Patent ID: 8474682

Claim:
A motor vehicle 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 forming a motor vehicle body assembly positioned in overlying relation to the bed on a pallet positioned on the bed, characterized in that: the bed defines a support surface having a plurality of laterally and longitudinally spaced points on the bed lying in a common plane adapted to engage spaced underfaces of the pallet for precisely positioning the pallet in a vertical (Z) dimension while allowing the pallet to float in longitudinal (X) and lateral (Y) dimensions along the common plane; and one of the gates includes longitudinally spaced positioners operative in response to precision lateral movement of the gate 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.