Where the exausht is running through, is under a '41 Ford truck and it's seen better days. Does this need replaced or?
I'm going to ***ume you are asking about the two side braces betwee the frame and the X memember . Outside of looking like they were drug across a field of jagged boulders at one time the don't look like they have lost a lot of strength. You could knock the rivets out, take them out and work them over with a BFH and what ever you use for a stout anvil and do some grinding and welding and clean up the holes that they torched out for the exhaust a bit.
I'm thinking you could probably take them back to original shape with out removing braces. Drop the exhaust. Use a big crescent wrench to pull down the high spots. Then a 5+ lb. sledge hammer for a dolly and a 2 1/2-3 lb. hammer for a "body" hammer. If the fold for the lip is pushed up, a cross pein hammer can move that back into place. Will probably need a some heat to shrink the stretched areas that are left.
Yep, like X-cpe says I'd just get under there with a BIG Crescent wrench and try bending the flanges back into shape.
Shorter Cherry Bombs and Bubbas butchery could have been avoided. I'm not exactly sure what those members actually do. Tie the center of the x to the rails? Support the floor in that area? Both of the above? I doubt they were put there for fun, so they have a purpose and therfore advisable to retain. Chris
Replace them with thick wall tubing across above and below the exhaust. (Weld-on or bolt-on.) Optionally, add some angled trusses between the pair of tubes.
They are a support brace for the frame. Probably still doing their job, just not pretty. As mentioned above, you can make something up, or buy them. https://www.weedetrstreetrod.com/ec...supports/frame-to-x-brace-for-37-40-ford.html
We do what we do to get what we want. The longer gl*** packs are probably mellower than shorter ones.
They are doing what they were put there for. Don't put mirrors under your pickup at car shows. You should see frame of my '53 Chevy after almost 50 years of driving my 2 mile rocky road.
I had to widen my 41 truck frame for the transmission I chose to run. I removed and fabricated those side panels, then welded them back in. I cut holes for my exhaust to run through them. If you're going that deep the frame really needs a top brace to complete a side-to-side bracing of the frame. Not needed for a restoration but if you are hot rodding it (which is why we are all here) brace that section of the frame. There is a supplier of a bolt in center brace in the HAMB cl***ifieds. I decided to build my own. I had steel channel bent to my specs and notched it against the frame rails for my fuel line, brake lines and wiring harness to p***. The top center brace is a half section of steel pipe that I welded strap to for a bolt in brace. ****** mount, top brace (bolt in), C channel side supports, and the clearance for the lines to p***. This provides a rigid base for my Hemi powered PU. And I don't have to worry about the paint on my door jambs.
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