I have a question on what to do with a truck with a damaged frame. My dad has an F-250 4x2 I was to throw onto a F-250 4x4. I'm gonna put the rear axle on the 4x4 from teh 4x2, assuming the gearing is the same. But most importantly,

The 4x4 was in an accident and was hit on the left back side. The back end is pretty f'd up, but I don;t know if hte frame was damaged. What are my options to fix this? And how do I check to see if hte frame is tweaked? My friend says he knows how to switch the bodies, but its very important that the frame is not tweaked at all.

Oh yah, ones an 89 F-250 and the other is an 88 F-250.

Aaron

 

if the frame is bent, u're pretty much screwed as far as the overall goodness of the truck...

thats the one thing that if a car gets, its considered totaled...

there may be shops that will straighten them, but i dont know how credible this would be....

 

You can take it to a frame shop and they can measure from numerous points on the truck to see if it is bent. then they can pull the frame back to spec and if necessary weld a plate or two over the damaged rail.

This will cost some money, i dont know how much but if you do it you will never get your money out of it.

 

The frame in my Ranger was bent in at the right front suspension about 4 inches. It was fixed by the insurance company and it ran straight and true after it was fixed. So yes it can be fixed and fixed right.

 

I would at least find a shop and take it in.

 

Take it to the shop first and have them check to see if the frame is bent. If it is, it CAN be fixed, but oftentimes is not worth it to do so, depending on how badly the frame is bent.

 

Yah, I'm not sure that they have somewhere to straighten out frames in my town. Definately not worth it though. I guess I could just take anything from the 4WD truck I like and install it on my dads 2WD truck. Just I worry aboout winter driving a lil bit... But I'll check it out, here's hopin the frames not bent.

aaron

 

maybe convert the 2wd to 4wd?

just an idea....

 

When I had a minor accident I had my truck sent to a shop and they dropped my frame out to see if it was messed up im sure you could find a shop like that around or near u. Also if the frame is damaged it can be fixed but depending on the level of damage it may cost big $$$ to fix it. I know one of my friends she wreaked her 02 Celica totalled it well over $10,000 in damage and the rear portion of her frame was beyond repair so her dad sent it off somewhere they cut off the rear of the frame and welded up a new one, but of course I dont recommend this usless u have $$$ out the a$$.

 

Technically it isn't too hard to do, but my dad's truck is worth a few hundred bucks, and my friend's is worth the tires and rollbar. I don't want to pay for crossmembers being welded in, and getting the transmission and whatnot dropped out between vehicles. There's expensive tools I need(as in a lift, a hoist, whatnot) and I can only get access to a lift that I could use to do this. What I am thinking of doing is just using the 4x2. It's still a good truck, just sadly I won't be able to use it in the winter.

Aaron

 

Ooh I'll hafta look into that :) At what point does it come off?

aaron

 

Cut the frame off behind the cab and make a tube frame with some long *** SAW coilovers hmmmm.

 

those years the bodies will mount right on each others frame. i dont understand what u initially said but i would take the truck witht he good frame, and put the body from the truck with the bad frame on it. since its an 88 and 89 everything will swap right over.

i know a thing or 3 about Pre-97 effers

 

The possible bad frame is a 4x4, while the good frame is a 4x2. Thats my problem. I'm not gonna convert 4x2 to 4x4(altho the I6 has only 80k miles on it!) cause that's more work/expense. Pretty much, the fact I'm makin **** outta **** kind of makes me not want to pour much money into it. It's just, I have the oppurtunity, and would like to drive a bigger truck, but winters here can be harsh.

Aaron

 

junk both trucks and buy urself a 92-96 f150 4wd.

 

Good idea. I'll drop out of college to do that.

Aaron

 

u wanna drive a bigger truck, 92-96 f-150s are cheap and will run forever. newest style of the best series but ya.

 

Meh, I prefer the older F-250s, especiallly since my dads is a quarter ton. Nothings cheap here, and also you're definition of cheap is misconstrued. We're talking about 400 bucks for a truck/rollbar/new seats/lights/extra engine, compared to 92-96 F-150. My friend drives one of those, and It'll cost much more, altho it would run better in the long run.

Pretty much I'm not playin the fantasy "I have 5k dollars, what should i get?". I jus want to know if it'll work. I'm planning on buying it today, because with what you said and what my friend has said about the damage, it seems like it'll work.

aaron

 

converting to 4wd wont seem to be bad, it should all basically swap over. need more info i have some forums u can research on.

FYI, F250s are 3/4 ton

 

Links would be great, thanks :) oh, and interesting, I thought they were 1/2 ton stock back then, but you're probably right.

Aaron