Thread: Frame building snag!!!

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Hey guys;
Ran in to a snag today building the 65 Ranchero frame.
Had everything squared up on the bed of the frame,
And about a week ago welded in a cross member for the rearend to hook springs to.
Well I only went ¾ of the way around the frame leaving the bottom weld till after I could roll the frame over to weld it. So today I rolled the frame over and welded it.
Just one little weld on each side of the cross member
Or just ¼ on each end of the cross member. Went in the house come back out after lunch, the thing twisted the left corner of the frame down 1in. after it had cooled down. Now the question is do I cut the cross member back out or try to heat it up to straiten it???
Guess I see tomarrow when I tackle that problem.
Kurt

I would suggest cutting it out and starting again from that point. Heating it up could just warp it in other places as well. You might try to put weight on top of the frame to help hold it down while you do it next time, but make sure its square and well supported from below before you lay weight on it.

When I built my frame, I Built a strong jig out of 4" square stock with various support beams holding it together in a true squared possition. I then tack welded my frame rails to the jig and it lived there until the entire botton frame section was complete before I cut it off.

There is nothing more important than your foundation, Mooneye 777 is right. Build some kind of fixture to hold it all in place, it doesn't have to be anything elaborate.
Ken

Hey Guys; Well For the most part the frame is done, that is like one of the last cross members. I actually built the frame in three separate sections,
Front ,middle and rear.
Everything was placed on a giant steel table and tacked down after being squared up.
Then after all three sections were built they were welded together. The entire frame was only 1/16 of a in. off from
corner to corner front to rear. I’m gonna try cutting the cross member out and see if it straitens back up.
Here’s the weird thing after measuring it again it’s a 1/8in in from the ends. But when I put it in I measured it three times and it was perfect. I actually had to reverse my long clamp poles to push the frame out to get the cross member in. Then this thing ends up shorter how is this possible. Well practice makes perfect right, HE! HE! HE! Better to laugh about it, then cry.
Thanks Guys Kurt

Just cut the cross member out and the frame came right back to its original position.
Now to try it again, wish me luck. Kurt

Hopefully it will work out for you, good luck. I had the same thing happen to me, my frame was perfect and I decided to weld in some 1/4" plate steel gussets on my front kick-up and it ended up bending my one side up 1/4". I heated the gusset with a torch and cooled it with water and it bent it 1/8" at a time, so after two tries it was back to normal. I really didn't want to cut that front end off but I wasn't gonna leave it like that.

Sean

Sean
I know exactly what you mean.
I fill the same way as you do.
As soon as I cut that member out it went
right back to the position it was in before I welded the cross member in.
So I’m pretty happy right now.
Now I could have forced it back into position and welded the roll cage on top
and that would have held it.
But then I would have been afraid that
down the road something would have cracked from the added stress on it.
So I’m just trying to play it safe instead of forcing things to work.
I don’t really understand why it twisted
so bad though. Maybe something to do with the new stick of 2X3, I’ll be using a piece
of 2X3 from a new stick though, just to make sure that the old stick was not the problem. Kurt

Yea, probably best to do it that way, I wouldn't want to force it into place. I clamped 2x4x3/16" tubing all over mine while welding cause I didn't have a jig. I think I used 14 clamps on some points.

Sean