Bent Frame???

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73dart_swinger

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I had my steering box installed today. My mechanic pointed out that something was no quite right. Where the steering shaft goes into the firewall, it rubs on the edge of the shift linkage (automatic). This is causing the car to come out of gear when I turn the wheel.

I wrecked the car and my body man thought the frame was bent about a quarter of an inch. I took it and had the frame straightened and they said they got it straight and it was only a little off.

Now the steering box thing has happened and I got to looking and the fender, hood and bumper don't quite line up right. The passenger side is good but the drivers side is a little off.

I have talked to my body guy and he thinks the frame is straight. He admits the fender needs to be adjust but does not think it is the frame. Is there any was the k-member can get knocked out of alignment between the frame rails that might be causing the steering box problem?

I don't know much about this stuff but can anyone offer me a place to start?
 
Look at the four mounting points where the K member meets the chassis and see if those bushings look wasted and/or you may be able to pull each bolt individually to check to see if they are bent (I would caution that if they have never been out this may prove very difficult to do as you could break them, also if they ARE bent you may not be able to remove them by any means other than cutting the heads off and dropping the K frame). That is one possibility. The other would be to have another shop give you a second opinion. I am not saying anything bad or against the shop you had do it, but it is possible that they just don’t want to mess with it as they would have to do it for nothing since I would assume they warranty their work, and most shops I have dealt with will try to pass the buck to avoid that. Sounds to me like it isn't straight yet. Have you had it aligned or did the frame shop you had do the frame also do the alignment? Might be worth a trip to an alignment shop and see what they say, they should be able to tell if the alignment was set-up to account for the chassis not being as straight as it should be. It's always a pain to bring a uni-body back into spec after a hard hit.
 
The steering column itself could have shifted when you had that hit. If the steering shaft is rubbing on the outer tube(shift linkage). You can simply pull back the carpet at the drivers feet, you'll see 3 bolts at the base of the column. Loosen, adjust column, tighten

Hope this helps , Eric
 
measure yourself to see if the frame is bent. then you will know. pic a spot on the front end that is the same on both sides and cross measure to the center of the bolt on the front of the rear spring hanger,,,guessing here but I think you are allowed 1/4" diff each way
 
I adjusted the steering column and it fixed the problem. I just had a 20:1 steering box put in and got to turn with two hands because I wasn't holding the gear shift in place. I love the quicker ratio. Thanks for yalls help.
 
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