1930 Tudor Bent Frame

S

Seguin2252@gmail.com

New member
There is a utube video where a beam is placed under the side needing straightening. Chain is attached at both ends and secured to both shock bolts. Under the engine mount, a 12 ton porta power or jack is used tu push up until straightened. Under the car, 3 parallel stiff rods are placed in basically the same 3 locations as the tensioners and compression sights. The rods are hung under the car at exactly the same distance I from the top of the frame, which is straight and parallel.

Meanwhile, from the front of the car, one person sights to watch for the 3 rods to go parallel as the bend is reduced by pumping up the ports power.

Paul Shin advised that if jackstands all at the same height are placed under the frame and the frame sits on them evenly, you are ok. If it sits on the 5 jackstands like a potato chip, you have a bent frame.

I suspect I have a bent frame as much as an inch off. One side is one inch lower, my driver door at the handle is lower than the painted bead trim by about 1/4 inch and I have a 3)4" gap between the bottom of my hood and cowl.

I am about to initiate this procedure, being very careful. The author said cab bolts didn't have to be loosened for slight bends.

Be very interested in your comments based on your experiences. Thank you. Tom
 
Decent lasers are very affordable these days, and with thoughtful set-up, can take "eyeballing" out of the equation.
 
Where I live there is a shop that has a frame straightening rack. The frame can be straightened with the body on but it is best done with the body off. I thought my frame was bent but the rubber pads were flattened paper thin. Replacement of the rubber pads fixed my hood and door alignment issues.
 
First-off, welcome to Fordbarn.

Secondly, it sounds like you are already knee-deep into the planning stages of the straightening process, however FWIW, I have yet to ever see a Model-A Frame that was straightened by re-bending the bent rail that lasted. The issue can be masked by the method you stated above, --but not really corrected. I would also caution you not to follow the advice of every YouTube Content Provider that pops up. Find a Content Provider that has actually done the tasks they are giving advice on and have multiple experiences. It has been my observations after watching many videos that it seems that significantly more of the Model-A related YouTube videos have incorrect info than those with correct info, ....however it is your car so you do as you see fit.
 
That process addresses a drooped side rail, which may or may not remove a “pretzel” twist. It does nothing to assess or correct the “diamond” alignment, which is the way of assuring that the crossmembers are exactly perpendicular to the side rails. The “diamond” situation results if one corner of the car is pushed rearwards relative to the other, for example in a front end collision.

The only real way of assessing and correcting a bent frame is to remove the body and suspension components so you have a bare frame. Then put that frame on a frame rack and have at it. Make sure you get a competent technician, I once made the mistake of turning my frame over to a shop that had been recommended to me and turns out the tech was slinging BS. He took a barely bent frame to completely unusable such that I had to located a new one.
 
I have straightened a lot of frames for over 50 years. some are harder the others. sometimes you need to remove the body. most of the time there is no need to. on the Model A frames that I have done; I have never had a comeback. I made the video on fixing the sag on the Model A frame. to help out anyone that is interested.
 
Sequin, Before you go trying to straighten the chassis. make sure that is where the problem is. It has been discussed here before how Model As tend to develop a lean to the left as they age. I suggest you search the forum for that thread. It might be enlightening.
 
The Model A body is remarkably flexible. By adjusting shims at the mounting bolts you can make it look and work better.
When I straightened up my body I started by getting ten feet of flexible clear plastic tubing about 3/8 inch inside diameter. Water with food coloring in the tube will seek its own level. Taping the ends of the tube above the jack stands made it easy to get things level. I mounted the frame on jackstands getting the frame level lengthwise and sideways. Measuring diagonal points on the frame confirmed that my frame was not too bad.

Then I want to every part of the body, loosened the mounting bolts and shimmed until the main visual lines were as level as I could get them. Make peace between the grill, headlight bar, windshield line, etc. Keep on walking around it and looking hard.

Before I did this, from a distance my A looked like a beat-up jalopy. After two days of tweaking the body the impression from 50 feet is of a nice car.

Straightening a frame is dangerous. The real guys have the equipment and experience to keep things from violently flying off as you increase the pressure. This is in the category of jobs where I have my wife watch and tell me if it looks like I am being stupid. If you do it, watch enough videos where you see the difference between safe and risky.
 
philosofriend said:
The Model A body is remarkably flexible. By adjusting shims at the mounting bolts you can make it look and work better.
When I straightened up my body I started by getting ten feet of flexible clear plastic tubing about 3/8 inch inside diameter. Water with food coloring in the tube will seek its own level. Taping the ends of the tube above the jack stands made it easy to get things level. I mounted the frame on jackstands getting the frame level lengthwise and sideways. Measuring diagonal points on the frame confirmed that my frame was not too bad.

Then I want to every part of the body, loosened the mounting bolts and shimmed until the main visual lines were as level as I could get them. Make peace between the grill, headlight bar, windshield line, etc. Keep on walking around it and looking hard.

Before I did this, from a distance my A looked like a beat-up jalopy. After two days of tweaking the body the impression from 50 feet is of a nice car.

Straightening a frame is dangerous. The real guys have the equipment and experience to keep things from violently flying off as you increase the pressure. This is in the category of jobs where I have my wife watch and tell me if it looks like I am being stupid. If you do it, watch enough videos where you see the difference between safe and risky.
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:eek: Geez I'm not sure where you get your information, but your information is much akin to the nonsense spread on those social media pages! :mad:

To begin with, suggesting the Body to be shimmed to compensate for a damaged Frame is honestly nothing more than extremely poor advice. Hopefully those reading this will quickly realize this. :o Shimming potentially creates excessive gaps or uneven gaps between the Body Apron and the Sills, an excessive mismatch of Hood Clips which makes them hard to latch, it places the Steering Column in a bind and often places the Gas Tank bracket in tension that can potentially causes a leak. Why not do the job properly?? :rolleyes:

Secondly, on a Tudor if the Quarter Panels (-including the Inner Fender panels) are properly spot welded to the Sills, then the Body is not at all flimsy. Only hack-job restoration work causes one to be flimsy.

Thirdly, 'peace' comes automatically when the Fender, Headlight Bar, Fender Bracket, etc. are all shaped as per original. Again, only hack-job restoration work causes the components not to be at 'peace' where bolts easily fit into their respective holes without the need for pry bars or alignment tools.

And finally, your comment about 'Straightening a Frame is dangerous' is total nonsense. I might also add, the comments about things violently flying off, -or your advice about the need to increase pressure is nonsense too! I definitely feel confident that I have been involved is straightening WAY more Frames than you have, and at no time have I/we ever had something fly off while under pressure ...nor have we needed to have a Wife present. ;) Adding to that, there is no reason whatsoever for the need to use leveled jackstands to support a Frame during straightening. No need to have a beam or a jack to force a rail straight. The only reason to have sawhorses or jack stands present is to elevate the Frame to a comfortable working level.
 
Notice that the first step that I described was where I verified that my frame was straight.

The jack stands are to get the frame off the springs and level so that it is easy to adjust the body parts which are in good condition so that they are level with good panel gaps.
 
jw hash
I write again as I have discovered my PM Messages are full and haven't yet figured where I am going to transfer what is in there.

Therefore, if YOU are willing to send me the address to view the video YOU have made about straightening of the frame could YOU please send it on to my email at : grobleski7074@gmail.com
I would very much appreciate that !

Cape Codder
 
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