Is my frame twisted?

Im just a youngster so be nice. lol

Well i have been a little leary of my frame since the start the rear crossmember never really looked "straight" to me. I told my dad about this but he figures there is nothing wrong since it would take a really hard hit to tweek the rails. There is no evidence on the box of any major accident, the box is beat to hell beyond use but it doesnt show any signs of a hard hit. I sure hope my dad is right but just in case i wanna check first.

I measured today and the rear crossmember is about an inch off on each side. The first picture is of the left side. The second is of The right.(this is being measured from the front of the rear crossmember to the back of the frame rail.)

There is also this shim on the left side.


but nothing on the right

To me the whole rear frame looks wacky when you look at it from the back. and the rear crossmember is visually crooked.
I know that the factory didnt exactly spend a lot of time making these trucks perfect (bad door gaps no sheetmetal aligning ect ect)
Could this just be how it came from the factory?
If it is tweeked how would that affect driving?
Thanks

 

You have the bed off still?
Measure from the front bed mounting hole on the left rail to the rear bed mounting hole on the right rail, or some other landmarks, rivits etc that should be the same right to left, then the other way, diagonally.
they should be within 1/8", or so tolerance...
If they aren't hook a chain fall or porta-power up to it diagonally and fix the diamond problem.
Then stretch two pieces of string diagonally through those same holes and over the top of the rails, and check if they touch where they cross.
If they do touch switch the top string to the bottom and check again.
Again they should be within 1/8" of each other.
If off, look for a bend in the area of the arch over the rear axle, or if it's had a step bumper on it, look right in front of where the brackets stopped for a bend.

 

Measure from the front to back in a diagonal. If the measurments are the same then your frame is likely sqaure.
Too slow, the doctor beat me to it, and explained it better.

 

the rearmost crossmember is mounted way crooked, Poquito- it's that way from the factory. looks freaky as hell,right?

they did it that way to stiffen up where the panhard bar mounts to the frame.

the spot to measure from to see if the rear end is sitting in the truck right is...
A-from the inside of the axle flange to the outside of the frame

and
B-from the crossmember that the arms mount to to the axle tube just outsied of the center section, as parralel to the framerails as you can get.

if it is off center left to right-Early cl***ics sells a very nice adjustable panhard bar-and it gives you a little more room behind the Diff. cover to get it off.

if it is off front to back, you are hunting a set of arms- they have that cute bend in them, and if it gets wonky, the axle moves backwards.

I would Imagine Hot Rods To Hell has them avalible (they make a really nice kit to convert cars to truck arm suspension)

if not, C>P>P> has kick *** tubular ones- but they are quite "spendy".


good question!
Don't be skeered to ask more!

 

thanks for the replys
you guys really helped me out here!