[rkn463]

I finally cut the frame weekend before last. I had planned on an angle cut but I had two engineers on hand that advised to go with the straight cut. Keep in mind that the reinforcing plates will be reinstalled and I'll fish-plate it on the inside of the channels.

I like really straight cuts so I started by clamping a square onto the frame with vice grips and then tapped it until it was perfectly flush with the frame, then I used wide tape against the square and wrapped it down. Then I moved the square 18 inches down and repeated. I measured a couple of places down the side to make sure my tape lines were perfectly parallel. Then I went back and added some "control" markers at 48 inches so that I can measure them on each side to make sure that I'm welding it back together straight. Finally with all of the tape in place and the measurements all verified to be within 1/32 accuracy I braced it up to make the cuts. We have a chain-hoist that I used to hold up the front half (used a rock bar to span the two sides to hook it to) and I used a floor jack for now on the back. I removed the front half of the driveshaft, the rear wiring harness and the brake line and commenced to cutting. I used my DeWalt 4.5" angle grinder with 1/8" cutoff wheel and got started. The sparks flying off those cutoff wheels was burning the hair on my left arm and it smelled terrible! It cut fairly easy and I made all four cuts and only used up 4 cutting wheels, actually just a bit less.

Here are some pictures: