[Dale99]

Alright, try to type a step by step here on the cross member.

1. Obtain 73-87'ish crossmember with swaybar mounts.
2. Clean all old rivits out of "new" member.
3. remove old member, and I would do your best to do it w/o destroying it. You will use the ends of it for templates later.
4. I laid them up next to each other and noticed they were not an exact match. It is 1 layer of metal taller, and the top is angled differently.
5. I ended up pie cutting along the bend originally so that I could bend it down and get the ends the same height. After doing this I noticed I had a power steering brace on the left side that would not allow 2 layers of metal. However, cutting this made it much easier for step 6.
6. I heated the top and bent it tell it matched the old member minus the extra metal for the swaybar mounts.
7. Cut a good section off the swaybar mount off so that it would be correct height, and be even with the frame. Remember, you will have to install this at an angle, so you might want to angle these cuts to help install.
8. I welded my pie cuts, and welded one side of the swaybar mount to the member since it will no longer be riveted at the frame.
9. I then noticed the top flange is wider then the old. So I cut some of this down, then later cut a slight radius on it for helping put it in at an angle (red markings on pic to be attached)
10. Hammered in place installing left side first. I ended up having to take my right bumper brace-frame bolt out for this.
11. Once in place I chose to go with (3)3/8x1 carriage bolts so that I could keep the riveted look. However, I would now suggest (2)3/8x1 carriage, (1)3/8x1.5 carriage, and (1)3/8x.75 sae. I drilled 3 of the holes out to fit the nut/bolt setup(holes were close, but not exact match). The one bolt that is above your steering box I drilled and tapped to put basic sae bolt in.


I need to finish cleaning up some of my cutting on the swaybar mount before I can bolt my bar up.