Rear shock crossmember removal

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subcom

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Anybody ever drill out this panel? How painful is it? Spot welded around the entire perimeter? I’m building a custom 4 link and my upper brackets are encroaching on the shock mount bolt area. Before I just start chopping it out I thought it might be cleaner to remove the whole crossmember. 65 Valiant. Thanks!
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Shoot, if you're careful with a cutoff wheel, you can probably just cut along the flange and not even mess with the spot welds. Good luck!
 
I pulled one from a 67 barracuda to swap in dual tank strap version. It wasnt difficult at all and the new AMD one fell right in place.
 
I pulled one from a 67 barracuda to swap in dual tank strap version. It wasnt difficult at all and the new AMD one fell right in place.
If you are going to remove it, grind the spot welds from the bottom of the cross member. That way you don't have to drill holes.
Keep in mind that cross member is an integral part of the unibody structure. You may open the body to excessive twist in that
area by removing it.
 
Lee is the guy on removing spot-welded parts. Here’s some pics of how I did mine.
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If you are going to remove it, grind the spot welds from the bottom of the cross member. That way you don't have to drill holes.
Keep in mind that cross member is an integral part of the unibody structure. You may open the body to excessive twist in that
area by removing it.

ECEA60D3-7883-4316-B984-5A2475C7BB11.jpeg
ECEA60D3-7883-4316-B984-5A2475C7BB11.jpeg
BED242FC-9F93-4660-A4BB-2783384F60DC.jpeg
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Then box it in?
That’s a great idea also. Thinking about the level of effort to do that it might be best to remove that panel anyway, notch and box it on the bench and then spot weld it back in place. In which case it might be easier to just put a round tube crossbar in its place between the frame rails to keep that area more rigid. Thanks for all of the tips and ideas guys!
 
Anybody ever drill out this panel? How painful is it? Spot welded around the entire perimeter?]

65 Barracuda shock support cross member. I think the side to side spots would be the hardest to drill out, all the rest can be done from the top/interior
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65 Barracuda shock support cross member. I think the side to side spots would be the hardest to drill out, all the rest can be done from the top/interior
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Excellent, thank you! Your pictures give me a very good idea on where I can expect to find all of the spot welds. I’m gonna buy a spot weld cutter/bit and try removing it from under the car. Thanks again!
 
Excellent, thank you! Your pictures give me a very good idea on where I can expect to find all of the spot welds. I’m gonna buy a spot weld cutter/bit and try removing it from under the car. Thanks again!
The frame support is going to be a thicker gauge metal to drill through.


Belly side up..

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Lee’s right about the twist. It’s not shown in these pictures, but I welded 2” angle across each door jamb from just below the upper hinge straight back. Ten a V-shaped piece from there to the top of the transmission tunnel. Also, there is another fixture like the one you can see on the driver’s side that goes between the spring/shackle mounts on the passenger side. Check that dimension before you take it apart. Mine was 3/16” shorter on the passenger side that the factory spec. I had to modify my fixture because I built it to factory spec like the one on the driver’s side. I hope these photos upload ok. Lee’s probably laughing at my work (justifiably.)

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