Frame rail offset.... yuck!

WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
After driving to and from our Friday "Hot Rod Fridays" lunch last week, the guy following me said.... "Your truck is going down the road sideways"... I related this in my BattleBar Problem? thread last week.

Well, I got it into the alignment shop today and it turns out when they did the frame-off resto of my Sy they didn't get the frame rails jigged up and aligned correctly before they started bolting stuff on! :bad-word:

Long story short, my passenger side frame rail is sitting about 3/8" further forward than the left side, which is causing my rear axle to point to the left....

I assume a good frame alignment shop can loosen the rear tranny bolts, front diff bolts, loosent the cab bolts, pull the frame into proper alignment, then tighten everything back up... is this a good plan?? Does anyone have any good frame advice for on this one?

Thanks guys,
Rob
 
sytyguy

sytyguy

Moderated User
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

Wow....3/8"....they probably caught hell when bolting everything up (bed, crossmember, etc...). Seems like they'd have noticed that. But, yeah, any competent frame shop can correct that. They're fixing this for free, right? If not, I'd remember to brush my teeth after chewing some ass.

Hood
 
WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

sytyguy said:
Wow....3/8"....they probably caught hell when bolting everything up (bed, crossmember, etc...). Seems like they'd have noticed that. But, yeah, any competent frame shop can correct that. They're fixing this for free, right? If not, I'd remember to brush my teeth after chewing some ass.

Hood
Click to expand...

Hey Hood,
Wish it were that easy.... I bought the Sy after the frame-off had been done.... The Sy sat for about 6 years since that frame-off and I've been fixing all the minor problems from sitting for that long with very little mileage put on it.... This is just another one of those things to get it 'dialed in'. I'm really happy with the Sy... I kind of like finding these things and getting them perfected..... am I sick?? :screwy: ... or is that just the way we SyTy guys are??
 
Tooky

Tooky

Serious about performance
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

WyoSyclone said:
This is just another one of those things to get it 'dialed in'. I'm really happy with the Sy... I kind of like finding these things and getting them perfected..... am I sick?? :screwy: ... or is that just the way we SyTy guys are??
Click to expand...
You pretty much have to be that kind of guy, to be a successful SyTy owner (especially on a modified truck.) :D
 
JSM

JSM

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

The front diff and crossmember are bolted to the frame, so it really is not a bad job to do, there are several body bolts that need to be loosened, body/fenders/bed will shift around, then bolt them back tight.

In fact my ty still has these bolts loose from the frame install, just for this reason as I have not yet finallized the position of frame/body.
 
WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

JS Manufacturing said:
The front diff and crossmember are bolted to the frame, so it really is not a bad job to do, there are several body bolts that need to be loosened, body/fenders/bed will shift around, then bolt them back tight.

In fact my ty still has these bolts loose from the frame install, just for this reason as I have not yet finallized the position of frame/body.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that input Jeff.... was pretty much what I was thinking needed to be done.... I'm going to insist on physically being there while they do it. I've got it set up for this coming Tuesday morning.... then it's on to the alignment shop :D
 
WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

Well, got a call from the body shop today and they said they've never seen an S-10 (I told them it WASN'T an S-10!) with more perfect alignment on the frame rails! So I went and picked it up and now have to dig into it to see where the problem is... can really only be one of two things: worn out bushings in the front of the leafs, or a mismatch on leafs from left to right.. pretty easy to check and fix. I'm really happy that my frame got an ultra-clean bill of health.... And the guy working on it really wanted a ride, so I said I'd come back once the tune is done! :D
 
Foot Performance

Foot Performance

Donating Member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

Man that su i cant believe the frame is good(That is a great thing) but hopefully it is in the spring

you dont think the axle maybe shifted do ya???
 
WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

Foot Performance said:
Man that su i cant believe the frame is good(That is a great thing) but hopefully it is in the spring

you dont think the axle maybe shifted do ya???
Click to expand...

Hey Brandon,
Yup, it's great knowing the frame is perfect.... I don't think the axle is shifted because we loosened the spring perches at the alignment shop and checked to make sure the leaf bolts were sitting square in the holes on the axle perch. I'll take the nuts and washers off the front leaf bolts tonight and make sure the bushings are still concentric - if not, I'll get those replaced. Otherwise it has to be a slight difference in the leafs from side to side. When Julie was following me home tonight she said she thought it was tracking straight but that the right side of the bed seemed to be a little low. If the right side spring has lost its temper/stiffness that could explain a bit of it.
 
chelo

chelo

filthy sy
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

I have almost the same issue on mine. the rear leaning was not completely fixed but adding a new set of springs helped. My problem is in front.
 
WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

chelo said:
I have almost the same issue on mine. the rear leaning was not completely fixed but adding a new set of springs helped. My problem is in front.
Click to expand...

I would think there is enough force applied to that right rear spring from these torque monsters that it could to make a high mileage spring a little weak on that side... anyone have recs for a better spring replacement? Or, maybe just go with a new set of stock springs?
 
gkrcr882

gkrcr882

SyTyless......for now!
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

You mentioned that the truck had sat for 6 years after the frame off. Do you know how/where it was stored, or if anything was in/on the bed? Might sound a little in-depth, but any significant amount of weight, or uneven storage that would cause slight articulation of the rear axle might affect the springs in some way
dunno.gif
. Just tossing ideas out there.
2cents.gif
 
WyoSyclone

WyoSyclone

Active member
Re: Frame rail offset.... yuck!

gkrcr882 said:
You mentioned that the truck had sat for 6 years after the frame off. Do you know how/where it was stored, or if anything was in/on the bed? Might sound a little in-depth, but any significant amount of weight, or uneven storage that would cause slight articulation of the rear axle might affect the springs in some way
dunno.gif
. Just tossing ideas out there.
2cents.gif
Click to expand...

That's a good thought. I know they drove it roughly 100 miles per year while it was stored and there was nothing in or on the truck - the inside of the bed looks like the paint on a brand new car.

Has anyone heard of or used these springs.... I'd definitely use a multi-leaf and not mono-leaf... http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/GRF2010.htm

I haven't searched the forum yet, so I apologize if there are a bunch of posts about them :oops:
 
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