School me on truck frames- do they twist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtGI1jGpk0w&feature=related

 

Old TATRAs(138, 148, 813, 815) were really rigid build, lots of them still work in mines and forestry, fire trucks, snow plows. Even 40 -50 year old trucks have lockers on all axels, 6x6 or 8x8, tire pressure regulation from cab. Aircooled V8, V10 Or V12 engines, V12 might have 2 turbos. 8x8 with V12 unstopable power. But old ones have NO AC, Functional cab that you can hose it every day without any damage to interior. At that time they were work horses building 43 counties over the world. Now they become Icon of offroad trucks specialy Tatra 813 8x8 versions. Military V12 versions had more power and can be tuned over 1000HP. Dakar rally in heavy trucks...Tatra rules for decades.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p3eXRKhzQA&feature=related

 

Ya that is a price for the big dogs. Its a big project depending on what is going to be done, endless hours of wiring, airlines, huck cutting and refitting and then realigning it so it does not become a steer tire eating monster. Not many people realize that the alignment on a semi is actually set with the drive axles, sure you can set the toe-in on the steer axle but the alignment dynamics all happen from the rears. I spent over $12,000 on mine last year on a chassis rebuild front to back , if it moves it got replaced. The rear frame from the sleeper back I stripped to the rails, pulled the cross members and anything hooked to the frame and started over. That was just in parts I did the labor. Keep up the search but do not sacrifice quality for cash, there is an acceptable balance. Thanks for the update.
J-J

 

$15-20,000?????????? That's ridiculous. Dont tell them you are going to make an HDT. Tell'm you are starting a small business to haul long polls or something. Used frame rails "here" are going about 7 bucks a foot. Used you can find them with the suspension holes already drilled, new you have to pay per hole for new mounting holes. NEVER drill holes in the rail flange, always in the web. If you buy your own rails, and take them with you to the fab shop, you'll need exact measure of the thickness, height of web and width of flange. Buy the right amount of cross members and carrier bearing mounts too as you will need them.

If a shop charges about 80 bucks and hour, 20,000 is 250 man hours. That's 2 guys working on it for 3 weeks dedicated solely to that project. I've watched a lot of log and dump trucks lengthened and shortened at a local shop west of Portland Oregon, and it dont take that long.

 

I learned long ago, to let them flex. Make sure the radiator and fan shroud are far enough from the fan blades. chain your rear end housings to stop just before the airbags are fully extended. Make sure you have slack in the clutch cable (if applicable).

These are a few of the things Ive learned the hard way over the years off roading in Peterbilts.

 

Their is a small outfit in the middle of a small farm town that does frame rails... They can replace aa new set of rails start to finish around 4 days, he works weekends too... Bruce Holten Welding, Toledo, WA