One-day frame straightening
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• The twisted chassis of a Ford DT2417 six-wheeled chassis was straightened in less than a working day by a team of two men without dismantling the concrete-mixer superstructure. This was done during a recent demonstration of a Blackhawk Bear heavy-duty frame and axle repair system by Hartshorne Motor Services Ltd, Bentley Mill Close, Walsall, Staffs. It was claimed that stripping the chassis and straightening it by conventional means would have occupied three weeks.
Hartshorne charges £90 for a day's work and says that this represents a saving of about 75 per cent. The chassis had formerly been repaired by normal methods after the vehicle had run out of road into a ditch; accurate checks then revealed that the frame was bowed and twisted.
Said to be one of three similar types of Blackhawk Bear equipment in the UK, the system is of American origin and costs about £12,000 installed. It has an overall length including ramps of 60ft and is available as an above-ground or pit-mounted model. Hartshorne has been using a system of the former type for several weeks and will specialize in work for other vehicle repairers, who, typically, will have the chassis of a damaged vehicle straightened by Hartshorne before stripping down.
The equipment provides a sideways or vertical force of 100 tons while a pressure of 200 tons can be applied to an axle beam.