Well I went and made myself a deal that I do from time to time to keep me learning: if I don't have to pay someone to do something I spend the money I would have to have that fixed on what ever I want, and I mean whatever. If I want $1000 of icecream, why not. It keeps me learning and keeps me from being too frugal and buy some of the things one never seems to have the money for.

In this case it's about saving $400 by fixing the frame of my truck myself. Today I managed to get the twist out of it, but it's still got a bit of a diamond. The drivers side is back about 1/2".

From what I've come across if you use a come-along with a tree and your truck, you can pull it back straight. I'm not sure if I need two of them and two trees or if my truck won't move enough on it's own.

Anyone ever done this? Tricks? Tips? Things to avoid?

Thanks

 

Well I have a frame machine but you can do it basically the same. I tie down one side and pull the other. You likely will not be able to do that.
If you hook a chain from one corner to the other in a diagonal and pull you might be able to pull it without twisting the frame. You also might try tying one frame rail to the tree you mentioned and the other to your truck and slowly back up the truck bumping the chain from the frame to your truck. Be very slow and careful as a bare frame will move very easily.
It can swivel on the rivets holding the cross members in place pretty easy.
Good Luck
Larry

 

good luck. worked at a large semi truck body shop for many years. we used 50 and 100 ton hydraulic rams to straighten frames. you may need to loosen(cut rivets out) of your x-members to allow movement. be sure to use grade 8 bolts to replace rivets. if a frame shop quoted you $400.00, that was a very good deal. let us know how you do.

 

Sorry just read the other post I thought you were working on a bare frame.
I would discourage you from trying this at home.
If your frame is very much off you can affect your front end alignment and also the alignment of the rear end with the frame and each other. In other words a 4 wheel alignment might show up worse that you started with if your not very careful. It is possible if your measuring that the frame is not diamond but warped or bowed in the middle causing one way to measure longer or has a bow in a frame rail between cross members making one side seem shorter.
Just my two cents for what it's worth if I was going to do anything I would have a frame shop look at it. I do this for a living (Repairing wrecked vehicles) I have a frame machine and pull stuff about every week and it's soooooo easy to miss something and pull more than you need to or in the wrong place.

Larry

 

Thanks for the advise. I'm currently getting it ready to swap out parts, including the axles, and I'll need to get it all aligned after that anyways. That's going to be a day of measuring to say the least to get them both in their straight, but I'd like to get the frame squared up before I start any of that.

The reason I think it's the frame being diamond over bowed on one side (other than it's huge mass height wise) is the factory holes are 1/2" towards the cab in the front of the drivers side rail, but also exactly 1/2" farther away in the rear. If it was bowed the difference wouldn't have been countered on the other end. It's an F600 so I have quite a bit of frame. I think the hit was hard enough to move it a bit but not hard enough to really mess it up. The twist I fixed today could have come from backing it up into something as it had a huge metal bed on it that could have done it as well. Or just hitting it right up front I suppose.

Truthfully everything seems to fit just fine, the only reason I'm wanting to fix it is it makes the front bumper sit closer in and that annoys me.

Am I right in thinking if I do it from corner to corner inside that it should be set up this way (pretty positive I am, but always best to ask before I get under then and try):

I recon I should be able to do it off the spots I used today, the rear spot is all the way at the back, but the front is at the back of the front suspension before it starts to change for the up-kick.

This is a shot of the frame I took today while using the string method to fix the twist, that steel is about 1/4" thick.



It seems to me to be something I should be able to adjust with a come-along. I'd like to try corner to corner first as I don't really have any large trees to tie down to close enough. It's a 1/2" difference (not diagonal but skewed). I don't think it will take much to adjust, got to love the simplicity of these old trucks, just going to be slow with a little bit of work and a whole lot of measuring (several locations, lot of back and forth, maybe I should find a helper so I don't have to crawl under the rear axle so much). But hey, at least I can comfortably sit cross-legged under the thing!

The cab seems straight on it, it shouldn't effect things with that if I loose the mounts correct? It just looks like the frame rail is pushed back a little, like it slid under it but didn't take anything with it so to speak.

 

Don't try to torque the frame with the cab on, then you will have problems and as for pulling it at the tree don't let the tree whack yuh on its way down...lol.

The best thing to do is have the frame completely stripped of running gear and body work, then go about getting the diamond out. You can probably use a 'come-along' to do this and at least you can get some accurate measurements. You will also see what is causing the out of square of the frame. You will really have to watch that the frame dosen't twist.

 

I wouldn't want to be yanking on the come-along handle when the cables let go... as stated above, it takes a LOT of force to make these pulls.

 

Yur right Ross, I wouldn't.

 

Make sure you use a chain come-along, not a cable one. If you are trying this with the cab in place loosen the front mounting bolts as well as the engine mounts. Over pull to allow for spring back. Once the diagonals are equal with the tension relaxed, retighten everything. If the cab is off the frame the frame can be checked for twist with "winding sticks". clamp a pair of straight pipes or square tubes ~ 8' long across the frame front and rear like wings. Get down so you are centered on the frame and the sticks are at eye level and sight the tops from one to the other. Any twist will be quite obvious since the sticks will be at an angle to each other rather than parallel.

 

Thanks for the advise. I had been thinking it would make things easier to get the frame straight before I started to even take parts off. I managed to get some of the twist out of the frame today but after all that work the front is a bit lower on one corner, fixing that effected the rear. I'm thinking I might have to hammer it out a little bit as it was hit hard enough to bow in the end of it where the bumper bolts on. I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow and see if it's just the end that's messed or if it effected more.





I'm thinking I might have to combine the stages of this project from being two more to just one more for the most part. To put the new engine and transmission in I need to take off the front pieces and bed, I had hoped though to get it test fitted in there so I could see how it worked with the cab though, but I don't want to weld on motor mounts until the frame is straight. The bolts to the cab isn't a big deal, but I want to keep things as driveable for as long as possible. But I guess since I'll be using a new master cylinder that the brake will have to be unbolted, and I'm still not sure how the steering might work with a different axle, so I'll need those parts to tell. After that I guess the only issue is the electrical, but heck all of that wire is shot anyways and I need to replace it. Had been wanting to wait on it till later, but I guess this thing has snow balled to the point I might as well do it all at once.

Only problem is I don't really have any where to work other than my small garage that has my Mustang in it right now. And by the looks of it I will need EVERY part I could possibly need, so I have to figure out everything that connects to everything first. I don't want this truck in pieces for a couple years, I need it for my work truck, it's why I'm sorta building it with an odd step order I suppose.

And this is probably why no one has built one like this yet, lol...