First off...
Thanks to all who gave input. I do appreciate it.
I went to Summit and picked up their $80.00 tubular cross member.
No complaints on the piece itself....however;
The following comes strictly from an engineering eye. And to be very clear, I am not a formally trained engineer, so my perspectives are only as good as the source.
With that said, considering the stock cross member, guessing it weighs close to 45#. It ties together the upper leg of the frame's "C" and the lower leg as well.
There are 3 of this type of cross member. Personally, I do not consider the front core support in the same class as the other 3.
The 3 cross members prevent frsme twist and racking. Removing 1 reduces frame rigidity by over 50%. How is that possible?...it should be 30% if I remove one third. But it's not. Trust me.
Now looking at the Summit cross member, it is obviously smaller. There are 2 angle iron pieces, with 2 mounting holes, butt welded to a bent tube. This cross member has 4 mounting points which is half of the original. It has no support to the upper frame "C" legs. There is only butt welds and no gussets between the tube and the angle iron mounting locations. The tubing is very stout and appears to be high quality DOM type versus the seam welded.
So after looking at this piece, I do not feel confident in this unit being an acceptable replacement to retain frame integrity.
Would I like to be able to access all the tranny pan bolts? You bet, but not at loss of structural ridigity.
I do like the other cross member mentioned, but I am strongly opposed to drilling holes...that's just me. (heck..I really thought long about grinding off rivits that held on the factory exhaust hanger...lol)
Honestly, I am considering a modification to the factory C-member.
I have already removed a section of the little lip on the bottom of the C-member.
I do have plans on pulling the motor to replace all seals and gaskets, once the spring monsoons subside. During that refresh, pulling the C-member would be much easier. From that, I could easily carve out a bit more to allow bolt access. I would notch out the factory C-member snd then weld back in a replacement panel to maintain member integrity. There are options.
