Body Stretcher

[Ranger Kip]

Like the ones they used to straighten out unibodies, they still out there and being used? Have not seen one in years

 

[dirtcowboy]

Where have you ever seen one? Go to any full service body shop that does frame alignments.

 

[Vanner1993]

Yup, still in full use.

 

[shane96ranger]

I saw one the other day at a body shop. It was much more sophisticated than the one I saw 15 years ago.

I believe they are called a Frame Rack.

 

[Ranger Kip]

I saw one the other day at a body shop. It was much more sophisticated than the one I saw 15 years ago.

I believe they are called a Frame Rack.

Thats probably why, I have not seen an actual stretcher in a while. Last one I saw is where the unibody was pulled and stripped of everything, and then put on a large machine that held both ends, and some guy aligned it using a few levers hooked up to some electric motors on the machine that stretched the body to shape.

How do the newer ones work?

 

[RustedRanger]

In 2005 I worked at Manheim Auto auction near Nashville Tenn for a short while,besides the auction building they had a clean up and repair shop where you could pay to have a car cleaned clear up to tune up and paint jobs before going through the auction. The had a bay just for straightening out vehicles. One day we ran 1200 cars through the auction....huge place.

 

[rockin86ranger]

frame straightening hasn't changed much in the past 15 years, its pretty much the same way its been for awhile. But they dont hold one end and pull on the other, they have anchors that hold on the bottom and then they pull the damaged area out with hydraulic cylinders attached to chains

but there are ways to do frame straightening without the machine, you can make your own machine by concreting chains into the floor of your shop and then a floor jack, winch, come along, and various other tools can be used to straighten frames. This is how most of the small shops do it and if anything big comes in they can either section it or send it out to a better equiped frame shop.

 

[shane96ranger]

frame straightening hasn't changed much in the past 15 years, its pretty much the same way its been for awhile. But they dont hold one end and pull on the other, they have anchors that hold on the bottom and then they pull the damaged area out with hydraulic cylinders attached to chains.

When my buddy had his car done, it was a guy pumping on a hydraulic ram and he was using a measuring tape. As I remember, it held the car in place much differently than the one I saw a couple months ago which held onto the pinch welds to keep the car much more secure. This newer one also had foot pedals for hydraulic operation.

 

[rockin86ranger]

different shops use different equipment, the foot pedal is just a different brand/model. the one we have is a hand held button.
also the damage may not have been severe enough to require the time to set up the frame machine on your buddies car, hard to say without being there, but it also might have been a smaller shop that couldn't afford the frame machine for as little frame work as they do (they aren't exactly cheap). but the high end shops have had pretty much the same machines for years, might have gotten a newer model or different brand, but the only advantage to the newer ones is they have better laser alignment systems, but they where using that 15 years ago too.

 

[shane96ranger]

different shops use different equipment, the foot pedal is just a different brand/model. the one we have is a hand held button.
also the damage may not have been severe enough to require the time to set up the frame machine on your buddies car, hard to say without being there, but it also might have been a smaller shop that couldn't afford the frame machine for as little frame work as they do (they aren't exactly cheap). but the high end shops have had pretty much the same machines for years, might have gotten a newer model or different brand, but the only advantage to the newer ones is they have better laser alignment systems, but they where using that 15 years ago too.

It was actually at a dealers body shop. I was just thinking, and this was in 94 or 95 that this happened. It wasn't anywhere near totaled, just tweaked the it about 4 inches in. I remember thinking the rack looked rather neanderthal back then.

 

[Ranger Kip]

what about body straighteners?

 

[rockin86ranger]

you mean like uni-bodies? they use the same machine but if it gets to bad they will section it, which involves cutting out part of the vehicle and welding in a new one. the rest of the body work is done by hand, or if its a bolt on part and damaged to bad it will just be replaced.

basically any structural damage will pulled out with the frame machine, port-a-power, or the like. Sheet metal is done with hammers and dollies, uni-spotter, torch (if it needs to be heated, shrunk, or cut), then bondo and primer and sanding, lots of sanding.

 

[rockin86ranger]

It was actually at a dealers body shop. I was just thinking, and this was in 94 or 95 that this happened. It wasn't anywhere near totaled, just tweaked the it about 4 inches in. I remember thinking the rack looked rather neanderthal back then.

it was porbably also only the one side, they probably did it with the port-a-power because in the time it would take to just put it on the machine it would be finisihed on the floor. it takes a long time to get the machine set up properly.

it also sounds like it only had one type of damage probably mash damage from what i have heard.