Frame Straightening...
 

I have a 71 f100. The bed on my truck was rotted. It had a sheet of plywood bolted in and a some corrugated aluminum screwed to the top. It seemed to sit really low at the rear. So, after a long search, I found a great donor bed from a 72. I swapped the beds and noticed that the new bed sat the same way... I experimented and shimmed it up. It took an inch and half on the passenger side and two inches on the driver side to get it into the right alignment. I quickly realized the frame was bent... Does anyone know approximately how much it would cost to straighten the frame? Or, is it just better to leave it for now and look for a new frame to swap the whole truck on to? Thanks

There was a time, years ago, when I took the F250 in for an alignment... and the guy refused.

He said one of my I Beams was tweaked, and that it would have to be straightened before he would work on it.

He told me to take it to a place a couple of towns over where they specialize in straightening the frames for SEMIS.

Find yourself a frame straightening shop and get a quote. Whatever price I could tell you wouldn't apply and would be stale anyhow.

To bad you aren't near Florida, I have a good 69 F100 frame and a good 71 F250 frame sitting in the yard that will probably be cut up for scrap.

I would get a quote from a frame shop first. You never know may be far less than all the effort required to swap frames. Putting the frame back in line is not that big a deal to the guys with the equipment.

im on the frame swap from a donor. find a 73-79 model and that way you can get the front disk brakes as well. be better bet in the long run and save you money in the long run when it come to making the truck safer/modernized

I did a body swap some years ago. It took 40 hrs and that was done in a shop with a lift & air. I would think just getting the original straightened if the expense is not excessive would be well worth it. There really is not much difference at all as far as modernization goes. The rear axle & spring mounting is 4" wider giving more stability. That is all you would gain for all your efforts.