Frame repair

Ok here goes. Many years ago when I first bought my jeep I used to wheel it pretty hard. I remember a friend of mine was stuck pretty bad and I was the only one behind him. So that left me to try and pull him out. At the time none of us had winches We hooked the strap onto his jeep and onto my front hooks on the frame horns. I could not turn around and those were the only pull point. Well that bent my frame on the passenger side pretty good. I've been running it like that for years. I'm I'm the process of building bumpers for the cj and found that my frame might be (diamond) shaped. The passenger frame rail is almost a good 5/8" further ahead than the driver side. Should this be taken to a frame shop and pull it back? Or just run it the way it is?

 

I think I'd get it fixed. You'll never get a better opportunity than while the frame is bare. Maybe a 1/2" isn't that bad but, I'm sure it throughs your axles out of alignment and makes the JEEP track poorly. Have you measured across the corners to check for squareness?

 

Got a porto power at your disposal? Really not to hard to remove diamond if that is all that is wrong.

If you drive thru a puddle wioth all four wheels and look at the resulting tracks...is the jeep tracking straight or is one axle off to the side?

 

well frame is not bare just the bumpers were off. i have not measured across for squareness yet but wouldn't that be a little difficult with the body and everything still attached?

 

i've driven this like it is since 2001 or so. granted not many miles on the road maybe 1000 or more miles. it drove like a jeep. i do know i keep wrecking the passenger side axle bearing but i think that is from when i used the axle as a tie point to once again pull someone out and pulled the tube loose a little bit because it leaks gear oil there at the diff and tube area. let me shoot a picture so y'all can see what is going on here.

 

The other thing you will notice with a diamonded frame is you can turn easier one way that the other..My old tow truck had been hit hard in teh left rear at one point before I got it, and that frame rail was forward about 3/4 of an inch. Right turns the dogtracking made the rear end cut the corner too much and it would often hit the curb unintentionally. Doing the puddle trick you could see the rear axle was tracking over to the right almost the width of a tire.

To do any frame measuring with engine in, body on, etc, just park over a flat concrete floor, and use a plumb bob to transfer points from the frame to the floor. THen measure from your marks on the floor.

If you are still assembled, you may have to pull the motor to get your portopower in there to do the big push, but loosening the body bolts should be all that is required as far as body dismantling.

 

drivers side rear......

passenger side rear.....

front view......

passenger front frame horn....

passenger font frame horn....

passenger rear tire....

driver rear tire....

 

notice on the rear tire pictures at least to me doesn't the passenger tire look like it's forward more to the body than the driver?

 

at first i thought maybe the body was off a bit as i've had it off a time or two but i will make a plum bob as you call it and make some marks on the concrete. after that is marked do you triangulate the measurements then? do the Pythagorean theorem (3.4.5)?

 

Unless theres something Im not seeing that isnt bad. I know for a fact a big hammer and some dollys would straighten most of that out because Ive straightened worse on my last jeep. Get it as close as possible and then box the section and call it good.

 

well I'm no help I say throw jeep in trash and sell me those old style MTR's.those tires rock!

 

"do you triangulate the measurements then? do the Pythagorean theorem (3.4.5)?"

You can but it's not even that hard. Pick four points that are symetrical, one on each corner, then the diagonals each way should measure the same.

 

yeah they do rock! they are some of the best all around tires! the performance on the rocks is awesome (especially if you sipe them even more), superior in the sand, great in the mud with lots of wheel spin, and are some of the best for trail riding. i have another set on my trail/rock grand cherokee.

 

that is after i've tried to straighten it out years ago with hammers, VERY LARGE pry bars, solid bars of 5' long 1" steel round. i didn't want to hit it with heat but i did think about it though.

 

picture of the "billhilly" plum bob...lol

after using my "billhilly" plum bob my passenger frame rail is 1/2" (+ or - 1/8" for billhilly engineering) further ahead than the driver side.
what do you think?

 

Plumb bob - there you go. Level the frame, and measure down from some strategically chosen corners of the frame.

You can buy a real plumb bob for a few bucks at the hardware store. Handy thing to have, esp. if you do any construction on your home.

Measure both diagonals from corner to corner - they should be the same. You can also snap a line along your plumb bob measurements to see how straight the frame rails are. 3-4-5 (or Pythagorean theorem) would be method of choice to find the proper angle if your diagonals are unequal.

 

Also - you can buy an import 24" adjustable wrench for $30 or so http://www.harborfreight.com/24-inch-adjustable-wrench-39621.html (check Amazon too) - that would be just the thing to bend your frame rails back to level. You may have to work at it some.

I have one - very handy tool.

 

should i worry about the 1/2" or run it?

 

I don't see 1/2" in your pictures... the tape is off by only 1/16" it appears.

The spring pads are 28" apart - if the frame is about 115" in length, so you should see about an inch in difference between the diagonals if the left is 1/2" forward. It's about 1 degree off - 89 by 91. Not that much ...

I kinda think I'd try to fix it. Are your frame rails straight? I wouldn't try for perfection, but if I could make it better, I would. You'd need to anchor the short end of the front, and push on the long end. You'd also need to anchor the back end of the frame so it cannot pivot around when you push on the frame rail. I think that would be easier than trying to push on the inside of the short axis of the diamond. But I wouldn't try too hard ... I'd worry about bending something else.

 

Actually the spring pads are 27 1/2" apart.


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