Looking at a used truck tonight

[trollbait]

Manual ratings tend to be lower. It tends to be CYA on the manufacturer's part since they have no control over the driver's shifting skill.

[IndyFetch]

I don't plan on towing anything. The frame rails are so rusty I'd be afraid to break the truck in half.

[theholycow]

Going to reinforce the frame at all?

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Going to reinforce the frame at all?

I don't know. The frame rails will probably be OK for a while, but the crossmembers under the bed are pretty well rotted. Well, it makes the truck a little bit lighter, though, right?

[Jay2TheRescue]

That's odd. Usually the body rusts out far before there's any loss of frame integrity due to rust. Is the truck from an area that aggressively uses salt in the winter?

[IndyFetch]

Yeah, we salt it up. The cab corners and bedsides were replaced with new steel. They were rusted out at one point, too.

[VetteOwner]

dang not too bad, ive always liked that front end style.

the frame is fine trust me its a chevy not a toyota haha take a pic tho prolly just surface rust.

under bed supports are what they are, bed supports dont really need em to be intact unless u plan to max out the weight limit in the bed every day haha

ive noticed that too about the towing info, im sure it has to do with liability as it makes sense a manual gearbox would be much tougher than an automatic with all the clutch plates to heat up and burn the trans out. and what trollbait said that manual driving is very varying depending on the driver.

[IndyFetch]

Well, some of the frame crossmembers are almost gone on the right-hand side. I may try to get some tubing welded across there, but there may not be much to weld it to... the frame rails are pretty rusty. They have a few rust holes here and there.

[VetteOwner]

are you sure thier holes or factory holes? GM likes to do that for some reason is swiss cheese the framerails for access holes for bolts...

just wirewheel the rusty spots your welding to (disconnect the battery first..) and have at it. yea my underbed supports are missing a few inches of metal on my s10 but ehh bed is hail dented banged up scratched up rusted out but its a truck...tailgate still opens and latches closed even tho its banana warped (i guess 900 lbs on the gate will do that haha) so its still usefull. I plan to build my own anyways so i aint too worried about it.

oh have a fire extingusiher nearby as you are near the gastank and charcoal canister that collects gas fumes (id be more worried about that thing haha)

[IndyFetch]

While there are some factory holes in the frame rails, there are also some rotted spots.