X frame

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
My new two post lift doesn't have real long arms, so for lifting my four door, I made up blocks for the rear arms. The blocks contact the rear floor cross brace where it attached to the inner rocker panel and catches lightly on the pinch weld. This works great as long as the brace and rocker are in good condition.
 

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
I thought the arm was spot welded to the trunk on an old 60 Impala, if not why did it rip off?
My upper arms are connected to a cross member not to the trunk floor. What X frame has the upper arm connected to the trunk floor?
My 63 frame was cracked also in the area where the upper arm is attached. The guy that sand blasted it noticed it . That happens when a lot of hard racing is done. An extra arm is put on opposite side of differential to strengthen and reduce the fatigue on just one side. Don't know if 409 cars came with extra arm?
 

Fathead Racing

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
My 63 frame was cracked also in the area where the upper arm is attached. The guy that sand blasted it noticed it . That happens when a lot of hard racing is done. An extra arm is put on opposite side of differential to strengthen and reduce the fatigue on just one side. Don't know if 409 cars came with extra arm?
I check mine before the start of every season.
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
I ripped mine out of the body anchor spot on my 63....327/3 speed. Kind of a weak anchor. That took the brakes out and I drove over 60 miles home without them. That's why I remember the tranny wasn't synchronized in first gear. Had to plan WAY ahead to stop. Luckily it was mostly country.
 

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
I ripped mine out of the body anchor spot on my 63....327/3 speed. Kind of a weak anchor. That took the brakes out and I drove over 60 miles home without them. That's why I remember the tranny wasn't synchronized in first gear. Had to plan WAY ahead to stop. Luckily it was mostly country.
Don't you mean the frame anchor, not body?
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
Don't you mean the frame anchor, not body?

I was thinking it was anchored up in the body in a reinforced area. When it started tearing out I tried to weld some more reinforcement up in there. I recall it was very hard to get at and I couldn't get a very good job done on it. It's been 50 years.....:doh maybe someone will post a pic????
 

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
Dave, look at your 64, it is the very same frame . The convertible frame I believe had some extra bracing else where ,but as far as the upper control arm mounting to frame was the same. Some one can probably describe the other convertible bracing as I am not real sure where.
 
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Fathead Racing

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
Believe it or not, my driver side where you would or the factory would mount a second arm on the cross member, which by the way was no available in 1960, was dimpled matching the mounting bracket for drilling the holes where the arm could have gone! Made my job easy . Makes me wonder if GM engineers designed this into the 1960 full size Chevy until the bean counters intervened?
 
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Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
Dave, look at your 64, it is the very same frame . The convertible frame I believe had some extra bracing else where ,but as far as the upper control arm mounting to frame was the same. Some one can probably describe the other convertible bracing as I am not real sure where.

Ok, now I remember the cross member piece Ray is speaking of and what you are talking bout Don. . It was probably riveted to the frame. It wasn't thick enough to take much beating. Maybe because my vert was heavier it didn't last??
 

Fathead Racing

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
Ok, now I remember the cross member piece Ray is speaking of and what you are talking bout Don. . It was probably riveted to the frame. It wasn't thick enough to take much beating. Maybe because my vert was heavier it didn't last??
Never saw one riveted. They are used to set pinion angle also. For this reason they are usually bolted.
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
The cross member was welded to the frame and the bracket that the control arm is bolted to was bolted to the crossmember with shims under it to set the pinion angle. I ripped one out back in the day and tore big holes in my frame. I went to Chevrolet and bought a new crossmember and had to do a lot of repair to fix the frame.
 
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