RE: New Guy with Class 8 Straight truck Please HEL
I am going to throw my 2¢ in, sorry I am long winded
I am posting this because I read on another forum that anyone can do frame stretch and still have a margin of safety, which is wrong and dangerous to say.
I was offered a class 8 truck, FL Argosy, two weeks ago and have been thinking of taking it and stretching it to use.
The truck has around 300K on it and I know the history of it (one owner, great records, no accidents, never abused, etc…). The price is less than most of the used cargo vans I been running across but the expense to prep the truck would cost more than buying a new sprinter. The only reason I am looking at changing my plans of driving a cargo van to a straight truck is because of the incentive of making more money in the long run but a factor of safety in the decision process is most important than anything else.
The truck’s owner is interested in what needed to be done to the truck to prep it, which included stretching the frame. He helped find different people to talk to about that work.
We met with a few “experts” who claim to be able to stretch anything.
One yahoo we met built hotrods and race cars and did frame stretching in his workshop on the side to pay for his car habit. Really nice workshop and great looking cars, but …we were not impressed with the information he was telling us (or his claims that he has stretched a lot of trucks) so needless to say he won’t be doing my work.
This does not mean that people who build race cars or hot rods don’t know anything or do bad work, it is this one person who is a “know it all” that got under our skin.
In the end we both agreed that using just anyone to stretch a frame is not a good idea.
To satisfy my desire to do things right the first time and to answer my technical questions, I contacted some of my former co-workers who are at D-C who put me in touch with the actual designers/engineers of these trucks at FL. I wanted to get the skinny on this subject from the source, no BS.
I found out a lot of information about frame stretching and what not to do. I won’t go into the technical details, but here is a small list of points to remember;
Point one
Safety is the most important thing. Having a frame stretched changes the dynamics of the frame and how it handles loads in the long term. Not speaking of the obvious, placement of the axles, etc.. but the internal changes (meaning metallurgical changes) when things are cut and bolted/welded together.
There is a big difference between a frame that is new and one that has 300K on the frame. Fatigue plays a major role in road worthiness and safety but over looked a lot. Frames with even with 50K that have been abused (overloaded, accident etc..) can pose a safety risk if any frame work is not done properly. I am told that a truck frame is one of the most intense engineered pieces of a truck which is all done to combat fatigue and guarantee safety under rated loads. According to FL engineers, there is even a metal content difference among certain frames to counteract different load stress on frames.
If it was like the old days, you would have one, maybe two engineers who designed the frame and it was tested with 50K miles then put into production. But times have changed. There are whole teams that work on a single frame and test it under strict standards, (like quality standards: ISO 9000:2000, SAE to mention a couple).
Point two
Using a shop to stretch the frame, be it a reputable frame shop or a custom truck company, is important to the quality of the work and the safety of you and anyone around you. Properly equipment and trained personal are critical, like the neat laser alignment table I saw last year to a certified welder all play a part. Frame alignment is the second most critical part and any work in the frame that alters it must be checked and kept within tolerances that the manufacture sets.
Good reputable shops will help you with your questions, concerns and problems without making you feel like a dummy. Ask dealers or FL or KW or any manufacture to recommend a shop to do the work. Don’t just go to one, but check out a couple and research the shop and ask for referrals.
Point three
There is a possible liability factor involved which is too complex to explain here in detail but I want to say something about it. I always look at my liabilities when making decisions like these.
Using a shop limits your liabilities and allows you to have some legal recourse just in case. My insurance agent (and lawyer and even the people at FL) told me that even though someone did the work for you, you are the one that can be sued for an accident if there was a defect in your truck as a result from stretching the frame.
You must do due diligence when having the work done to limit your liabilities. Not having a shop do the work is asking for trouble.
Again sorry for the long winded post
Good luck
