Frame repair?

[zraffz]

I'm looking at a tandem dump truck with a 3406b and 18 speed. Cab is very clean. Dump body can use blasting and paint. I can get the truck for a very reasonable price.
The double frame rail is starting to push apart on the top of the frame (sides and bottom are good). It basically starts right at the back of the cab and runs all the way back.

Can I simply clean up what I can between the top of the rails, paint it, beat the top of the rails down and have my welder tack it in a few places?

 

[zraffz]

We are looking to expand a landscaping company into excavating. Truck will be used to haul material and a 26,000lb excavator around.

 

[lumberjack]

Why is it spreading? Welding on flanges isn't normally a good thing.

 

[zraffz]

Looks to me like rust is pushing them apart.

I didn't think it was. I thought they had to be able to flex a little bit individually of each other. Is there a fix besides having to rip apart the entire truck and rather:
Sand blasting & painting
Replacing the outter rails.

 

[Old Doug]

Run far and fast away. I havent seen the rest of this thing but it looks like a money pit. Its very rusty and hasnt been used in some time.

 

[zraffz]

Run far and fast away. I havent seen the rest of this thing but it looks like a money pit. Its very rusty and hasnt been used in some time.

I won't disagree but if it changes anything it was an old dot truck. I guess I'll just keep looking aroud for a truck.

 

[old-iron-habit]

It looks like rust spreading to me. Old DOT? Probably had a snow plow on it and lived in salt.

 

[td25c]

Yeah zraffz . Looks like salt damage . Amazing how much rusting will swell two pieces of steel bolted together .

We actually bought a truck in the same condition as the one you are looking at . The truck was set up like I wanted , had the rite engine , great rubber & so on . Double frame had some rust damage . Top flange had swelled to where it cracked the frame rail along the edge . Well......... We ended up beating the hell out of the flange & picking the rust flakes out with a screwdriver . Then clamped the flange back down with C-clamps , beveled out the crack & welded back with 6011 & 7018 rods .

Like the pictures you posted the damage was mostly on the top flange . The sides of the frame rails were fine .

For me it would depend on the condition of the rest of the truck & asking price . If you can get it bought rite it might work out .

 

[Old Doug]

If your not a mechanic or need some thing that can go to work right away i would stay away from any thing that is used more in winter than summer like a plow truck,propane truck or a wrecker. Some others to stay away from are fertaliser spreders, lime spreders. You can spend money to fix a cheap truck or spened it to by a good truck to start with. I aways end up with some thing needing alot of work that i dont have to finance and fixit up as i go but i can do my own work. I bought 2 IH trucks one was a long frame tag axle other i got for parts had a 16foot bed. I wanted to make a single axle to hold a 12 foot bed. Between the 2 trucks i had to by i think 4 foot of frame rail they had been weld on so much they werent repair able. This truck has never been licensed or drove on salted roads but its been 10 years ago i put it together its frame is pushing apart bad. Next truck if i can will be single frame.

 

[Mike Van]

Not a tandem by any means, but this was the state of the frame on my F350. There's a flat plate riveted to the top & bottom flanges, and you can see how the rust just blows the steel apart. My 2 cents, buy a truck from down south of the west, as the salt here just ruins most of them. DOT trucks probably worse than private.

 

[lantraxco]

WOW!.... I've seen sixty year old trucks here in the NW with double frames that looked new compared to that...... one more reason I love to vist but there's no place like home.....

 

[dieseldog5.9]

The further north you get the worse it gets, west coast not nearly as bad. a 3406B and an 18spd would make me stick around and look twice. There are a few shops out there that will replace the frame rails for reasonable money, and quite a few guys are repairing trucks they have that they know rather than taking the payment. Around here winter and mud season take up most of 6 months and a payment book can put a guy under.

 

[Nige]

I'm looking at a tandem dump truck with a 3406b and 18 speed. Cab is very clean. Dump body can use blasting and paint. I can get the truck for a very reasonable price.
The double frame rail is starting to push apart on the top of the frame (sides and bottom are good). It basically starts right at the back of the cab and runs all the way back.

Can I simply clean up what I can between the top of the rails, paint it, beat the top of the rails down and have my welder tack it in a few places?

Run away as far and as fast as you can. That frame will soon be a money pit, that's if it isn't already........had the though not gone through your mind why the price was so "reasonable"....?

 

[Delmer]

You have to remember Nige buys his fuel by the barge, and rebuilds his engines every few years at 20,000 hours. I don't know how reasonable the price would have to be to consider dealing with that rust, but somebody will use it for something.

The worst thing you could do with that is seal it up tight and let it sit, unless you can keep oxygen out. The oxygen absorbers that come in certain packaged foods are a mix of steel and salt, very effective at absorbing oxygen, can you guess how that works? The next worst thing is to drive it in salt and then let it sit Spring-Fall with that salt eating away. Now if you had a 24/7 job with plenty of flexing and bumping (in a thunderstorm the whole time), that frame would get cleaned up a little and might survive.

 

[td25c]

The further north you get the worse it gets, west coast not nearly as bad. a 3406B and an 18spd would make me stick around and look twice. There are a few shops out there that will replace the frame rails for reasonable money, and quite a few guys are repairing trucks they have that they know rather than taking the payment. Around here winter and mud season take up most of 6 months and a payment book can put a guy under.

Agree dieseldog5.9

On the truck we looked at & ended up buying I figured worst case re framing the rust damaged area . Turned out it looked worse than it really was .


Like I said earlier ... If the rest of the truck checks out and is set up like you want I would also give it a second look . I really don't see anything in the pictures posted by zraffz that spook me about the truck frame itself .Looks like the flange still has some thickness to it . Yeah , it's got some rust on it but nothing that makes me think it's going to fold in half tomorrow .

To me a truck frame is just another component on the vehicle like the engine , transmission , & rears . When it comes time to work on the frame break out the torch , welding rods , and magnetic drill press for the new rails . LOL !

 

[clintm]

to me the frame is not just another component it's the back bone that all the component's bolt up to when you take the frame rails out all you have is a pile of part's left

 

[td25c]

Yeah clintm .. Truck Driver is the Back Bone of the rig .

Those frame rails can be replaced , no different than rebuilding the engine .

Heck ..... Some customers show up complaining about the wheel base on there truck . When they decide what they want we cut it in half & stretch it for them . Double frame as well . LOL !

 

[DoyleX]

Unless it has something specd out special that will work wonders for you I would walk. I have fixed one that wasn't that bad. New crossmembers, trunion, spring hangers, welded all the holes shut, Siliconed it back together to keep the moisture out. Sandblast and paint. Parts 5k Labor 1 month in the off season.

 

[CM1995]

All good technical advice.

Also look at this from a business perspective - Are you an excavation company or a truck repair shop?

Me I would run like the wind. I don't have the time to deal with a truck reconstruction. Also, I want the closest estimate to true owning and operating cost of a truck or piece of equipment before I buy it. At this time you really have no definitive idea what this truck will end up costing to repair and more importantly, the O&O costs down the line.

Just my $.02, worth every penny paid for it.

 

[old-iron-habit]

If it is an old DOT truck that spent its life in salt the frame is only the beginning. I have one that even the Allison transmission is now leaking thru the aluminum case where the corrosion has ate thru. As it is only a hobby truck I keep accruglassing it as new leaks develop. But door hinges, battery boxes, tailgate hinges, hood hinges, I have worked and rebuilt them all. If I used it as a business truck it would be long gone as the time spent on it could not be justified if I wasn't playing.