74 Dart frame repair?

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1969DartCustom

1969DartCustom

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Hey guys I want to get this guy back on the road everything on the dart is in great condition except the last owner (DUI ) hit something pushing the bumper in and cutting the bumper mount clean off

Another part that took the hit was the K member as it is bent backwards some.

The radiator is fine and everything else but the wheel is a bit slanted, my guess is that the ball joint gave out.


Ill post a pic, is it easily repairable or should i swap parts over to another dart?


This one is registered, has disc brakes and nice rally wheels alone with a super clean interior.
I
What do you guys think? Engine is rebuilt no leaks i guess i can part it out but would rather drive this classic Mopar
 

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Some more pics
 

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If you want to save that car it's going to need a pull on a frame machine to make it right again. You might get lucky and be able to pull some of that out by chaining up the bumper to a tree and give a couple of good tugs in reverse.
 
daliant said:
If you want to save that car it's going to need a pull on a frame machine to make it right again. You might get lucky and be able to pull some of that out by chaining up the bumper to a tree and give a couple of good tugs in reverse.
Click to expand...



Hmmm sounds like an idea


Was going to take it to a shop but not too sure how much to expect to spend on it especially knowing its not as popular as the oldwr darts. There are a couple of frame shops around,
 
It would be a shame to see it parted out. The rest looks so good. I hope you can fix it!

Cley
 
I hope so too, i was thinking maybe a K member swap would be easier but im almost positive the section where it mounts up might have been shifted as well
 
Well here is an update, getting it ready to visit a shop, was quoted around $300-400 to fix the frame without suspension work.

The bushings are gone for sure and so is the ball joint, will likely have to swap in new shocks. I have nor yet dealt qith a torsion bar suspension so im not sure what else I have to replace.

Here are some pics, does it look fixable? At a reasonable price?
 
pettybludart said:
Leave everything bolted up til pulled then swap out the K-frame after it's been pulled.Good luck.
Click to expand...

Beg to differ a bit, It will be easier to pull the rail and save it without the much stronger k-frame holding it in a bind. They don't straighten well, and it might not be possible to get the car squared up with the bent k frame in there. Why fight against the bolt on piece your going to replace. I have changed many cradles on the frame machine. I wouldn't be surprised if the op got a call that they need the k frame down there to verify mounting and suspension points before it came off the machine. Doing it in my back yard I would probably measure to see if a new cradle would go in on 2 or 3 bolts so that all they need to do it drop it down. I would bet money that they right rail is also tweaked and the left apron has some buckles.
 
I didn't stop to think about the other side as well , mainly noticed the tweaking on the driver side.

So chances are i need a ne K member or are bent ones like this still salvagable?
 
I would get a new K member. A frame shop might be able to save it, but you can usually get them pretty cheap.

In fact, shameless plug, I have a /6 K frame from my '74 Duster, should be a straight bolt in. Shoot me a PM if you're interested, I'm near Sacramento so we could probably meet up somewhere.

That frame rail is going to be tough. I would definitely take that to a frame shop and try to determine how much damage there is. The frame rail is obvious, but with that much bent there's damage elsewhere. Obviously the radiator support is bent as well, although it may go back into shape pretty easily if the frame rail is straightened or removed. Hard to tell just from that picture, but it looks like the inner fender peeled off the frame so it might not be too bad. And it looks like the damage stops ahead of the UCA mounts, but all of that will have to be verified along with the suspension parts themselves.

What I wouldn't do is try to pull the frame out myself, you're just as likely to do more damage as your are to "fix" it.
 
Get another K frame and a driver side lower control arm, the K frame looks bent beyond repair and the control arm is probably bent at the pivot point (cant tell for sure from the pics). Also get another fender and bring everything to the shop when you get the frame pulled that way they can pull the car back into shape and bolt the new pieces on without any extra "tweaking" like reaming holes or hammering bolts in until they catch.
 
Sounds good, i have to gather parts,


This is what the most recent shop said about it though


Hi, I looked at the pictures. Left frame cannot be repaired correctly and be safe. It is kinked and requires replacement of good used part. Needs replacement cross member also, too much damage. Cost to pull frame and replace parts you provide, would be between $1600 to $2000.00 for labor alone. You may be better off finding another car and switching all the good parts to that car.



Hope this helps.
 
That's about what I figured.

The K frame could probably be fixed, but it would be way too much work. 73+ spool mount /6 K frames usually sell around $150, and it would take way more labor than that to fix that one. I'd sell you mine cheaper than that.

That frame rail is ugly. Replacing the rail isn't that hard though, it's just spot welds and a lot of careful measurement. The aren't re-popped right now, but they aren't that hard to find either. Usually they sell for a couple hundred bucks. There's a member here, Lee Robinson, that has parted a few A-bodies recently. I've bought parts from him before, he's in El Dorado hills. He has a core support for sale right now that might come in handy, he might even still have a driver's frame rail. Here's the core support and his info...http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=303480

My big concern would be how far the damage goes though. If it's just the frame rail, core support and K member that's not a huge deal. I would do that work myself, but I've done frame work before. But if the damage goes beyond that, past the firewall into the uni-body structure, I wouldn't bother. The car is probably only worth $2-$3k even if it wasn't damaged, and just based on the frame rail you already have an estimate of $2k to fix it, plus parts.

In the pictures its a little hard to tell, but is the passenger fender pushed up against the door? It looks like it is, which would indicate you have more going on than just the driver's frame rail.
 
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