So i have a model a frame that is very square, within a 1/4 inch....but the front drivers side rail has a bow to it that is just visually bugging me. what would be the best way to straighten it....i dont have an oxyacetylene torch so heating isnt an option really....any ideas?....i was thinking of clamping it to a heavy piece of steel ibeam and then bracing it once forced straight....or laying a heavy weld on the inside once clamped to heat it....just crazy ideas that may not work......and no....getting a different frame is not an option right this minute. i attached a lame and very exaggerated drawing of what i am talking about. thanks, David
Clamp a piece of 4" channel iron on the outside of the bowed frame, at each end of the bow, with the flat sides of the channel, and the frame facing each other. Now make a few cuts on the upper and lower "C" tails (inside of the frame channel section that is bowed). Using more C clamps, gadually draw the bow out of the frame towards the Channel iron " field jig". Make as many relief cuts as necessary, to make things straight as an arrow. Now tack weld the ends of your relief cuts until it becomes rigid. Then make up each weld, skipping from end to end. After you make the last weld, shock the end of the rail with some medium hammer blows to stress releive the rail. Let it cool down overnight, and unclamp it in the morning. Grind if you have to, and everything should be right on time...
I like your I beam idea...don't think I'd lay a heavy bead inside as it will cool and suck it in worse..I straightened my A frame after got tweeked in and accident by hold downs in shop floor and hyd jack and heavy beams chained with jacks and blocks...got to go beyond and let it relax back, maybe work the flange with hammer and dolly to get molecules moving like heavy duty body work...You can save it ...recheck your square when you move anything ....( lots of 32 frames used to get pinched at the cowl area for 29 bodies)
Hey, Is the "bow'' in that frame rail spred across a wide area, or is it localized, with a point of impact? If the bow is over a wide area of the rail, you may be able to push it into alignment with a 10 ton Porta-Power body jack. With the engine remover from the frame, a simple push from the right rail, whyle watching that no damage is done to the right rail whyle pushing from it, ''should push it into alignment without heating the rail. If the bow in the damaged rail is of a short length, with a kink in it, that would call for some serious frame repair. Be VERY CAREFUL using old unhardened chain with body jacks for frame repairs. When they snap, they usually don't give any warning, and fly all over the shop, denting things, breaking glass and human tissue! Swankey Devils C.C. "Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Compassion!"
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