Need new entire frame for 2001 Ford Ranger extended or doublecab XLT v8 swapped What are my options?

[pjtoledo]

while we sit back and analyze the on going saga over this Ranger perhaps a little real world relief would help.
may I suggest searching you-tube for "just rolled in". there's a couple different versions and each will explain in detail
what "unsafe to drive" really means.

 

[pentode]

while we sit back and analyze the on going saga over this Ranger perhaps a little real world relief would help.
may I suggest searching you-tube for "just rolled in". there's a couple different versions and each will explain in detail
what "unsafe to drive" really means.

I’m a subscriber. It’s on my short list of must-watch channels.

Edit: the broken frames, disconnected control arms etc are amazing, but I must admit my favorites are the “i lost my keys in the roof-to-floor collection of garbage”

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Well i called them and got no answer and there machine box is full...So then i called again and got a hold of the Boss.
They said the frame is diamond were it should be boxed and the bend is off by 5 inchs...in the back. So it is bent 5 inchs...or is 5 inches down and welded... from what i understood. So it is bent 5 inches down and is welded

Is 5 inches alot? Its a 5 inch bend then so the frame is down 5 inches. I don't know the rules of pulling frames? But can that be pulled or would it be safe to pull that? Or would you want to replace that?

So say the frame is bent about 5 inches do you replace that or do you pull that?

5 inches?

There is no way on gods green earth, or hells half acre for that matter that a frame can be 5 inches out of wack unless it took a friggin loaded freight train right to the side at 60mph.

Did we ever conclude what caused this diamond shape in the first place? Overloading it would not of caused that...hell you would break every spring on the thing and probably cook an axle before you bent the frame from weight...and it sure as hell wouldnt be in a diamond shape.

I really, really think this shop is feeding you a line of horseshit man

 

[rusty ol ranger]

......and furthermore....i frankly find it suspicious even a frame shop is offering to do a frame swap on a 23 year old truck.

Most these places anymore deal 95% with insurance work and theres no insurance involved here. A reputable shop would of gave you a honest "pull what you want off it and scrap the rest" before taking on a job like this.

We arent dealing with some rare, high value, low production vehicle here. Im surprised they are even willing to **** with it at all.

Im sorry to keep pushing this theory but i hate places that try to take advantage of people like that.

Just food for thought.

 

[Thedrill]

Here is a photo of the truck before the V8 swap... it looks a full 0.5 inches out.

 

[Thedrill]

Here is another with the bed off,

 

[bobbywalter]

frame swap is a non issue on a f in ford ranger.

 

[JoshT]

Thanks for your reply
Maybe they are trying to sell me a frame job......

IMO, either they're trying to hook a whale, or they don't want the work and are trying to scare you off.

......and furthermore....i frankly find it suspicious even a frame shop is offering to do a frame swap on a 23 year old truck.

Most these places anymore deal 95% with insurance work and theres no insurance involved here. A reputable shop would of gave you a honest "pull what you want off it and scrap the rest" before taking on a job like this.

We arent dealing with some rare, high value, low production vehicle here. Im surprised they are even willing to **** with it at all.

Im sorry to keep pushing this theory but i hate places that try to take advantage of people like that.

Just food for thought.

Take the mechanic up on his offer. Coming on here and responding the way he has seems to show a lot of character and integrity, more than this frame shop seems to have. Try to get in there and help with it, you could learn a few things about working on vehicles. Even if you don;t want to work on them yourself in the future the knowledge and experience will do you good for dealing with other shops and mechanics in the future. He's not working anyway, so you aren't taking anything away from him, but be willing to work with him on time if a paying job come up.


--- Take the below with a grain of salt, these are the rambling of a tired man. I'm probably either not thinking clearly, not explaining it clearly, or both. ---

I'm still trying to figure out what they're talking about saying it's diamond shaped. I can only think of two damages on a frame thing that I'd consider a diamond.

First is the left and right frame rails being parallel, but not lined up. See the simple top down sketch of a frame below. (Yes, I know it's just a rectangle. I did day simple. ) Frame should be a rectangle like the top. Given the right hit, typically to front or rear corner, it might go kind of diamond shaped (technically a parallelogram) like the lower. If that was the problem, it isn't going to create a bow like the truck appears to have and would cause other issues like not driving straight. It's not going to be out that far though, think more like 1/4 to 1/2 inch and it could be pulled out. Frame shop could definitely fix this on a frame machine if it were the problem, often times it gets fixed by joe blow with a comealong and a pine tree in the back yard. If it were 5" out this way your bed would be touching the cab and you'd be driving sideways down the road, and there would be a bunch of other obvious issues that aren't there.

Other thing I can think of would be that the frame was buckled from the side in which case the lips of the c-channel may have bent out (up and down), going from this shape [ to this shape ( if that makes sense. Viewed from the side that might give a diamond shape, lind of like this sketch. If that happened it might have cracked the lip of the frame and been welded back together. I suppose this could have resulted in the bow, but I'd still like to know where their 5" measurement is coming from. I wouldn't bother calling to ask though, I question if you would get an honest and/or understandable answer from them at this point.

 

[SlugStang8997]

IMO, either they're trying to hook a whale, or they don't want the work and are trying to scare you off.





Take the mechanic up on his offer. Coming on here and responding the way he has seems to show a lot of character and integrity, more than this frame shop seems to have. Try to get in there and help with it, you could learn a few things about working on vehicles. Even if you don;t want to work on them yourself in the future the knowledge and experience will do you good for dealing with other shops and mechanics in the future. He's not working anyway, so you aren't taking anything away from him, but be willing to work with him on time if a paying job come up.


--- Take the below with a grain of salt, these are the rambling of a tired man. I'm probably either not thinking clearly, not explaining it clearly, or both. ---

I'm still trying to figure out what they're talking about saying it's diamond shaped. I can only think of two damages on a frame thing that I'd consider a diamond.

First is the left and right frame rails being parallel, but not lined up. See the simple top down sketch of a frame below. (Yes, I know it's just a rectangle. I did day simple. ) Frame should be a rectangle like the top. Given the right hit, typically to front or rear corner, it might go kind of diamond shaped (technically a parallelogram) like the lower. If that was the problem, it isn't going to create a bow like the truck appears to have and would cause other issues like not driving straight. It's not going to be out that far though, think more like 1/4 to 1/2 inch and it could be pulled out. Frame shop could definitely fix this on a frame machine if it were the problem, often times it gets fixed by joe blow with a comealong and a pine tree in the back yard. If it were 5" out this way your bed would be touching the cab and you'd be driving sideways down the road, and there would be a bunch of other obvious issues that aren't there.

View attachment 116592

Other thing I can think of would be that the frame was buckled from the side in which case the lips of the c-channel may have bent out (up and down), going from this shape [ to this shape ( if that makes sense. Viewed from the side that might give a diamond shape, lind of like this sketch. If that happened it might have cracked the lip of the frame and been welded back together. I suppose this could have resulted in the bow, but I'd still like to know where their 5" measurement is coming from. I wouldn't bother calling to ask though, I question if you would get an honest and/or understandable answer from them at this point.

View attachment 116593

Thank your for your reply
Im not a mechanic nor am i mechanically inclined so forgive me for being ignorant. I have never had a vehicle with frame damage before so this is the first time i have ever dealt with it. I am sure that is obvious lol so sorry guys for seeming to be stupid to you.

It is possible that the woman i spoke with on the phone is ignorant as well. She is the Boss though it seems. They are very nice and they have not pushed me in any way to do the frame job.
I told them before they measured my frame that i don't currently have the money to swap the frame.
I think i said something along the lines of just selling the truck if the frame is shot.

Im not defending the shop,... im just saying how it went... And the 5inhs must be some kind of really big error or miscommunication. I feel real dumb that all i have is 5 inchs and something being diamond shaped. I payed 300$ and i shouldn't be confused on what kind of damage i have. I was going to call 1 more time and see if i can get anymore information. I was going to give them 1 more chance and i wanted to hopefully speak to whoever actually measured my frame. But i think there may be a language barrier there.

I may go get another opinion but it is difficult to do that kinda cause of the age of the truck and because its modified. When i say 2001 and modified in the same sentence i get turned away usually LOL. So i have learned to just say Ford Ranger.

So that shop may be full of It. Or the Woman i spoke with isn't on there game and doesn't really know what there talking about. But i do have frame damage for sure. Just got to decide how to go about having it fixed. I just want to do what would be best.

The Owner who sold the truck to TheDrill is responsible for the damage in the first place most likely but the truck has had 6 owners not including me. So somebody had an accident or overloaded the bed or whatever they did and didn't report it or maybe they did but didn't give detail on the extent of the damage. When i was reasearching the vehicle to buy it i did see a damage report to the rear of the vehicle. But there wasn't reported structural damage.

I have found there is structural damage so in CA do i have to report it by law to someone? When i try to google it, it just takes me in circles. And does not answer my question. I just want to follow whatever the law is even it it causes me some problems. I do intend on fixing the vehicle but until then what am i suppost to do by law in CA. Do i tell the dmv or something. I wasn't going to tell them that the truck is totaled cause i don't know that for sure and that shop may be full of bs. Diamond 5inchs whatever that means LOL

I thought they were going to give me the measurements of the truck in comparison to factory measurments on some sort of hand out sheet of paper nice and professional.

I wouldn't want to fix the truck and just not tell anybody if i am suppost 2... you know...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I wouldn't want to fix the truck and just not tell anybody if i am suppost 2... you know...

You are worrying to much.

 

[SlugStang8997]

You are worrying to much.

Thanks for your reply
Your right

 

[SlugStang8997]

What questions do i ask the body shop? I want to ask the right questions so i can have some answers.

I was going to ask were they are getting the 5 inches from? Were are they measuring from?

I was going to tell them that the truck drives straight and can't be bent 5 inches that would be impossible.

But aside from that i don't have any other questions

 

[Shran]

Personally I think asking them any more questions is a waste of time. Unless you know what you're talking about, and you talk directly to the person who did the measurements, and copy & paste his responses into the forum, it will be of no use to us. "Diamond bent" means nothing to me, 5 inches from where to what...???? None of that makes any sense based on the video you posted on page 2. The frame is just tweaked a little there where the weld is. There are a million ways to fix it, I would probably try to cut it, pull it down into position so that the body panels are straight, and weld a plate over the top of that. I am just assuming but I imagine the previous owner has something similar in mind if you take him up on that. He seems like a very stand up guy by offering to do the repairs.

 

[SlugStang8997]

Personally I think asking them any more questions is a waste of time. Unless you know what you're talking about, and you talk directly to the person who did the measurements, and copy & paste his responses into the forum, it will be of no use to us. "Diamond bent" means nothing to me, 5 inches from where to what...???? None of that makes any sense based on the video you posted on page 2. The frame is just tweaked a little there where the weld is. There are a million ways to fix it, I would probably try to cut it, pull it down into position so that the body panels are straight, and weld a plate over the top of that. I am just assuming but I imagine the previous owner has something similar in mind if you take him up on that. He seems like a very stand up guy by offering to do the repairs.

Thanks for your reply
So i payed for nothing then...except to find some damage...That they can't articulate
Yeah I like TheDrill he is cool. I wanted to talk the the guy who measured it but there could be a language barrier and your right i don't really know what im talking about. But i am trying to learn on here.

In the Video the man who measured it says some things in spanish. What does he say in spanish on the video. Could somebody translate for me.

 

[don4331]

The individual in the video says: (slight paraphrasing).

"The issue is there, like it was repaired before"​

"Looks like kind of fuc**d off as it was bent there where the weld is"​

"It was measured and doesn't match; 'No esta cuadrado' which is kind of not square"​

"the bed of the pick-up has a difference between one side and the other" i.e. twisted.​

"like that car was involved on an accident ; hit and is more bent from one side​

​

Note: If the frame is square from the front leaf springs shackes forward, and the leaf springs aren't bent from axle forward, the truck will drive straight.