Is wheel base an issue???

I think they realized the 95 extended cabs had some issues, with frame flex.
I know of a 94 or 95 that has bent the frame. Also in 97 they went to a different coating on the frames also.

With the advent of the quad cab, they strengthen the frames also.
 
More interesting is that the 1/2 tons, 3/4 tons, & 1 tons share the same frame, with only minute differences in the very front. Only other differences are the springs front & rear & steering .
 
JW3 said:
Building a puller with a short wheel base is like going into a fight with a broken nose...
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At TS Brandon Bowersock won the 2.5 class with a reg cab, and Andrew Sauer was just a few feet behind 1st with a 3rd place hook in his reg cab truck in the 2.8 class. Im not so sure it makes as much difference as everyone thinks. Also dont forget about Brad Ingrams truck.
 
The '94-'95 regular cab frames had almost no "boxed" portion to the frame at all--Just in the front around the engine, meaning it was an open C-channel. The newer trucks had a boxed frame back to around the extended cab and the third gens are a full box all the way to the tailgate to my knowledge, don't know, don't own one.

-Tom
 
QC short beds are the worse. They have the same wheelbase as the reg cabs, but weigh more, so you can't hang the weight out front.
 
Cummins Driver said:
Why would a regular cab frame be weaker than a ext cab, and why are the 94-95's the weakest? I thought the frames were pretty much the same up to 03?
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Im no puller so I cant get technical with you guys on the best to run but I can verify frame factory specs. I have about 15 Dodge frames sitting here from various truck builds and I will tell ya that the frames are unchanged from 94 til 2001 in 1500 2500 and 3500 trucks. The 02 1500 is totally different. There is no difference in frame construction or strength for these years. For example an 01 1500 quadcab shortbox frame can be used under a 1996 clubcab shortbox body or a 1995 1500 frame can be used under a 2002 3500. In fact as I pointed out a few weeks ago to Bobcat (Garrett Shields) when he visited my shop that a 99 1500 frame sitting next to a 96 2500 frame show no difference other than the suspension you put under them. Ive built 30 plus trucks from the ground up and the only difference will be the support under the radiator support. Some are heavier and then the steering stabilizer bracket that is welded to the frame on earlier models.

My .02, Chris
 
zstroken said:
QC short beds are the worse. They have the same wheelbase as the reg cabs, but weigh more, so you can't hang the weight out front.
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Cant hang weight? I hang 800 lbs to make the 8000 lbs class, and that with a full tank of fuel.
 
wildmanben said:
Cant hang weight? I hang 800 lbs to make the 8000 lbs class, and that with a full tank of fuel.
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I should have clarified, you can't hang as much as a regular cab can, and have the short wheelbase.
 
CSnyder said:
Im no puller so I cant get technical with you guys on the best to run but I can verify frame factory specs. I have about 15 Dodge frames sitting here from various truck builds and I will tell ya that the frames are unchanged from 94 til 2001 in 1500 2500 and 3500 trucks. The 02 1500 is totally different. There is no difference in frame construction or strength for these years. For example an 01 1500 quadcab shortbox frame can be used under a 1996 clubcab shortbox body or a 1995 1500 frame can be used under a 2002 3500. In fact as I pointed out a few weeks ago to Bobcat (Garrett Shields) when he visited my shop that a 99 1500 frame sitting next to a 96 2500 frame show no difference other than the suspension you put under them. Ive built 30 plus trucks from the ground up and the only difference will be the support under the radiator support. Some are heavier and then the steering stabilizer bracket that is welded to the frame on earlier models.

My .02, Chris
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That is interesting, I have seen several 94-95 trucks flex like you wouldn't believe, curt haisleys old 95 and scot amos's 95 come to mind. For awhile amos had a very similar setup power wise, tires and all to some other duallys running from haisleys, and his fram would buckle like you couldn't believe. I ame wandering if there was a steel change.

When I worked at chrysler there were some specific things I found in the TSB bulleteins that pertained to fram differences between 95 and 97. That and watching the 94-95's hook they always seem to be the one that flex the most.
 
zstroken said:
That is interesting, I have seen several 94-95 trucks flex like you wouldn't believe, curt haisleys old 95 and scot amos's 95 come to mind. For awhile amos had a very similar setup power wise, tires and all to some other duallys running from haisleys, and his fram would buckle like you couldn't believe. I ame wandering if there was a steel change.

When I worked at chrysler there were some specific things I found in the TSB bulleteins that pertained to fram differences between 95 and 97. That and watching the 94-95's hook they always seem to be the one that flex the most.
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Your steel theory may be the catch there but side by side there is no difference.
 
I know they went to a different coating in 96/97 time frame. I just have seen many 94/95 trucks that buckle badly right at the bed and the cab. Maybe they just end their ladder bars there so it really drives up on the frame or something??
 
What about the flex that is going to happen over the added length of a eclb over a std cab? Is flex a good thing or bad?
 
I have seen the later model trucks bent in the middle too, so its not just the early trucks. I think a lot of it has to do with how the traction bars are set up.
 
Maybe the ones that flex real bad have short traction bars on them??? Did'nt somebody break a RC/LB in half at Scheid's last year? Or Washington Court House?

-Tom
 
Thats pretty much it , usen the short bars plants the tires harder but instead of lifting the whole truck up your just doing it in the middle with the short bars, as for usen long bars the whole front lifts you can really see this on DMAXS.

Gosh did you ever put longer bars on yours ??
 
Has anyone given any though to truck stability on a bumpy track? It would seem to me the longer the truck the more stable its going to be when you hit something.
 
JerrodGlover said:
What about the flex that is going to happen over the added length of a eclb over a std cab? Is flex a good thing or bad?
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There was a 94 or 95 at IRP in 07 that bent the frame in the middle.

Kent Beeson's is whose truck it was.
 
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