also, Have you ever noticed that on the chevy's that two foot or so span of frame from about 1 foot behind to about 1 foot in front of the cab the frame is increased in height by 4-6 iches or so. in other woerd the frame gets beefier where you need it most. that seems like a stronger design than the fords? or am i wrong? even on the one tons the frame in that area grows to like 12 inches or more on the verticle of the c channel. whereas the fords remain the same size the whole lenghth. doesn't seem to smart.

 

Yes, I have seen the Chevy frame design that you speak of.

The change in web depth is most pronounced in the Chevy 3500HD cab chassis frame in the 1991-1999 model years. During that same period of time, Ford produced the original F-SuperDuty cab chassis with frame augmentation in the same area. (Both the GM 3500HD and the Ford F-Superduty were Class 4 equivalents to today's F-450 in terms of GVWR).

 

i just looked at your pics, something is wrong with your frame. The top rail of the C should not bebent up and away from the crosssupport like that, someone severely overload that truck and tweaked it good. Take a side pic of the whole truck sowe can see how bad the cab and bed are off from each other?

 

I would take the truck to the frame shop and right away im sure they can tell something is wrong. Explain to them the situation and get their opinion. I dont know about the used vehicle laws in your state but in IL it is illegal to sell any type of vehicle with frame damage unless disclosed by the seller (dealer). The dealer is required to present written documentation that the vehicle has frame damage, flood, rebuilt title or anything of that nature prior to the sale. Of course the dealer found "nothing wrong". I would pay for the frame shop to look at it then demand the original dealer pay for the repair (if even repairable or able to pass inspection like that) or refund your money. 9 times out of 10 the BBB or state department will be on your side. Was this an actual ford dealer or a small car-lot? Was there anything noted in a history report or does the vehicle have a re-built title? The truck was way overloaded at one time or another in its life. My advice to you is, Have the frame shop look at it and provide an estimate. Then Show the dealer the paperwork and demand one of two things, the repair be paid for, or possible legal action. (if any can be taken depending on your state laws)

 

Reading SuperDutyScaler's post inspired me to try opening your pictures again. I waited longer this time, and it worked. I could see something bigger than the thumbnails and could get oriented.

Earlier, I only looked at the driver's side frame rail, cause I could orient on the small thumbnail with the fuel line.

On second, larger look, I can now see what SuperDutyScaler saw, on the PASSENGER side frame rail. That is where the upper flange of the rail is bent upward and outward from the crossmember.

But it's still a localized flange bend, and bending it back will not make it as strong as it was before, it will just make it look better. That steel already yielded. Bending it back so that it recontacts the cross member won't add to the strength of the rail to cross member joint, either. It is still riveted.

The deviation of the flange from flat still doesn't appear to exceed the thickness of the flange (but it does exceed the thickness of the much thinner crossmember).

I have never exceeded the weight capacity of my F-550, and yet still have slight deviations on that part of my top flange from a rigid utility bed mounting. Mine are less, and somewhat like what is found on your driver's side frame rail. I don't have what is seen on your passenger side frame rail.

When flanges are loaded, it is either in compression or tension. The bending evidence to your top flange is consistent with being compressed to the point of slightly buckling up in that area, while the bottom flange appears unaffected as it was being pulled apart in the opposite direction, stretching in tension. SuperDutyScaler's observation is consistent with this top flange compression bottom flange tension overloading.

At the same time, I KNOW my truck has never been overloaded, and I have a little bit of the same symptoms. I made adjustments to how my SUB was mounted.

 

Well brosko, I looked at your pics last night and in my opinion, I don't think there is anything wrong with the frame on your truck. I have seen that on another truck before even the bare chassis. Here are two different trucks, F450 and F350. To me, both look similar to your pics. I will admit it's hard to tell without seeing yours and these in person side by side.







I also noticed it depends on the angle that you look at it. At some angles is looks more pronounced than others.

That is only my opinion. To really know, I guess you need to have a professional look at in person.

 

you cant tell judging by the bed to cab relationship because the bed itself appears to be tweaked down in the front (the actual channel of the bed) i looked at it with bed up and compared cab to chassis relationship and it appears to be slightly off from 90 degrees but not much at all. if it is bent down in the middle of the chassis it is very little like 1/4-1/2 inch at best.

also it seems to me that if the whole frame were bent down that there would be, some sort of indication on the bottom channel and certainly some waviness or deformity of some kind on the vertical channel. i do not see evidence of that. it seems like it IS from the truck having to concentrate all of the flex in that one area of chassis due to the bodies being attached to solidly in the front to the frame, as Y2KW57 said.

looking at the photos that bucci posted they look exactly the same as mine and they are from two different trucks!

apparently if these frames are tweaked/bent or in anyway compromised this is a more common problem than i thought. i am confident now that if you were to look at a bunch of 2000 f 350's 450's etc that have been worked as dump trucks as many were and still are that you would find probably the majority of them with the frame looking like this in that area. natuarally some worse than others i'm sure.

it seems mine is not the only one.
whether or not this is a big problem i still do not know.

the dealer told me today that they are confident that nothing is wrong with the frame that is "how they are", that it is not warranted (meaning they refuse to send it to a frame shop) sending it to a frame shop.

regardless i am pretty sure that the trucks did not come out of the factory with the frames like that. this appears to be from heavy work.

i am going to pick the truck up and try to get it down to the frame shop as soon as i can and see what they say. if it is bent and detrimental to the integrity of the frame i will get this in writing and confront the dealer again with the facts.

 

Update: I just came from the dealer now. I was looking at the new trucks and guess what. They are all the same as mine in that area of the frame. There is nothing wrong or abnormal about my frame. It is not messed up nor does it have any abnormal localized flange bends. That is the Design of the frame. All of the new ones 3,4 &550's have the exact same downward dip, followed by upward bend and back down again right behind the cab before it angles downward to go under the cab. And the seperation of the crossmember to frame at the bend is 100% normal also. this really suprised me. also i am suprised that nobody on here told me that right away being the ford men that you are. i am new to ford. i love the truck and am happy i brought it.

 

I still wish ford made the frames a little taller though, like the chevys. I think the chevys have a stronger frame. Also noticed the new 450's have a double frame in that spot. Wish they were like that in 2000. It sure looks alot more capable doubled up like that!