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Figured I would post some pics as I have not in awhile.  this pic is of a mack truck cab with sleeper removed, truck had a jack knife accident, cab needs to be pulled and squared.the blue pole is a wedgeclamp tower pulling system, anchors to floor with floor pots or anchor to truck, capable of 10 ton pulll.I bought this last fall, still looks new, the actual tower is expensive, but the clamps and chains you have to buy to go along with it are more than the actual tower.We need to pull about 2 inches, support the under side of the cab with wood and at the same time there is portapowers situatated to push up  and align the floor.  I allowed 48 hours labor time to complete repair, completed in less than 12 hours. Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:here is a shot of Marty putting blocks of wood under the cab and positioning the portapowers, as well the right side cab floor got twisted up about 6 inches.  this need to be pull down with a pull back ram cylinder attached to a floor pot.  actually worked out pretty good. Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:this one here is a three axle dump truck, involved in a head on collision with a little firefly car.  Car went into the front tire and broke in half the steer box sector shaft, about 2 1/4 thick, torn off the frame front forward shackle mount, twisted up the drag link, stretched the front spring to axle u-bolts and slight twist of front axle.Hood gone, rad air to air and ac condesor gone.  These type jobs, all complete front end is inspected, king pins and spindles out for magnafluxing.  For a little car it sure did some damage, person in car, walked away.  thank god.Imagine meeting up with that front end???? Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:Here is a stang, kind of a floater job in the shop, we sandblasted and primed the other day, and going to paint likely Monday.  its going to be a 8 second car.I dont get too thrilled anymore at this kind of work, getting older I suppose, don t see the sense in it.Sooner take a coupla extra Viagara and stay home lol Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:This is about the smartest thing I ve done in the last five years, I bought the Lincoln and then wanted a plasma, did not know where to put the plasma and did not have the time to build a cart.  Sat there and looked at the lincoln and then at the plasma, then it hit me, put it on top on the welder, join the power cables together so I don t have to plug and unplug, and throw a 55 foot cord on it.  I can roll this all over the shop.  Lincoln has spool for aluminum and I built a platform at the rear to hold the extra argon bottle, I did at one time have oxy.acet on this rig too, but was too heavy on the rear wheels and was doing a wheelee.  I bought a torch cart and use the M style/size bottles for easy moving around.I use this setup alot, its only two years old but shows alot of wear from the bodyshop enviroment.  You would find everything from paint spills to ham sandwich residue.  Very rough enviroment, tend to push equipment through its paces.Not a fart nor burp from either of these two pieces, seen me weld aluminum all day long for three days.Cut everything with the plasma, never nothing more than replace consumables. Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:here is a pic of the corner section of the mack cab, this area was crumpled in pretty good.we used a stud gun to weld studs to the sheet metal and then attach a slide hammer to the stud to pull out, massaging the metal back as close as possible to original before doing any actual bodywork.This is a basic type repair not requirng alot of skill, some pulls though, the metal is folder over many times, and crumpled up so bad, that you would never think that it could be brought back to life.Working these type repairs for so many years, you learn the metal, and where to cut and weld and stiffen etc, how far the metal will go etc.  Its a very hard skill to teach you either have it or not.  This is a fairly new truck, the owner wants a good repair at reasonalble price.  The trick is making those two things become equal.  I am working all day sunday, on work that i esimated, if I put a younger guy on the job, his hours will far exceed the rate for the job.  and potentianl damage that he can do.It s very interesting work, every job is different but one thing remains the same, has to be perfect, whether new repair parts or rebuild old busted up parts.  challenging. Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:heres the last one, this one came in today on the hook, head on again with a kid in a pickup truck, pickup lost control on ice and hit this truck, very unfortunate the kid lost his life.Damage looks extensive, but generally a very simple repair, excepting for the concealed front frame section damage, which is about 4 to8 hours work, this in and out of shop about 4 days.I will only do the frame part of the repair on this as it is simple bolt on parts replacment and not much repair.I will rebuild this hood, when the winter rush slows down, this hood will eventually get sold to another volvo owner.I will spend three day s on this hood, and hood will sell for approx 2200.00.recylce recycle recycle Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:I enjoyed the shop tour.
Reply:Big there is a trade school down here that gets a brand new pullin tower frame rig every year and sells the year old machine at bid.  You want me to let you know when I see the ad in Truck & Trailer?Appreciation Gains You Recognition-
Reply:Hey Big Rig.Cool pics! Got me wondering what you would have done to my hood. Damage due to blowout. Its a '94 Volvo WCA. Also, WHO LEFT THE GATE OPEN IN CANADA??!!!!!! It is SNOWING just north of San Antonio,Tx.  Attached Images
Reply:DDA52, that fender looks like a fairly typical repair, I am surprised that they changed the fender as I could have repaired that by doing a mold off another same hood with fibreglass and then finish with WEST SYSTEM.  Very strong repair.  Just looking at the pic, that repair in shop would run in around 1300.00 including paint.  Of course that CDN pricing.Typical with those hoods, are the landing mounts, as the hoods are heavy, they tend to slam down on the mounts causing more damage to the hood.  The front torsion bar mount system tend to either get weak or break completely.In these parts those particular trucks did not fair out all that well, generally, the frame channels under the right side of the cab sleeper assembly wear out from rust corrosion.  I was repairing alot of them a number of years ago and rarely see that model truck around anymore.  Kinda glad as it was a bitch of a job.I believe your hood is a one piece hood and could not just change a fender.Heh Franz, yeah I would be interested in a good used around a year old tower, if its blue its a Wedgeclamp, although the same tower is under a couple of different names.  I generally will not buy used tools/equipment, but if its out of school with less than one year on it, sure I'm interested?Included a pic of my office here, right in the middle of the shop, thats about the most expensive office desk you can get I think, snap off roll cab with stainless steel top.Thats where I do all the paperwork, which takes up way too much of my day, I usually have a cell phone glued to my ear all day as well.  It's grand central most of the day in this spot.  I am not the kind of guy that sits behind a desk playing flipping his tie all day. Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:Here the other box sitting beside those snap offs, its a Mac and my central box, mostly all mechanical, body stuff.  all boxes jammed full, its a standing joke with me, if you ask for a tool, I tell ya, yeah its in the box.  Your not allowed to put the tools back though, too many times someone puts it back in the wrong drawer in the wrong box.I bougth this Mac about ten years ago, they laughed and said I would never fill it???????  I flipped this box one day not paying attention, was putting tools away and had too many drawers open, I had to jump out of the way or it would have crushed me, all it left on the box was a dented drawer.Thing weights close to 5000 pounds,  1200 empty. Attached ImagesThere's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:Thanks for the interesting pictures.
Reply:Thanks Big Rig.Yes that hood is one piece. I think the used hood cost around $6-700.00 with a couple of hrs labor to install. That blowout basically cleaned off the pass. side of the block.  After all the mechanical repairs and other body replacement parts I had shelled out a little over $5k!  I think they we're trying to take it easy on me! Thanks again for the reply.
Reply:Big Rig,How do you jack those big rigs up to get under them?  I don't know anything about semis so it might be a stupid question.Tell me what you think of this product on a semi.  A couple of drinking buddies tried to get me to invest in this company about 2 years ago and I didn't.   Did I blow it?   http://www.turboshield.com
Reply:Sticky, that concept is a downsized version of the skirting system Freuhauv developed back in the Carter years.Yes, you can eliminate some drag, from the undercarriage, but to effect a substantial gain in fuel economy you need to skirt the sides of the vehicle as well.OTR rigs have become pretty aerodynamic with the anteater designs, and there is little efficiency to be gained without major cost.  Selling that kind of equipment to the RV people would be a nightmare.Appreciation Gains You Recognition-
Reply:big rig guy, you wouldn't happen to have a good sized turbocharger around anywhere would you??StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey
Reply:Regarding that air deflector, not too many guys I know would install that on thier truck, I can see alot of probs with forgetting to switch it to the up position and resulting damage.I could see a CEO who have 1000 trucks figure that is a good idea cause he will increase his mileage per truck by .6 mpg.  If they want to save money, drive at 60 mph instead of 65 mph, average savings is about 1mpg.  I am a avid camper as well, and some places I take my fifth wheel into, is real forest, so for the rv market and MOm and Dad camping with that thing on their RV, again, oops forget to raise it with the switch.I like trucks that are simple, less gadjets the better, one color too.  When something goes wrong, all the gook on the truck costs alot of money.Franz is right on the money here.  As for the jacking of trucks, air over hydraulic 22 ton air jack.  Has a long handle on it, situated under where you want to jack, hook a air line to it, and lift.  real easy.Supposed to go to work today and left my keys at the shop, could not have worked out better.As for used turbo's, mostly they get junked or back for rebuilding, back to warranty etc.  Once in awhile we will have one kicking around.There's a method to the madness, disregard the method and the madness begins!!
Reply:Franz and Big Rig,Thank you for the info and taking the time to respond.
Reply:if you get a turbo anytime soon let me know, i have a project that needs one.StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey