Trailer becomes a frame machine

[Frank S]

Most have seen pictures of several of the trailers I have built over the years.
This one I made about 20 years ago for a guy but it stays with me more than with him. SO half the time I call it mine.
When Bob the actual owner wants to use it he borrows it from me LOL
Bob bought this 2007 ranger pickup with some front end damage. Brought it to me to replace the grill and bumper and straighten out the fenders
Well I found that the frame was bent more then he thought so I decided to use the trailer as a frame machine to straighten the frame



Here youcan see how much the engine is shoved forward

the momentum shoved the cab forward as well

Shows just how much the engine and trans are shoved forward

I made this clamping plate to assist in torquing the cross-member back like it should be

Right now I have downward pull to torque the cross-member straight

you can tell by the motor mount things are back in alignment here

Chained down in a pull

[metric_taper]

Interesting to see this done without an expensive tool.
I tried fixing my car many years ago, but found I was crushing the uni-body sheetmetal. I used the concrete floor of the garage. I didn't have any mishaps because the frame crushed before I could exceed the holding forces of the expanded bolts I inserted in to the floor. They were 5/8" Red-Hat brand. I did worry about them popping out and pulling up big pieces of concrete.
My trailer is too wimpy for this task. Thanks for posting.

[Frank S]

this is what I had a hand in designing then after the company that I worked for sold chassis aligning machine business to another company which after a while wound up in Cp 13 a guy bought all of the inventory then rented from me for a while I built this one for him using the parts he bought so he would have a prototype after he moved to Seattle I don't know what happened to him

[NortonDommi]

So frank S the secret is out as to why you always build with a 500% safety factor!

[Frank S]

So frank S the secret is out as to why you always build with a 500% safety factor!

Yep I never know how much abuse I might expect from something I build later.
If I build it strong enough then I can use it as a completely different tool than I designed it for.
Right now I still have at least 10 tons of force puling in 4 separate directions at once. DO that with any factory made trailer ant it will never go down the road straight again.