stretching a truck frame...

I am not sure that I would advise doing that yourself. Their is a lot that goes into a frame stretch. I work with a guy that was an owner operator and had the frame on his Pete stretched by a professional shop. It took them a while to do the stretch and he had some bugs to work out after he did it. You can imagine what is going to happen if the frame isnt perfectly straight. Just my opinion though.

 

I would not recommend doing it yourself at all. Frames have a tensil strength till you put heat to them, then they start having issues. There are shops that do this but it's pretty spendy. Most shops extend the frame at the rear suspension as it helps keep the frame together by linking it up. I would suggest just getting a truck with the proper specs you want, it is much easier that way

 

We did it some years ago. Not that hard to get close , then use alignment machine to set axles true.Actually used string to pull measurements from old frame to new, using an X type system to measure. If you look around junk yards, some frame rails will fit inside your existing rails. You will need a magnetic drill to drill frame holes for re-enforcing plates where you weld them together. Really not worth the trouble, would not try again, but it did work OK.

 

It's been quite a few years for me but you'll need a lot of C-clamps, a lot of angle iron, a lot of jack stands, a few 1/4 by 3 or 4" by 6" steel reinforcing plates, a couple of long straight edge's, a 240 Volt AC/DC wire feed welder and of course 2 section's of a Truck frame the same size. ALL sections of the truck frame MUST be cut square, take your time and make sure every thing is straight and square. bevel the truck frame matting areas Burn your welds in hot and deep and then grind down the welds you will put the steel plates then measure the distance between the yoke's and take drive shaft to a shop to have them do the drive shaft then just splice and extend the wires and lines. I am not a typist and I don"t have hours to work on this site. I'm sure I forgot something but I hope this helps to get you started in the right direction.

 

i would do it from the rear back...just lengthen the shaft,wires and air lines and move diffs back.

 

Labor is the expensive part so if you can do it yourself it wont cost that much. If done correctly it will last forever and no one will be able to tell. Theirs a big difference between 4 and 6 foot of overhang though. Sliding the front suspension to the rear holes will get you over 4 foot of wheel base but that's not enough for 6 foot of overhang on such a short truck. Cutting in the middle means 2 welds but not a big deal, just not the best way in my opinion. I can get you a name for rails and liners that a lot of guys use if you want.

 

i suggest having a shop do the stretch. a good shop will do it and you won't be able to tell it was ever stretched. i know someone that recently had a frame stretched and a tag added, cost them right around 9k. if its done wrong you will never be able to get it to align properly or even have a crack/break in the frame.