1955-1957 Frame Drain

S

smithdj2626

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Joined
Feb 27, 2021
Thunderbird Year
1957
Hi All,

I am working on cleaning up under my 57 and noticed there is a good amount of sand/junk inside my frame, particularly near the rear axle kick-up. I also do not see any drain plugs in the bottom of the frame anywhere that could be used to help clean this out. Anyone come across this and devised a solution (other than taking the body off and dumping the detritus out the end)? The frame is in otherwise good shape but I can see that this could lead to some issues later on.

Thanks for any recommendations you may have!
 
I'm a little confused. I haven't looked under there for a while And I think the X frame is 'I' beam and the frame is boxed. How do you know it's full of junk? Maybe a good undercarriage power washing will do the trick. The engineers at that time knew about that kind of integrity. No way would they get a reputation of frame rot under normal usage.
 
Thanks for the reply, Ward. You are correct that the X-portion has an I-profile and the main longitudinal portion of the frame is boxed. There are a few drilled holes in the side of the boxed portion, where you can access the interior with a tool/small finger and that is where I am finding dirt/sand/etc. There are no holes on the bottom of the boxed portion (only gaps between the welds where a little water could make its way out), so I am wondering how this junk is supposed to make its way out.
 
Your kidding about that last statement ??? The kick up on a Tbird frame is one spot that has caused many problems. And on later Fords too.

I'm a little confused. I haven't looked under there for a while And I think the X frame is 'I' beam and the frame is boxed. How do you know it's full of junk? Maybe a good undercarriage power washing will do the trick. The engineers at that time knew about that kind of integrity. No way would they get a reputation of frame rot under normal usage.
 
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