A friend of mine (Iron Dutch) has an '88 S/10 pickup. He wants to know " if there is some bad 'juju' on welding directly to the frame of the '88 S/10?
I understand he wants to weld near the suspension components.

There's no problem welding on the frame at all...make sure to disconnect the battery and avoid wiring and fuel and brake lines etc. If I'm welding in the front near the computer I unplug it jusst to be safe but thats just something I do because I have heard horror storys. They only thing on that truck you cant weld on is the rear axle if it has the cast housing and tubes. thats why they make four link kits etc that bolt in for those trucks.

Great news, thanks. I wasn't sure what he meant by that, at first. Since all my trucks are '67 - '72s, I had never heard of any problem. A friend of ours took his Toyota into a shop to get a class 3 hitch put on. They had to bolt it on because they said the frame was tempered steel and the high heat of welding would ruin the temper. Must be a Rice-Only problem. Dutch wants to rig a 3" lift on the front end [2WD] by cutting the towers out and supporting them 3" below the stock frame level.
I knew GM made a lot of changes since the '60s but I hope a high-impact styrene plastic frame was not one of them. LOL.

LOL I started out on mini trucks I had a 94 toyota that I body dropped three inches with air ride and a four link and a huge notch. I welded on that frame and the kid that bought it still drives it. and when you take a truck witha bent frame horn to a body shop for repair it doesn't matter chevy or toyota they will weld a piece of frame in if the truck doesn't total. The only trucks I have seen that you absolutely couldn't heat the frame on were big semi trucks and it was due to a cracking problem if you didn't know what you were doing...big truck places still weld on them to make special length frames for certain types of beds and all that every day. Take a look at any mimi truck build up online and you'll see just as much or even more cutting and welding than most of us do to our full size american rides. Hope this helps.

So it sounds like the hitch shop guys were too lazy or unequipped to do a competant weld so they BS'd the client.;)