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How-To Replace Rear Frame Rails?

Zell

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Hi All - Does anyone have a good step-by-step thread on how to replace the rear frame rails by the leaf spring mounts (I need to replace the first 8ish inches on each side).

I've tried following the complete frame off rebuilds but most have a frame rack or several tubes holding the car in place because they removed so much metal. Is it necessary to weld those cross braces in place if I'm removing most of the trunk pan each frame rail, one at a time?

Thanks -

Greg
 

Adam

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I think as long as you have the car supported evenly, and remove & replace one piece at a time, everything will be fine. For example, when I did my trunk pan I left the rusty trunk extensions in place as a reference point, and to hold the quarters; then I replaced them when I had the trunk pan in place.
 

340challconvert

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I did something similar to Adam; left the driver’s side trunk extension in place when replacing the trunk floor as a reference. The car was stabilized and level with jacks on the frame rails. I also would take measurements of the frame rails and rear cross member and ID reference points to refer back to later. Definitely one side at a time.
 

Rich G.

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Replace the whole frame rail. When I did mine. I had the car on jack stands and made a brace from the floor to the rear bumper frame rail that way after you take out the old frame rail it will go in exactly where it came out. Front pretty much goes the same way. A lot easier if you have to replace the trunk floor too.
 

rklein71

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Take a bunch of pictures for reference, and measurements. I don't know how many times I went back to my before pictures to see how it is supposed to look.
 

Zell

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Hi All - thanks for the suggestions. I started to remove some of the fiberglass in the trunk and a lot of the trunk is rotted out. So It looks like I'm going to have to brace the body at various points as I start the remove the rear rails after the patches in the trunk are removed.

@Rich G. do you have any pics of how you did this? This is a really interesting idea to creat a brace. I was trying to think of ways to replace the rail but make sure the leaf spring mount is in the correct location. Also, as others have suggested, I'll be measureing everything like crazy.

Does anyone know how bad it is if the new leaf spring mount is off slightly? FYI - this is my first time welding in a piece of a frame rail section.
 

Zell

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Has anyone used the OER frame rails on Classic Industries - or should I just stick with AMD? (AMD seems to be the preference for the most part on other threads).
 
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