Sliding new frame rails in a truck? Cost of replacement?

I got an estimate of $10k just for labor

 

In about 1990 a roll off container Auto Car rail was $5,000.00. It even had all the holes drilled from the front bumper to the back of the cab. It was a three rail deal but only single up front. We welded the bad areas at shorter rails end. Then had eight foot long over lays made. Striped that section of the frame and bolted them all together. Added a cross member at the bad spot. That was an inch of drilling in some places. Saw the truck years later still running.

 

I priced out rails directly from Paccar for mine 4 years ago. About $18k Cdn for 2 undrilled blanks.

 

PG Adam's, think they are east coast. Can get you rails. You can send your old rails and the will drill new ones the same or sometimes you can getbthe build sheet from manufacturer and the can drill off those. Or just plain rail and drill yourself

 

Had one done 3 yrs ago $15,000 seemed going rate

 

Straight rails can be fabricated by a reputable weld shop much cheaper than purchasing OEM... I have stretched several frames (added 10 feet to one particular truck) and we always had the additional frame fabricated... WAY cheaper than buying pre fabricated... The expenaive part about a complete frame replacement will be the labor, and I have no idea how much that would run.

 

When you say fabricated what do you mean?

There are some places that can roll you the right size Steel maybe in ten foot line length or so but there are very very few people places they can get you frame rails that are actually frame rails with the right tensile PSI.

Those hardened steel frames can't be bent up on a regular press the way mild steel can. So there are not a lot of places that you can get them that I'm aware of.

 

Yeah its A36 steel. Has a tensile strength of 36k. And you are correct it does take a very large hydraulic break to bend it, but there are weld shops out there that can do it. I can think of 3 within 50 miles of my home, 2 of which I have personally done business with. Look for weld and fabrication shops that specialize in large farm or construction equipment.

Edit: Anither option is to form them from high carbon, low tensile steel amd then have them heat treated (thats how OEMs do it)... But that requires a very large heat treating oven, which most places dont have.

 

I have a place near me that will bend up A36. It is relatively inexpensive compared to buying frame rails from PG Adams. But the frames from PG Adams have over 100,000 PSI tensile strength. My understanding is that is the same as the OEM.

I'm honestly not certain about using a A36. On one hand it really is mild Steel, and if you think about it the strength of a frame is such that when it flexes because it's all the same tensile steel you get the same Flex. On the other hand, because the section you're going to put in has reinforcement inside, that may be less of an issue.

But the length that you install behind it will not have the same strength as the original frame and may give you more Flex than the original frame. And it will not be as strong.

I'm not really sure what to think about that except that in theory anyway it's best to match the yield strength of the original frame.

Actually the best of all is probably to find a cutoff or actually long pieces of frame from the same kind of a truck if the rails are in good shape. I would think A36 is probably okay for the reinforcement.

How did the A36 work out for you?