Help! Wheel not centered in frame.

[amecks]

Help me fix this! What's wrong here and how can I fix it? The wheel is centered and straight in the lower frame rails, but is cocked to the left side in the upper rails.

I widened both the upper and lower rails to fit these wheels/tires. At that time I had checked to make sure the dropouts were centered on the frame. (The wheel is built centered on the axle). I had a sort of crude setup to measure the centering but it seemed to work and I was confident at the time that I had it centered.
How can I fix this without ruining the fresh paint?
The frame is a cheapo Iverson 10 speed frame. Rear hub is an S-A 3 speed coaster brake.
Al

 

[Wildcat]

The lower rails are chain stays and upper are called seat stays. To be off to one side in the seat stays means the dropouts aren't level horizontally across the bike. You could take a steel rod or something like it and make adjustments to the dropouts so they are both the same height.
Looking at your pic, it looks like there are other issues with alignment of the whole rear triangle, but that might be just the camera angle. It looks like both dropouts need to move to the right.

 

[amecks]

I'll recheck the rear triangle. It might be that in the photo, the bracket I welded to the frame is not perfectly level. I'll remove the wheels and crank and stick the bottom bracket in a vise and see what I can do from there.
Last time I tried to bend something in that vise, the whole bench top lifted up because it is just nailed in place. This time I'll get the screwgun out and secure it!
Thanks Wildcat.
Al

 

[RustyGold]

Couple vids on how to verify squareness.

Checking alignment of frame...



Aligning dropouts...

 

[amecks]

Thanks again! I got it straightened. After screwing the bench top to the cabinet, I clamped the bottom bracket in the vise, put a block of wood under the right dropout and stuck a tire iron in across. I had to practically jump on the tire iron which knocked the clock off the wall (it was already broken). But I got the dropouts to even up. This distorted the frame alignment but that was quickly set right.
Test ride on the bike was very good. I think it will be a fun ride. I am going to post it in the Builds thread early next week.
Al

EDIT! Bike now posted in Builds forum!

 

[Wildcat]

That's good, sometimes it just gets worse the more you try to straighten it. Usually they just need a little straightening, then it'll ride like new.
Once I straightened a Huffy cantilever frame that had been run over in a driveway. It rode but never felt solid.