Posted on by Royboy

Tech: Ryno Built Saves My Ride

I’ve known for awhile that the transmission cross-member that was in my 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 was hanging too low. It was dragging too much and on big bumps on the highway it would slam the pavement, no bueno. So when I was talking to my buddy Ryno at Ryno Built about it he said to come down to his shop in the Joplin area and he’d get a new one fabbed up.

When we got the car up on the lift it was obvious that things were more dire than I thought. The existing cross-member had completely broken into two pieces. One more big bump could have lost it completely, that could lead to any manner of catastrophic consequences. I’ve seen driveshafts come out and nearly slam into the car I was in behind the drive shaft’s prior vehicle. A couple of inches difference and that drive shaft would have come through the windshield. I cannot imagine if my car broke and caused something like that to happen. Best case scenario the failure would leave me stranded on the side of the road, worst case scenario could be deadly. Just another note to encourage you to make sure your ride is mechanically sound not just for your safety but for the safety of those around you.

Here
Here’s what we found when we got the car up on the lift. one side of the transmission cross-member had completely broken. 10 ga. welded to ½” plate and 0 penetration on the welds. That’s not rust on the floor pan that’s trans fluid. Another issue I have to fix.
Lucky for me I didn
Lucky for me I didn’t take one more trip with the car the way it was. 1 side of the existing transmission cross-member was completely separated.
Ryno plasma cutting the existing transmission crossmember off of the frame. The AOD is much longer than the Cruis-o-matic so using the factory frame mounts would have made the mount larger and harder to build.
Ryno plasma cutting the existing transmission cross-member off of the frame. The AOD is much longer than the Cruis-o-matic so using the factory frame mounts would have made the mount larger and harder to build.
Ryno getting rid of the remnants of the old crossmember.
Ryno getting rid of the remnants of the old cross-member.

Then it was time to grind off the remainder of the old mount.
Then it was time to grind off the remainder of the old mount.

Not quite done getting rid of the old one, almost done.
Not quite done getting rid of the old one, almost done.
Ryno cutting some tubing that we thought we needed before a later re-design when I changed my mind.
Ryno cutting some tubing that we thought we needed before a later re-design when I changed my mind.
Welding in the new crossmember.
Welding in the new cross-member.
At each end of the crossmember Ryno added 3/16" plate gussets under the crossmember. Here he
At each end of the cross-member Ryno added 3/16″ plate gussets under the cross-member. Here he’s adding some holes at my request to make it look cooler.
Before a coat of paint you can see the driver
Before a coat of paint you can see the driver’s side of the mount. The parking brake cable is attached to a tab that we added. We used a rectangle tubing to provide as much clearance under the cross-member as possible. There is room for a 2 ½” Dia. exhaust pipe to fit and still not hang below the frame.
The passenger side is pretty much the same without the parking brake cable mount. Here you can see the factory mount waaaay up forward on the frame.
The passenger side is pretty much the same without the parking brake cable mount. Here you can see the factory mount waaaay up forward on the frame.
The fluid everywhere is killing me, sorry about that. Here
The fluid everywhere is killing me, I have to figure out the leak and clean up the mess. Here’s the new cross-member and the new mount that we installed. The existing exhaust needs replaced soon so buy some photos so I can afford it!

If you need custom fabrication done for your ride, get ahold of Ryno Built and he can get your car on the road again!

See you at a show,

Royboy

 

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