Repairing a rusty frame?

[JeremyK5]

My '78 c30 cab & chassis truck had a flatbed on it that used wooden spacers between it and the frame. When I pulled the flatbed off to put on a regular bed, I found some pretty bad rust. The rust is on the top of the framerail, in every spot that wood was sitting on it. The problem varies from being thinner than it should be, to seeing daylight through it.

Would it be better to weld on steel to plate over the rusted areas, or cut them out and weld in replacement pieces?

Here are some pictures-

 

[K5-newf]

im not realy sure but i would box in the rear to add strenght becuase it looks like its pretty weak back there from the rust

 

[1979jimmy350]

you could try and splice in that part of the frame from another truck, i had a small area of frame rot on my k-5 that i made steel plates for and welded them in

 

[Chaddy]

I personally would start looking for another frame/truck

 

[neverendingproject]

I personally would start looking for another frame/truck

Check

 

[sweetk30]

I personally would start looking for another frame/truck

x2 in my eyes

 

[diesel4me]

bad memories!...

That reminds me of my 74 K20's frame..I ended up scrapping it, and stripping the good parts off, and selling the leftovers...its a common death here for cars and trucks,to just erode and crumble away until nothing is left..

There should be a layer of tarpaper or roof shingles under every wooden bed spacer for this reason..rubber traps moisture too,like when cab mount bushings keep the cab mounts wet constantly,and rust develops quickly..

I'd say look for a better frame if possible...you could patch yours up using donor peices from a 2wd frame,but by the looks of the inner rails,it looks like you'll be chasing rust forever..my trucks rails were thin enough to poke a screwdriver thru them easily in spots,and the entire frame had spots that were peeling apart in layers like de-laminated plywood.. ..So I decided putting another tranny in it after it lost reverse was a waste of effort,and lit my torch.. ..I'd hate to be hauling a heavy load of junk and have it give way on the road!..

If it were a rare antique,you'd have to fix what you've got..but there are so many trucks in junkyards now that still have decent frames ,but poor sheet metal,its hardly worth the time and effort to fix it..

 

[JeremyK5]

you could try and splice in that part of the frame from another truck, i had a small area of frame rot on my k-5 that i made steel plates for and welded them in

I'll probably try welding in some new steel, it'll be a lot easier than finding a frame.

 

[JeremyK5]

I personally would start looking for another frame/truck

The problem with that is that there are very few c30's in any of the junkyards within easy driving distance of where I live. The few I've seen in the junkyards are worse than mine.

And buying another truck isn't an option, because every 1-ton I've seen in the paper, or along the road has been $2,000+ , and there's no way I could afford that. Truthfully, I can't really afford the $500-ish that people have been selling non-running trucks for(if you can hunt them down), especially since the only useable part would probably be the frame.

 

[JeremyK5]

That reminds me of my 74 K20's frame..I ended up scrapping it, and stripping the good parts off, and selling the leftovers...its a common death here for cars and trucks,to just erode and crumble away until nothing is left..

There should be a layer of tarpaper or roof shingles under every wooden bed spacer for this reason..rubber traps moisture too,like when cab mount bushings keep the cab mounts wet constantly,and rust develops quickly..

I'd say look for a better frame if possible...you could patch yours up using donor peices from a 2wd frame,but by the looks of the inner rails,it looks like you'll be chasing rust forever..my trucks rails were thin enough to poke a screwdriver thru them easily in spots,and the entire frame had spots that were peeling apart in layers like de-laminated plywood.. ..So I decided putting another tranny in it after it lost reverse was a waste of effort,and lit my torch.. ..I'd hate to be hauling a heavy load of junk and have it give way on the road!..

If it were a rare antique,you'd have to fix what you've got..but there are so many trucks in junkyards now that still have decent frames ,but poor sheet metal,its hardly worth the time and effort to fix it..

Actually, the rust isn't too bad on this truck. The framerail only has minor surface rust on it, except for the sections you can see in the pictures on the top of the framerail, which are depressingly thin.

 

[DavidB]

I'm parting a C30. In California

 

[JeremyK5]

Here's some more pictures of the truck (before i pulled the 12' flatbed off)

Here's a picture of one of the springpacks, it has the 11 leaf main pack, with the 4 leaf overload pack. I've actually had the truck loaded down enough that the overload leafsprings were flat (twice), with no problems.

 

[JeremyK5]

Of course! It always seems to work out that way. I almost never see anyone parting out something I need in the midwest.

 

[DavidB]

If you're bound and determined to fix it, blast the whole thing, weld in new metal, reinforce, and thoroughly prime and paint it. Anywhere anything is sandwiched it's gonna rust.