Patent ID: 8651358

Claim:
A method of precisely locating a body assembly in a longitudinal (X), lateral (Y) and vertical (Z) dimension at a motor vehicle body weld station, the body weld station including a longitudinally extending bed and a pair of gates on opposite sides of the bed mounted for precision lateral movement relative to the bed to engage and weld body components to the body assembly in overlying relation to the bed, the method comprising: providing a pallet; positioning a body assembly on the pallet; moving the pallet with the body assembly positioned thereon longitudinally into the weld station in overlying relation to the bed; precisely positioning the pallet on the bed in a Z dimension while allowing the pallet to float in X and Y dimensions; and precisely moving one of the gates laterally relative to the bed to engage and lock onto the pallet to precisely position the pallet and the body assembly at the weld station in X and Y dimensions corresponding to the precise X and Y positioning of the one gate.