Doug Logel

Hey all. New owner of a 2005 Mustang. As I climbed under the rear of the vehicle to do some cleaning, I noticed that the part in the picture was badly rusted. We live in Michigan so it not suprised, but nothing else is rusted

under there and I think it should be replaced. My question is what's the name of it and does anyone have experience in changing them?? Difficult or relatively easy??? Thanks!!!

hobojack

They are reinforcement for convertibles only. Pretty common from what I hear to rust away, not only cars in the rust belt. That's what happens when you put raw steel out in the elements. I am not sure if they are still available from Ford, Last pair I saw on fleabay was around $700,00 Thank Mark Fields for cutting costs

Bert

Wow, $700??? Seems like a junk yard search should be able to turn up some better options.

I am not familiar with replacement, but by looking at the pictures, it looks like two bolts on each end.

Joeywhat

Just cut a piece of bar stock and put some holes in it assuming there aren't many bends in it (if any).

Only cost a couple bucks if you've got the drill and bit laying around.

houtex

Part numbers are thus:

AR3Z-76102B54-B Right side brace

AR3Z-76102B55-B Left side brace

These are the replacements for same part numbers ending in -A and -AA. Some sort of revisions happened.

Googling reveals that *maybe*, just maybe, someone has those in stock. Or the -AAs maybe. Either should work. And yes, they're *expensive*.

Joeywhat's got a decent idea, but that extra rod off the middle-ish of the thing makes me wonder if it needs to be there, and also it's not exactly bar stock. Bar stock may not do the job, may twist. There's a reason they form these things into shapes. I'd want at least a solid L or U channel for the extra rigidity, but I"m not sure how the rod gets involved...

If any of that helps. Good luck!

Bud636

Hey folks check out our website mustangsupportbars.com for support braces. We offer black powder coated braces with and without replacement bolts or galvanized braces with bolts for $500 including shipping fees to the continental USA.


Black powder coated braces