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So for years now I have always thought about how nice the luxury of having a chassis table would be for doing chassis and frame work the "right" way. Aside from providing a dead nuts square and level work area it also just makes the work easier in general. Being able to have car up off the ground a couple feet is nice for not only being a better work height but being able to roll under the car and tune the suspension under a load.
The problem with chassis tables is that they are priced anywhere from 10-100 THOUSAND dollars. And I as it turns out, am not wealthy. So after doing a fair amount of research I have decided that it is well within my capability to build one of my own.
The first thing we needed to get started though were a couple of 15 long I-beams to act as the two main rails. I came across a guy that had two 30 foot long C-channels however that when cut in half and welded together would accomplish the same goal AND they were priced great....but, there was a catch. The C-channels were sitting out in the middle of nowhere on a couple rail road ties about 100 yards from any truck access point....buried in snow. So my right hand man in all my nonsensical endeavors, Tom joined me on this recovery mission last night.
The problem with 30 foot sections of steel is that my truck has an 8 foot box. And my trailer is only 28 foot. Seeing as I needed them at 15 feet the only option was to take the torch in the back of the truck to the site, cut them to length, and carry them to the truck. And that's what we did. And believe me when I say I have NEVER carried anything that damn heavy, for that amount of distance FOUR times in my life. I'm not working out this week. And then we had to unload them at the shop.....which brings me to my next purchase. A forklift.
Anyway, here is the payload making it's way home. I will keep you posted on the construction so you guys can see what this allows me to do and if you decided to build your own this will be a little reference build for how I'm choosing to do mine.
Note that my truck is actually squatting in these pics. My trailer loaded down with a car doesn't make the ol girl squat. Then again 1,600 pounds of steel hanging 7 feet off the tailgate will do that :lol:
And for those that don't know, here is the general idea of a chassis table. This was is designed different then what I am building but the concept is the same. Provides a 100% square working area which is hugely important when doing roll cages in unibody cars. If your car is sitting slightly crooked then that's how you are setting it up permanently when you weld your cage in.
The problem with chassis tables is that they are priced anywhere from 10-100 THOUSAND dollars. And I as it turns out, am not wealthy. So after doing a fair amount of research I have decided that it is well within my capability to build one of my own.
The first thing we needed to get started though were a couple of 15 long I-beams to act as the two main rails. I came across a guy that had two 30 foot long C-channels however that when cut in half and welded together would accomplish the same goal AND they were priced great....but, there was a catch. The C-channels were sitting out in the middle of nowhere on a couple rail road ties about 100 yards from any truck access point....buried in snow. So my right hand man in all my nonsensical endeavors, Tom joined me on this recovery mission last night.
The problem with 30 foot sections of steel is that my truck has an 8 foot box. And my trailer is only 28 foot. Seeing as I needed them at 15 feet the only option was to take the torch in the back of the truck to the site, cut them to length, and carry them to the truck. And that's what we did. And believe me when I say I have NEVER carried anything that damn heavy, for that amount of distance FOUR times in my life. I'm not working out this week. And then we had to unload them at the shop.....which brings me to my next purchase. A forklift.
Anyway, here is the payload making it's way home. I will keep you posted on the construction so you guys can see what this allows me to do and if you decided to build your own this will be a little reference build for how I'm choosing to do mine.
Note that my truck is actually squatting in these pics. My trailer loaded down with a car doesn't make the ol girl squat. Then again 1,600 pounds of steel hanging 7 feet off the tailgate will do that :lol:
And for those that don't know, here is the general idea of a chassis table. This was is designed different then what I am building but the concept is the same. Provides a 100% square working area which is hugely important when doing roll cages in unibody cars. If your car is sitting slightly crooked then that's how you are setting it up permanently when you weld your cage in.
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