REPLACE FRAME RAILS

It depends where the problem is. A lot of times on these older Volvo's it rusts right by the engine and behind fuel tanks

 

We are in the process of doing this now. We upgraded to a 1/2 " thick, 12" web outter frame rail and a 5/16" inner rail. We used a Milwaukee 18v cordless mag drill. It worked fine for us and drilled 236 holes. The biggest hold up on the entire process was laying out the holes on the new 40' rails.

 

Post some pics too

 

You cannot weld sections of frame end. They are heat treated. Cannot heat or weld the frame. The area which you welded will crack outside of the weld. I suppose you could sisters them in with long lengths of steel and bolt them in. The average cost is around 20k for full frame replacement. That’s actually a good price when you have a nice preemission classic truck and want to keep a real truck from going to the grave and keep trucking with many more yeats with no worries of stupid check engine lights and limp modes

 

Expected weight gain?

 

Can't weld frame? How are guys stretching their trucks then? Quality work and a sleeve insert and there should be no issues.

 

OP: Volvo can't send you new rails with holes drilled based off VIN? I asked KW about new rails If my truck wasn't 40 years old they claimed they could have sent new rails pre-drilled to what it left the factory with.

 

Ok, throw some heat on your frame all you want. There are ways to do it properly. And no you can’t just torch your frame and weld a new one on. Ever see the stickers that say not to weld or heat frame. There is a reason. So unless you work for a shop that does frame stretching, I wouldn’t advise some kid on here to hack a frame off a wrecked truck and weld it on to his truck. It’s not for amateur hour. Welding and heat creates a weak point to a heat treated frame

 

What drill bit did you use? What size did you start with?

 

That is the correct way to do it. And the ends of sleeves should be angled so that the frame can more naturally Flex rather than going from rigid to flex.

If you buy frame rails from PG Adams they tell you what Rod to use.

Mig welding is not recommended.