Hutcheson’s frame restoration

Figured I’d start a thread documenting my mid frame restoration. Plugging away at it when I can find some spare time.

I’ll try my best to go over everything I’ve done but it’ll most likely be a picture heavy thread.

Trucks a 2000 Tundra 4.7L V8 AC with 260000km

I went with the SafeTCap by Autorust. Part #ART-242X-S

Here’s what I’m working with. Starting with the drivers side.

 

Thats as far as I’ve gotten so far, pulling the stiffener out has unveiled rust thicker than my frame and instead of 1 hole I now have 2. Should have the frame prepped for welding by tomorrow with a template made up of the new stiffener.

 

Great work. Good pics. Looking forward to watching this process, thanks for sharing. Smart move with the extinguisher!
Curious, so I looked those parts up, not so bad considering what you are saving.
https://www.autorust.com/product/mid-frame-section-w-spring-mount-art-242x-s-set/

 

Subscribed! Nice work so far. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Nice! I look forward to watching this thread and seeing how it turns out.

 

Spent a few hours after work today cleaning up the area being welded, finished removing the last of the rivets, needle scaled the inside of the frame and got a template made for the new stiffener. I’ll be dropping that off at the shop tomorrow and hopefully get my new spring mount installed soon.

 

The new spring mounts appear to be a bit wider internally, not sure if that’ll pose a problem or if I’ll just need wider bushings when I get my new leafs. The old mounts needed some prybar action whereas these ones fit freely.

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My hats off to you. That’s a lot of work and it appears you’re taking the time to do it correctly.

 

Appreciate it, makes me feel good knowing I’m doing it to the best of my abilities. Looking forward to getting it back on the road.

 

Looks great! What's the plan to treat the bare metal between layers?

 

I'm following this with great interest! I'm also curious about the application of the autorust part. It seems that it is intended to replace the stiffener on the outside of the frame, obviating the need for an internal stiffener. Why do you feel the need to do both?

 

Ain't it obvious? Every failure is a chance to upgrade!

BEEF!

 

Or in other words..."if one is good then two must be better"!

 

Great work man! I see you are a man of culture with that beautiful cardboard template.

I think @Tundra2 said it somewhere else, but that spring mount will likely deflect in fine when tightened. You might try sending auto rust/safetcap an email with those images. After all they probably know their product better than any of us.

 

After consulting my advisor google I'm learning that that weld through primer or epoxy primer may be suitable for the inside surfaces. Plusses and minuses for both techniques. Also there's another process for which I am not familiar called "cold galvanizing", a spray on coating that functions more or less the same. I'm skeptical, plus welding through zinc is not my idea of a good time.

Toyota appears to have relied on only paint, however, which is why we all have this problem to some degree or another...

 

A good weld thru primer will contain zinc, so heads up on that.

The key here is to place a continuous weld between layers. Rust needs a steady supply of oxygen for the reaction to continue.

If it's a sealed chamber it will last forever regardless of what it gets treated with beforehand.

 

Couldn't have said it any better myself!

 

Boss man.... It says:
>The ART-242X also comes with an inner frame support plate to be used where necessary.
Did you not get one?

 

@JakeJake touched up a bit on it further down, i

You betcha I did, they came with 6 of them but rather than just slapping those on where I see fit I opted to just make an entirely new stiffener instead.

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Excellent work!

 

Cheers! I had no intentions of doing this when I bought the truck, but then again I didn’t look that hard enough for rust ‍♂️ Thankfully the rest of the frame is in great shape..

 

Baby steps the last few days, more or less just preparing the metal for when the welder comes out. Should be in the next week and a half. Wish it was something I was capable of doing as I’d like to drive my truck lol.

Picked up my new frame stiffener today, dry fit it and it goes to my buddy tomorrow to be tack welded and then back to me for a second dry fit.

3/16” thick

 

That OEM stiffener looks pretty good.

 

It’s what was behind it that I didn’t like

 

Is that the framerail, or the stiffener though? I see where the stiffener is looking pretty thin at some of those holes, but the condition of the steel outward looks pretty intact.

 

It’s a little bit of both, more so the frame rail. Left me with 2 good sized holes on the frame rail and a tiny guy on the bottom flange above the spring mount. In hindsight I probably could have left the old stiffener and been okay but seeing as I’ve opened it up I felt the need to beef it up some more.

 

If you're gonna be in there, may as well set it up for the next 8-10 years without issues...

 

That’s the plan anyways..

 

Got the stiffener all welded up, holes picked up and drilled out. If I was being picked I could have made my cardboard template a little bigger lol. Tightening the bolts should close the gaps. All in all I’m quite happy with the fitment. I’ll get the area painted tomorrow, stiffener put in, cross brace in and hopefully throw the exhaust back in.

 

Nice work!