While you wait for HDT repair standards, here’s a few things that can help

Let’s dream for a second. Let’s say you drive a new Ferrari 488 Spider. (If you’re going to dream, dream big.) Now, let’s say you have an accident in that Ferrari. (If you’re going to dream big, there’s a chance for big nightmares.) When you take your Spider into a shop, how does the shop know how to make repairs?

The same way they know how to make repairs for a Ford Fusion or a Toyota Corolla—the OEMs provide repair procedures and data to get the vehicle back to the same standards as when it rolled off the manufacturing floor. That’s right. There’s data on every car—no matter how rare or how common—that helps repair shops make the most precise repairs possible in order for that car to protect and perform for its driver as if it were new.

Why can’t the same thing be said for heavy-duty trucks? It’s a great question that industry leaders are currently tackling. And those organizations expect some of these standards to begin rolling out by the end of 2017. But they still have a long way to go in getting OEMs to provide the kind of data and information that they’re required to provide for light-duty vehicles.

Until that happens, however, you’re still on your own to do the necessary research and find the correct information for the heavy-duty repairs you need to make.

One step you can take in the meantime: upgrading to equipment that will allow you to make the most precise repairs possible. As you might suspect, our line of heavy duty collision equipment can do just that. The Chief HD line includes:

• New Centurion heavy-duty frame rack.
• New Cam Scan HD™ photogrammetric measuring system.
• Chief Heavy Duty rivet gun.
• Rotary ^®Lift Mach Series mobile column lifts.
• Chassis-Liner Heavy-Duty Trucker™ frame rack.

Specifically, the Centurion is the largest and heaviest built rack in the industry. This made in the USA rack, has a 55-ton hydraulic ram in each tower, and the towers move independently—allowing true 360º pulls. It comes with multiple chain tie downs in the deck for pulling flexibility. The pulling chain itself is grade 100 5/8″ capable of making any pull. And it has internal hydraulic, air and control plumbing every ten feet for unequaled convenience. It will stand guard over your repair jobs while we wait for HDT standards to catch up to the standards of most other industries. To make road-worthy repairs before and after those standards, there’s nothing better than the Centurion.