Advice on frame damage 72 c10

[Mike_The_Grad]

Hey everyone, I was involved in an accident last Friday in my 72 c10 daily driver. Low speed impact to the car in front of me. Wasn't my fault but that's besides the point. I only have basic minimum insurance coverage so the repair to my truck is on my dime and time. I've already acquired most of the parts I need to reassemble my truck thanks to our members here. (Really do love this site and it's members.)

I've already disassembled the front end of the truck to assess the damage to the frame. The drivers side frame horn forward of the power steering gearbox and outer bumper brace attaching point on the frame rail is no longer straight and has a slight twist. Also passengerside frame rail forward of the radiator support frame crossbrace is pulled over to drivers side slightly. My truck has been in 2 pervious front end collisions. Both resulting in similar damage but to the opposite side. Both times I bent it back into reasonable shape to allow fitment of front end sheet metal and bumper. It's not perfect but good enough not to be blatantly obvious when looked at.

Anyways, my question is, the damage to the frame is really close to the steering gearbox where it mounts to the frame. I've already ground and chiseled out the rivets for the radiator support mounting frame horn. I'm not sure if that needs replacement yet, I haven't put a square on it but I can source one later if necessary. Should I remove the steering gearbox to straighten the frame? Should I fabricate a thick steel plate that I can drill and tap or bolt to the frame in place of the gearbox to avoid having its mounting bolt holes go out of alignment?

I have a bunch of metal stock at my disposal. Plate steel from 1/4" all the way to 3/4"thick. I have solid stock, round stock, square stock, square tubing, steel pipe, thick walled box and rectangular tubing. Literally thousands of grade 8 bolts in any size up to 3/4" diameter. I have oxygen acetylene setup with torch, rose bud, and welding tips, I have a 10 ton portopower with a bunch of attachments. I have come alongs, chain and cable. I got big ol wrenches, etc.
What I don't have is a big tree, reinforced concrete wall, heavy equipment or trailer. within reach or that I own. And I'm a renter here so I don't believe I can start breaking up and reinforcing the concrete driveway or setting anchors or anything like that. I'll post pictures of whatever helps.

I'm about to go grab my tape measure and square with my service and assembly manuals to figure out how bad it really is, so that information will follow along shortly. Thanks for you time and input.

[72c20customcamper]

I’m not following. If it wasn’t your fault why isn’t the negligent parties ins or they themselves paying for the damage ? Or did you hit a stationary object

[Mike_The_Grad]

Well, anytime you hit someone from behind it basically puts you at fault for any number of reasons. Speeding, following too closely, not paying attention or distracted driving, etc. They don't take into account sudden and unprovoked application of brakes, non functioning brake lights, other involved parties unlawful actions. Without getting into to much detail. A vehicle entered the roadway obstructing the direction of travel and a vehicle in front of me reacted by swerving to avoid impact, I followed suit, but then the car in front of me slammed on the brakes even though there was no reason to because there was no immediate danger of impact from the vehicle that entered the roadway illegally because they were beyond the line of site of the vehicle entering the roadway. I hit my brakes, they locked up, I slid into the vehicle in front of me. The force of impact pitched my truck to the side that the vehicle that entered the roadway was located and my trucks rear quarter panel and rear bumper made contact with that car also. Had that vehicle not entered the roadway illegally and had obeyed the delineated stopping requirements of the intersection( the white stop line that your vehicle is required to not cross during a legal traffic action.) There would not have been reason to make evasive maneuvers or suddenly apply brakes in an emergency situation. Resulting in vehicle impacts of any vehicle present. That's how I'm not at fault. Regardless of the facts or opinions. My truck is out of commission and needs to be fixed because it's the only vehicle I own. Either by myself or through some miracle of a chance someone has a decent conscience or moral compass to admit they caused 2 collisions for their own indecisiveness over whether to speed infront of fast moving traffic or obey the law and not obstruct said traffic.

[Rich72C10]

Man, bummer. I can't help with your frame but I understand your story.

I had such a wreck but the car in the middle (and myself) didn't have anywhere to go. That middle driver was totally pissed at the front car and told the cop he didn't think me hitting him was my fault (he even helped tow my car away). The front car was also hit from the middle car but hooked it out of dodge leaving bits of his car behind.

While the cop didn't give me a ticket, he said the report would state it was my fault (failure to control distance).

My car, I had it all of 4 hours and was my senior year present from my Dad. Needless to say there was a LOT of grief when I finally got home (my Dad's POV everything was always my fault). Since my car was used, it wasn't worth fixing.

[Palf70Step]

Honesly, even with all i have done,it is well worth getting a frame shop to get it right. Besides the methods you mentioned. I also have a porta-power unit that can straighten a lot of things. IT is still worth getting the frame doen right though.

[57taskforce]

Take it to a frame shop. Probably an hour or two of their labor will save you a lot more of cussing improvising and compromising. I used to do bodywork for a living. Trust me. Just pay the 125-150 an hour for a couple hours at most and get it done right the first time.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by Mike_The_Grad

Well, anytime you hit someone from behind it basically puts you at fault for any number of reasons. Speeding, following too closely, not paying attention or distracted driving, etc. They don't take into account sudden and unprovoked application of brakes, non functioning brake lights, other involved parties unlawful actions. Without getting into to much detail. A vehicle entered the roadway obstructing the direction of travel and a vehicle in front of me reacted by swerving to avoid impact, I followed suit, but then the car in front of me slammed on the brakes even though there was no reason to because there was no immediate danger of impact from the vehicle that entered the roadway illegally because they were beyond the line of site of the vehicle entering the roadway. I hit my brakes, they locked up, I slid into the vehicle in front of me. The force of impact pitched my truck to the side that the vehicle that entered the roadway was located and my trucks rear quarter panel and rear bumper made contact with that car also. Had that vehicle not entered the roadway illegally and had obeyed the delineated stopping requirements of the intersection( the white stop line that your vehicle is required to not cross during a legal traffic action.) There would not have been reason to make evasive maneuvers or suddenly apply brakes in an emergency situation. Resulting in vehicle impacts of any vehicle present. That's how I'm not at fault. Regardless of the facts or opinions. My truck is out of commission and needs to be fixed because it's the only vehicle I own. Either by myself or through some miracle of a chance someone has a decent conscience or moral compass to admit they caused 2 collisions for their own indecisiveness over whether to speed infront of fast moving traffic or obey the law and not obstruct said traffic.

Ok I understand the circumstances now. In my opinion as others have said its well worth paying to have a frame shop check and repair . Then you can do the fitting and finish work.

[michael bustamante]

if you want to replace that section of frame i am parting one put. just let me know
1972 long bed frame

[Mike_The_Grad]

Appreciate the input. And that story pretty much sums it up. It's disheartening when you and thenpeople involved know what happened but from an outside perspective everything is viewed differently. My neighbor came over and subliminally said I was following too closely by stating that he follows too closely and is something he needs to change himself... I picked up on it and called him out and said, sure it looks like that was the case but in fact it wasn't. Another neighbor came over and said I drive too fast down the street. Again, I corrected him and explained this was a low speed impact. If it were any faster someone would have gotten hurt. Regardless, it still sucks. I was thinking the same as you guys by having it fixed at a shop. I'm actually building a truck for a customer at a body shop right now. This place is top of the line, has a laser guided frame alignment rack. And every kind of medieval looking hook, chain, clamp available to pull, push, twist, metal into whatever form they want. They have already repaired a vehicle I no longer own 2 times for me within 2 months of eachother. I have had 3 separate accidents in the last 5 months. None of which were my fault.

(1. A boat hit my car. Funny as it sounds its true. My neighbor was tow his boat through the alley behind my house which is at the end where it turns around the corner, he went wider than he thought he had and he was impatient and dragged the hull down the side of my mom's 2010 charger. 2.) Lady rear-ended me in heavy traffic because she was speeding and not paying attention and cut the wheel at the last second and clipped the same charger. That car was total loss and insurance company cut a check which is great because the car was for sale and we got a little more than we were asking for and no haggling.
I went 20+ years of driving without anything happening. Then bam. 2023 year of the accidents. I just hope what they say about they come in 3's is true and I can put this all behind me.

The down side to the shop fixing it, it's about 40 miles away from where I live. And a tow to and from the shop costs more than the price to have the shop pull the frame.

[HO455]

Doing some simple measurements to cross check the frame straightness should show any serious distortion or just some minor tweaking of the frame horns. I believe somewhere here some has posted the factory frame alignment measurements.

Personally I would use a rose bud to heat the frame and restore it back to its correct shape (which is what most body shops would do). Using heat means you won't need any heavy duty tail hold for your puller.

Having an easily controlled puller will help get things back to where you need them. Come-A-Longs are poorly suited to this where as turnbuckes and chain are soild and infinitely adjustable. Sometimes you may have to push and/or pull in two directions at once. You will also need to hold the undamaged frame in place so you don't add more distortion. It sounds complicated but it's really pretty simple. Plus there videos out there to watch that can help.

Study the damage carefully to get a good idea as to how to reverse the motions that caused the distortion.

Using will also help reduce work hardening of the metal.

And if it was my truck and knowing that it has had other frame straightening in the past I would fabricate and weld a doubler on the inside of the frame where the steering box bolts on. This is a weak area that is prone to cracking on 4x4s. (Do a search for more information) Without checking for cracks with a dye test or magnafluxing the area you don't know what fresh h@## might be waiting to raise its ugly head later. Installing a simple doubler to reinforce the area while you have it all torn down is peace of mind.

Once you have the truck back together you can drive it to a shop and have the frame checked if you want.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Thanks ho455, this is exactly what I was thinking. I used the rosebud in the past. It uses a lot of fuel pretty quickly too. My truck is not 4wd. But I'm not sure if I should pull the steering gearbox to prevent it from getting heated. Plus it's cast iron so I know it can suck a lot of heat up all the while the frame isn't. I was thinking of pulling the steering gear box and fabricating a square plate out of 5/16" or 3/8" thick plate and drilling and tapping or through bolting it in place of the box so as not let the bolt holes to go out of alignment. But there's also the curve in the frame for the box mounting that I Don't want to lose from over heating or working the frame.

Anybody input on removing gearbox and bolting HD plate in place to keep holes in alignment and avoid damage to steering gear?

Also anybody have an extra one of these that's straight and usable for 69-72 c10?