Need advice, Heat frame or not?

[72swbcamo]

My front spring hanger on a 4X4 is slightly pushed in on the web portion of the frame. It is only pushed in about 1/8". I have to push it out from the inside of the frame, My qusetion is do I do this cold or should I heat it up?
If I heat it will this have any effect on the strength of the frame?

[mbgmike]

I would use a hydraulic press. someplaces rent them if you don't have one. Heating up a frame takes alot of heat. If you do heat it up it shouldn't have any effect that would matter.

[roj2323]

i've done several repairs to my frame. i'll run through the methods i've used.

BFH= BIG FRICKIN HAMMER

a large pipe wrench for fixing dents in the upper and lower rails

a welder to fix the 1in rip in the front frame horn "previous fender bender."

a torch and a BFH to fix a large dent.
the thing with the torch is to use it as a last resort and allways let the frame air cool. work a little area at a time. if you cool the frame with water or oil you may have an issue with making it too hard which will alow the possiblity of cracking the frame.

hope this helps.
ondrew

[72CSTC5]

Try to repair it cold first and use heat as a last resort.

[TravisH]

When I repaired my frame I used a hydraulic ram to push it out where it needed to be and lightly heated it with an acetylene torch to give it a bit of memory. A 12 pound sledge worked good for fine tuning

I did have quite a bit more than what you are talking about though