Frame repair

Picky picky picky!

I'm sure you're right - it's just a number I picked from Jeeptech. The 115" length is a guess. Doesn't change the angles.

 

the first picture is of the driver side with the new bumper against the frame rail. i was using the body to show the difference between the driver and passenger side hooking the tape to the bumper. according to what i see there is almost 5/8" difference. but when i do the plumb bob it is only 1/2" difference +/- an 1/8". here is a picture of a drawing. i will snap a chalk line tomorrow and see if rails are straight.

 

If you measured the diagonals, and the difference is only 1/2", that would make shift of one rail wrt the other less than 1/4". I suspect your diagonal measurement is accurate, and the appearance of one rail being further forward is a bit of an illusion. Assuming the rails are straight. It's not physically possible to get the measurements that you have there.

From the cosine rule, this is 90.46 and 89.42 degrees - pretty close to square. If my calculations were more accurate, these angles would add to exactly 180; but they don't. Oh well - close enough. A 1/2 degree shift over 27.5 inches is 0.244" ... has to be less than 1/4".

If I were confident that my diagonal measurements were accurate, I would leave it alone.

 

i wonder if i'm not doing something right then. i just went out there and double checked the diagonals and they are what i have written on that picture. i went where the tab folds inside the frame rail at the end of each rail right in the "crease" which is the same on all ends. when i put the bumper against the frame rail ends you can see the 5/8" difference. so now i wonder id the body is not on straight?

 

many thanks for the help thus far. maybe it's not bad and i'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. i will snap a picture of the rear bumper along the body in the morning. thanks again for the help.

 

You could put a framing square on the bumper and see if it's square with the frame. If you sight down the frame, is it straight? Maybe the horn is bent out a little, which makes the gap?

 

How about you just try driving the passenger side into a tree a couple times? ;-)

Seriously, I doubt 5/8 " is going to hurt anything if you don't do a LOT of highway miles. And I wouldn't count on the body being any indication of anything.

 

i have thought about that last night. hooking up a chain to the passenger rear frame rail and to a tree then pulling it straight to bring the frame back a bit. i don't wheel it much anymore so mostly road miles.

 

i will try the framing square on the frame to bumper. as far as i know only the front passenger frame horn is bent but the whole frame rail is more forward than the drivers side. i will be going out there in a bit

 

You will need to use more than one chain to pull the rail forward.....the jeep is gonna want to rotate to where the chains are straight in line with each other... Now if you had two trees and could use some binders to hold the one rail tight between them, you could use a third tree ahead of the rail that is pushed back to mount a winch to and pull the rail forward. Or place a portapower inside the frame rails pointing the same way as your short diagonal, and force it that way. Each end of the porto power should be at the junction of a crossmember and a side rail.

One very important measurement to check is overall length of each side, to make sure one rail has not been mashed shorter than the other. Use spring mounting brackets or matching rivets on each side to check that.

 

now there is an idea

 

I think you should heed Tim's advise. Your frame is really only 1/4" (actually less) and it is not likely there are too many jeep frames running around that are perfect. It is not likely you will be able to pull one side only 1/4". If it was mine I would leave it alone. I did check mine when I had it down to the frame and it was out diagonally 3/16" and this jeep has never been wrecked.

 

thanks everybody especially tim for the help and guidance here. i'm just going to leave it be. i mean its a 41 year old off road vehicle that's been used.
i will just weld a 1/4" plate to shim out the rear bumper on the passenger side and be done with it. i'm not wanting perfect i just wanted it to be right as to not cause other problems down the road with other things.
once again thanks to everyone! sometimes i make a mountain out of a mole hill and over analyze things. i apologize.

 

check the axles center to center on both sides should be about the same distance if off by too much itll eat tires...

 

If you took say a 3/4 turnbuckle and some cable with clamps or cable chokers and hooked them at the corners of the long dimension, it would be a piece of cake to get the frame straight and true. Your tires will thank you and your jeep will be as safe as possible.

 

What is the most important is the way the wheels track. If matching wheels and tires are installed on all four corners a puddle test will show whether you have a problem or not. If it doesn't dogtrack then you don't have much of a problem to worry about. If it does, fix it for any street use. Just don't do like a local garage tried to do to fix my wrecker when they couldn't pull the frame damage out.....THey redrilled the spring mounting and slid the axle on the spring to correct the tracking. Had to be the modt evil handling F 350 in the country at that point. I slid the spring back to the original location after driving it a couple hundred miles.....and lived with the dogtracking for the next 4 years.