have a 99 ram van conversion 1500. Very low miles like 55000. Like many others it is very rusty on the frame. We fixed the stuff around the steering in the front successfully, but on the rear of the frame there is really bad rust. My question is is it possible to get an entirely new frame for these vehicles? Or being a unibody is it possible to cut out whole sections and section in new pieces? Obviously I hate to junk a van with this much life still in it mechanically

 

There may be repair panels available if you look, but, repairing structural parts of the unibody is not without peril. Can you post pics of what ya got?

 

My my mechanic says my 99 Ram van I'm asking about does not have a unibody. The part of the frame on the passenger side is at the very front where it connects up above the spring on both ends is too rotted out to repair he thinks. I'll try to attach a photo or small vid clip. I need to either find someone who has a worn-out van that the frame is still solid on from the same year/ model, or somebody who wants to buy this who has a very solid frame but everything else is worn out on because my van has less than 60000 original miles and everything else is just fine except the rotted frame

 

Your van is a unibody, it is not a body bolted to a frame. I have a 1999 Ram Van as well. However it is possible to replace the frame rails which are part of the unibody structure design. You can properly support the body and cut out the rotted frame rails and weld in new ones. A good body shop can do it but Im not sure it would be worth it to pay someone to do it. I would transfer all your good parts over to a van that had a solid frame. I built my cargo van up from the junk yard vans including the whole interior with headliner. Inside of mine looks nice but the outside still looks like a cargo van.

 

Agreed.

 

I'm in Delaware. Maybe if I was in TX or CA clean frames on 20 yr old vans would be something I could find.

 

There may be a bolt-on subframe up front...... if that's the case, might be able to find one of those......

 

I answered your other thread before seeing this one...

there's no reason you can't get some long pieces of steel and rosette weld it over the unibody for the rear length of the van, then attach new brackets. I'd go to a local fab shop with a big shear, press brake and punch press... have them make some z shaped pieces that will fit over the frame "rails" then punch 1" holes in them every so often (you'll have to do the math to see how far apart, etc... then fit them over the rails and weld them on... much like frame stiffeners the offroad guys weld to the uinbody on a jeep to stiffen and strengthen them...

 

wca_tim has a great idea. There's lots of room for the fabricator to work with. It's been said already that these Dodge Vans have a "hybrid" frame ' with fully boxed frame in front & unibody in back. The unibody is better than most vehicles since it has frame-like rails & crossmembers. See my pics for front stub frame & rear areas. The rear is sheet metal thickness, but it's reinforced in areas for spring & shock mounts.

ANOTHER UNDERBODY PIC

UNDERCOATED WHEN NEW. NE OH, 30 YRS OLD

 

just fyi... on my 99 ram, there was a front area that was rotted under the battery, I just cut it out and welded new pieces over the area to replace what I cut out.

you would also find that 2" x 3" square tube (I used 1/4" wall, but 3/16 would work well also), will match up the width of the unibody rails...

On mine... I built a front subframe to mount springs for front axle out of 2" x 4" 1/4" wall tubing and then ran 3" x 3" and 2" x 3" 1/4" wall tubing along the unibody rails and rosette and stitch welded 3/16 plate to both sides of both square tube and unibody rails... I used over a half sheet of 3/16 plate... I also built 2 new cross members and transmission mount to make up for what I cut out of the original tunnel support structure to make rom for the transfer case... so I added quite a bit of weight, but don't have to worry about flexing / twisting the body with "normal" planned uses... and the unibody is as thick and strong as a regular old school frame for most of the parts that hold any real load... oh... Dana 60 front and rear axles, limited slip / locker, 4.10 gears...

btw. one of the steering brace set-ups will do a lot to help remove any flex from the steering...

and lastly... most industrial fab shops, if you show up on a Friday afternoon and buy the guys lunch or something, talk nice you can usually get smaller jobs like stiffener / reenforcing plates made pretty easily as well as getting them to order steel for you at their prices... I haunt a couple shops in town going through their drop and extras bins for my projects and they're always willing to hook me up on smaller jobs and such for reasonable money...