welded it up, ground it down smooth, adjusted the angle of the crossmember ( to get rid of the bind when it's at the normal ride height )and redrilled the crossmember mount holes.
This truck has a 4 inch trailmaster kit on it and poly bushings. I believe it's the fault of the poly bushings being so stiff. The truck was run for 100k with this lift and rubber factory bushings and never had a problem except the bushings themselves wearing out. It's had the poly bushings for about 30k and this is what happened.
I guess the bottom line is --- if you have a lifted truck and are running poly bushings, inspect the bushing mounting holes every so often. I'd hate to hear of someone going down a fire road 50mph and having the front axle decide to migrate toward the rear of the truck. Not a fun ride!
I wish I had pictures to show but I don't. If someone else finds this problem maybe they could get a few pics.
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Kampy
kampy@aeroinc.net
While doing some mods and maint today I needed to remove the crossmember. When I pulled it out I noticed it was cracked on the outside radius of the holes where the bushings fit in it. The drivers side was cracked on the top side about half way around, not a real big deal. The passenger side was a different story, it was cracked nearly all the way around. Both the top and bottom of the hole were cracked about half way around, leaving about a quarter inch tab of intact metal on each side. The top side also had 3 cracks a quarter of an inch long going away from the hole at a 90 degree angle. These could be seen with the bushing in place.
Folks pay attention! This is all you have keeping the front end from walking back and forth. If it had broken all the way through, a parking block, stump, pothole, or a good sized rock could have put the front wheel back underneath the passenger floor.
The fix was easy. Just welded it up, ground it down smooth, adjusted the angle of the crossmember ( to get rid of the bind when it's at the normal ride height )and redrilled the crossmember mount holes.
This truck has a 4 inch trailmaster kit on it and poly bushings. I believe it's the fault of the poly bushings being so stiff. The truck was run for 100k with this lift and rubber factory bushings and never had a problem except the bushings themselves wearing out. It's had the poly bushings for about 30k and this is what happened.
I guess the bottom line is --- if you have a lifted truck and are running poly bushings, inspect the bushing mounting holes every so often. I'd hate to hear of someone going down a fire road 50mph and having the front axle decide to migrate toward the rear of the truck. Not a fun ride!
I wish I had pictures to show but I don't. If someone else finds this problem maybe they could get a few pics.
------------------
Kampy
kampy@aeroinc.net
