rust issues,,

[n9xvt]

  so i think my eagle might have to be put down,,i am pretty handy with angle iron a grinder and a welder,,but dont own a welder and think this may be fatal,,i am actually not sure of the correct name for tha arm that bolts to the bracket thats bolted to the "frame-rail" so i'll let a couple pics speak for themselves,,and take all the advise/read this/i've seen worse tales as guideance for my next moves

[Whuntmore]

Ohhh man, that's crappy.  Hopefully some of the other guys will chime in here, and let you know just how 'fatal' that rot is.

I hope it's not fatal...

[n9xvt]

well it doesnt exibit any noticible body droop or mis-alignment of any body panels,,drives decent,,slight pull right,,i wanna save this one,,its my second amc and first eagle

[wagoneerhauler]

Maybe you're near a nest member with welder?  Does not look nice.  Hope you can take care of it.

[thereverendbill]

That isn't good at all.  What you need to do is take the mount off and grind the area till you find some good metal,then cut the bad area out and weld a new piece of rail in.  I would recommend parking the car until you get it fixed because it will ony get worse and when it eventually fails your looking at A lot of time and money replaceing suspension components

[priya]

If that's the only serious rust you've got its well worth fixing.  It probably wouldn't even be that much if you paid a shop to do it, its not like its got to be perfectly contoured and smooth and shiny.

[n9xvt]

well it is finished,,ffirst i had to fix the fuel leak i found,,was not comfortable welding grinding and cutting with raw fuel on the loose,, being cheap and askin here i decided to delete the return line,,so
before
after,,
now on to the point here!,,







so now my eagle is flyin again,,well almost,,i need a split boot for my outer cv joint,,and a brake hose,,both were found to be tired! thanks guys for the kind words! so how true is it the more ya work on an eagle the more ya want to?

[thereverendbill]

lookin good, aren't eagles fun.  I know all too well of the AMC domino effect.  It starts with some rust to repair and ends up with new lines, bushings, ect.... 

[philotomy]

Wow thats lookin MUCH better now ,it'll seem like new once its running again and probably feel safer too.

[Eagleearl]

Great repair! You may end up having problems with flooding the engine with no return line, especially if you put a new fuel pump on.

[shanebo]

Good save!!! thats certainly egg worthy!

[Mechanic]

Well done. Very clean repair. It's amazing how many vehicles have been scraped over something like this. A mildly involved frame repair. Think about how many more vehicles would have been saved if everyone was as handy with a welder as you are.

[shanebo]

Im sure its not as easy as it looks on the post but it just goes to prove a rotted frame rail does not have to be fatal.

[Smitch]

Wish I could do stuff like that!
One thing, though, I think the return line from the fuel filter should be in the 12 o'clock position. Someone had a problem with that one time.