Body sheet metal (rad support) cracks?

[Wild Coast]

So I'm getting slowly growing cracks in my radiator support, anyone else experiencing this on off-road vehicles?

Some examples, my 2004 Xterra (2" body lift, 3" suspension lift)




Has anyone else experience this?

I'm assuming it's partially to do with driving offroad (rattly logging roads for hours) as well as the fact that I'm running a 2" body lift... those 2" rubber body pucks mean the frame has that much more ability to flex and stress the thin sheet metal.

I talked to a body shop and they said they could braze them but it will likely only be temporary and will likely happen again b/c of the body lift. Any thoughts? Any way that anyone has seen these get reinforced?

 

[DaveInDenver]

This happens in Toyota pickup and 4Runners, too. It's due to the weight and location of the battery in our case.

 

[gatorgrizz27]

The cheap solution would be loosening the mounting bolts, adding rubber washers, and then torquing them to something like 12-15 ft lbs with blue loctite. Add some rivnuts on either side of the cracks, drill a few holes in a piece of flat bar, and bolt them on to prevent the cracked pieces from completely separating.

Or just swap it out with a junkyard part once cracks develop, assuming you’re getting multiple years out of them.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Never heard of such a thing in my circles.

You might check your body mount bushings. As they smoosh with age they could cause the body to twist and increase stress in certain areas.

I have had a 3” body lift on my ‘85 (with a smaller body) since 2006 with no issues.

Core suppport should be available new since it would be a common collision part, I would just replace it.

 

[rayra]

zip ties? heh. I'd get a new radiator core support put in, if I was attached to the vehicle. AND have it reinforced before install and after. At the very least get that excrement welded up and get some reinforcing steel straps added too. Wouldn't be hard to do.

I'm not buying the body lift kit being contributory, as the body doesn't typically sit flat on the frame, it sits on the stock rubber isolators / pucks, about a 1/2" thick on most vehicles. The body lift just increases that height. The body is still perched on 8-14 pucks either way.


I've had similar trouble with mu Suburban, presumably too many washboarded roads. The driver side upper radiator mount / hanger is part of the plastic tank, juts rearward and then up to bolt to the core support. Bad offset design which creates a point of leverage and flex. Cracked my tank right at the base of the mount arm. Patched it, put a new radiator in and am still meaning to add some sort of rubber supports on the top of the radiator to reduce the movement.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'm not buying the body lift kit being contributory, as the body doesn't typically sit flat on the frame, it sits on the stock rubber isolators / pucks, about a 1/2" thick on most vehicles. The body lift just increases that height. The body is still perched on 8-14 pucks either way.

If his pickup is like mine its 6 mounts supporting the cab. Could be a difference in how body-on-frame truck body structures in a pickup vs an SUV body flex and twist.

 

[Wild Coast]

UPDATE, figured I'd post in case anyone else is having the same issue:

So I got the rad support cracks welded up nicely:




Even added a crossbar to stiffen the rad support (you can see it in the front pic, in front of the AC condenser). I did take a closer look and I think I figured out what's going on. My hood always felt like it would shake a lot when driving off-pavement. So first problem was that the hood latch was too high. It's adjustable up/down (loosen 3 bolts and you can slide it). My latch was as high as it goes, which meant that the hood wasn't really even sitting on the rubber bump stops. Adjusted the latch down, and it seemed to help a lot. However, I also noticed something else...

There are also rubber bump stops that brace the sides of the hood:


Essentially the only thing that really prevents the hood from moving side-to-side is the fact that it's braced by these bump stops. The bump stops sit on the body panels, and my driver's side panel had a ton of play in it! In fact, upon closer inspection I realized that 3 of the bolt that attach the panel to the rest of the body were broken! So the hood was getting braced against a panel that was moving as well - so the whole thing was shacking!!

Pic of broken panel mounts:


So I think that's the root of the issue. I think the reason my rad support developed so many cracks is because the hood latch was the only thing holding on to the hood, and it was getting shaken to oblivion without any proper bracing of the hood on the sides, ugh.

Posting here because I've heard of other folks having issues with cracked hood latch and rad support, I think this is why! Check your rubber hood bump stops on the sides, and ensure that the body panel is actually firmly attached!

Gonna weld up the body panel attachments so it's tight, and hopefully this fixes the problem. Hope this helps other folks!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Are those the fender mounts?

Not sure how loadbearing those really are, the fender support is where the structure is. They are what connects the radiator support to the firewall. Fenders are just flimsy decorative panels more or less that hang on the fender supports, radiator support and firewall.

I just had mine off to adjust the doors, two bolts beside the front headlight, like 4 or 5 across the top in the engine bay and three on the back and the big floppy wet noodle of a fender was off the truck.

When you have your fender off to fix it I would check the fender supports over good. Some are spotwelded to the truck and together (mine is) some makes have them bolted together. With age and fatigue you may have an issue there.

 

[Wild Coast]

@85_Ranger4x4 yes, those are the fender mounts that are snapped, it's the fender that's moving.

The weird/stupid thing is that the hood lateral (side) rubber bump-stops sit on this fender, they don't sit on the main part of the body (fender support)!! So with the fender mounts broken, the fender moves, and the hood isn't braced, so rattles as well. Flimsy construction!

Pulling the fender off today, and will check what's going on underneath

 

[Wild Coast]

@85_Ranger4x4 actually, I take that back! The fender DOES install into the main body (fender support) on top, so the rubber bump-stops are technically on the body, not just the fender, you're right!

AND, taking the fender off looks like I have a crack along the fender support itself! AHA. The fender support is spot welded and I have cracks along it and even on the firewall in the corner where the firewall and fender support meet. Darn, I guess time to get welding...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Have you checked the rubber bushings between your frame and body yet? Same goes for the bolts after the body lift?

 

[Wild Coast]

@85_Ranger4x4 yes, everything is tight as far as the body-to-chassis attachments (pucks/bushing not cracked, bolts tight)

 

[Wild Coast]

Oh man... so digging some more revealed far more extensive damage. It wasn't just the fender mounts, it was literally the entire fender support!!! A ton of spot welds had completely let go so the thing was super loose and cracks had developed in several places ?

Passenger side (rubber tube with anti-seize is the antenna mount, windshield on the right side of the pic). You can see cracks along the joint where the fender support joints the top of the body box where the window wiper motor sits:

Fender support. The entire structural box had the spot welds let go. On the hood itself, there were two spot welds that let go on the sides joining some interior reinforcement brackets close to where the hood hinges attached (you can see two rivets in that area in the pic below)

Ended up using stainless steel 3/16 rivets to replace the broken spot welds, along with bolt+nuts on the lower seam where I could get at the back:

Same thing on the passenger side:

Some welding up of the cracks and fender mounts, some sloppy 2x epoxy primer, and a fresh coat of seam-sealer (black goop in the pic below) and hopefully she's tight and good to go...

I really wonder what caused all this, first time I see something like this.. I do wonder if the extra body flex due to the 2" body lift is really stressing stuff and causing body flex and failure... But alas, I'm not removing the body lift, so I guess it's more rivets+welding in the future if this happens again ?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You have something weird going on structurally somewhere.

While not an Xterra expert at all, like zilch... but I have never seen such cracking on any truck with or without a body lift. I do spend a lot of time recreationally in junkyards too...

 

[Wild Coast]

@85_Ranger4x4 I think you're right... I'm not the first owner, so I wonder if this truck was in an accident and they just replaced the outside body panels (fenders, rad support) but didn't fix any of the underlying structural body issues... Another thing that makes me wonder is the fact that the headlights on this Xterra are super clear (not faded/yellow at all, which is usually the case for trucks of this age). This tells me the headlights were replaced... which also screams 'accident'. Ugh. Might have to rip some more panels and do a more details inspection to catch anything else that's cracked. Mechanically it's excellent, so at this point I think it would be easier to fix the body up vs looking for a whole new shell or whole new truck...