The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Possible Bent Frame

Is there a sure-fire way to tell if your frame is bent? My '65 SWB had a little accident by the previous owner when he ran it into a ditchline. The driver's side front fender is 1-3/16" higher than the passenger fender. It also popped loose the bottom edge of the fender near the door bottom about 1". The frame measures the same distance from the floor at the first crossmember, but measures about 1" high on the driver's side at the bumper. The truck drives great and tracks true. It doesn't pull one way or the other. I am thinking I may have to lower the mounting perch for the radiator housing to get everything to line up. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Jim.

Set the truck on jack stands, on a level floor. Measure frome the floor to the frame at different points, under the cab, the crossmember, frame ends ect. Take an "X" measurement in same areas, to determine if the frame is diamond. From your description sounds like the frame has some damage, but it can be fixed. I would doubt if there's that much adjustment in the radiator support. Most shop manuals have the frame measurements. Frames can be bent 6 different ways, Sway, Sag, Mash, Twist, Diamond and Buckled. Hope yours isn't to serious.

Yakima Bowtie,
Thanks for the input. I think my frame is bent upwards just from the suspension girder forward. I am going to bend it back down. I may cut a dressmakers dart out of it, bend it down, and then weld it back. That way, everything will fit and look right, and no real harm is done to my frame from butchery. Jim

Take it to a frame shop. There's absolutely NO need to cut & weld a frame with the minor damage you mention.

If you don't know how to determine if the frame is bent, then its doubtful that you know how to repair it? Your not working on a dress, and it will cost a lot more if you screw it up! Thats why this web site is so popular, there is enough information and knowledge here, you can learn from others the proper way to do the repairs. I'd suggest you get to know someone that has some experience with frames and at least talk to them. Bottom line don't start cutting up that frame!

If the frame rail is up, there should be a wide gap between the rocker panel and the bottom of the fender, compared to the other side. The gap between the top of the fender & door should be tight
That's one way of telling if it is up.

If it is up, then it has to come down.
What I would do if it is up,( I have tie downs in my floor for this purpose) I would hook a chain to the rail that is up & attach it to a tie down in my floor and jack the truck up on that side. You may have to heat it up to get it to move .
This will work. It sounds like its not up too far.

First make sure that the frame rail is actualy up and not the radiator support mount.

I appreciate all of the input that you guys have given...all but the unkind remarks.
I have worked on old Chevy trucks for over 30 years. I can make any panel from scratch using hand tools and God-given dexterity. I know how to tell if my frame is bent just by looking at it. I run a CAD system at my workplace and design tooling to create new trucks and fixtures to build them. I made a computer model of the bend in this frame and carried out the cut that I calculated this weekend. The frame dropped precisely where I wanted it to go and the repair is invisible. I took a 1/4" wide "dart" out of the frame and didn't cut the frame all the way in two. Anyone who has studied sheetmetal forming as I have will know the dart and pleat concepts are the foundations of metal working the old time way. It's the best thing I could have done. Heat would have done the same thing but I didn't have a rosebud tip big enough to get the whole frame cherry red. There are no frame shops around here and the cost would probably be prohibitive if there had been. I repaired my frame and structural integrity has not been sacrificed in the least. It cost me nothing and took an hour.
When I ask a question on this board, I pose that question not as an expert or a smart-allec but as a humble individual seeking advice from those who might have had the same problem. I can learn from what others have done and mistakes they have made. I hope I am never guilty of making others feel the way I felt when I read some of my posts this morning. This will probably be my last post anyway. Jim

Are you kidding? One person politely suggested you "Take it to a frame shop.", and you get all insulted. I don't see anything up there even remotely insulting, as a matter of fact it was all good advice to an unknown person with unknown skills and/or ability.

Threads like this upset me. Am I missing something that was said?

FGT;

I'm with you on this one. I definitely missed the "insult" or "smart-alec" response.

ChetMan;

Please don't quit on Stovebolt, it sounds like you have enough skills that would be very valuable to others here.

SimS

Chetman/Jim,
I can see that some posts were blunt and could be taken the wrong way. By no means should you judge this site by a posting that disagrees with you. It will happen on any site. The majority of the people who are constants here, are very helpful and good people. You really won't find another truck site about old Chevy/GMC trucks as good as this one. Stick around. We can use another bolter with some trade secrets that you might want to share.

Builder/Steve

I think he may have been referring to this. It does sound a tad harsh, probably taken the wrong way.
No need to get that upset about it.

Well, Now I'm insulted, I'll never visit this thread again. That post by yak may sound like a grumpy old guy post but it is good advice given with good intent.

Well it certainly wouldn't be the first Grumpy Ol'Man post in these forums It usually depends on who took their meds or not, but Grumpy Ol'Men posts can occur at any time.

Don't take offence to GoM posts as it's not their fault. They really are just Grumpy Ol'Men

Glad to see you fixed the frame problem.