Got the rear frame cleaned up. I've realized I hate freakin' rivets...Toyota riveted the hell out of this thing. I also had to grind off a bunch of turd weld I had done back in the day.
After I finished cleaning it up I used a flap disk and removed the rust/gunk from the area of the frame where the bend will be. Then I did a lot of measuring and marked a line about 1" in front of the rearmost body mount. After marking both sides, top and bottom of the rails, and making double sure everything was square, I used a cutoff wheel to "scribe" a line on the frame rail. My thinking on this was this would give the frame a little incentive to bend right there, and if I had to heat the frame the mark wouldn't be burned off. I also welded in some bracing to keep the frame square once the last crossmember is cut out.
Got the frame rails straightened tonight. I cut a groove in the top and bottom of each rail, then used a ratchet strap to pull the rails together. I was surprised to find the rails are very easy to bend...i didn't have to heat them at all (aside from the heat from cutting the top and bottom). The rails come out to be 31-3/4" from inside to inside, which is about an inch wider than my fuel cell. Soon as I find some rear bumper material I'll weld the bumper on and weld the grooves in the frame rails. Will probably add some reinforcing plating at the bend as well.
before
after
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Originally Posted by Shaggy
