Still working on processing what happened, how bad it is, and options.
Drivers side:
Passengers side:
This was my daily driver 75 miles every day. 8 miles of the rough dirt roads.
Thanks for all the info and well wishes. The more I think about it, the more I realize how lucky I was something bad didn't happen when I was on the highway.
Chiefwaho was easy to get ahold of and responded extremely quickly. Very professional! Unfortunately he doesn't think he can help me. His plates reinforce the sides, but not the bottom where the leaf spring bracket attaches. That leaves me with 3 options but I think only 2 are realistic.
1. Find a good used frame. That doesn't seem easy to find and also since this is an '81 narrow track probably even harder to find? I'm really a newbie to 8's but assume the frames must be different between the narrow and wide tracks?
2. Make the Safe-T-Caps work. There is a lot of rust there, so I'll need to call them tomorrow and visit with them to see if this is a realistic option or if my frame is too far gone.
3. Order a $2000 new frame.
The only good thing that might come out of this is that my wife is extremely disappointed that this happened also. She loves riding in the 8, and she agrees that it's almost a perfect desert vehicle. So, assuming I get this fixed, she has agreed that I probably should find another 8 (one with a good frame) and build it out. A neighbor has an '85 that is mostly in buckets and we're gonna visit this weekend to see if he's interested in selling it.
