Bent Frame Rail question (with pics)

[ocean_jet]

I bent the front part of my frame rail. My first custom bumper mounted only to the original mount holes (yes, I know... not smart). I came down hard on a rock and it pushed the bumper up and bent the front end of each frame rail, pushing the front cross member up a bit.

You can see here how the new bumper sits a bit higher on the driver side:

I really don't care that the bumper sits crooked.

But, I just picked up a set of HD frame stiffeners, and I am wondering what I should do, if anything before I install the front stiffeners.

Like I said, the front ends of both frame rails pushed up a bit, and causing it to fold a bit. Now there isn't a flat surface to mount the stiffener to. You can see this because there is a gap between the frame rail and the longer bumper mounts on the new bumper:

The gap is so big on the passenger side, I can slide a 1/2" wrench up there...


From the bottom you can see how wavy they are:

With bumper removed:

When the old bumper was still on there, I tried beating the hell out of it with a sledge hammer to try to bend it back. That pretty much did nothing at all.

I don't really see any cheap way to straighten the rails out, and like I said I don't care that the bumper is crooked, so my plan is to try to conform the frame stiffeners to the wavy frame rails using a bunch of big c-clamps. I guess this would mean I have permanently bent rails.

I really don't care much, but is there some reason I should? I know getting the bumper back on will be a challenge, but I think I will be able to with maybe a bit of grinding. Other than that, is there any reason I am missing as to why I ought to try to straighten the frame rails out before I install stiffeners?

Also, the two holes that are ripped in the frame rails (you can see in the last two pictures), should I try to patch those before I put on the stiffeners, or just grind them flat and cover them with the stiffener?

Thanks!

 

[ehall]

You could try a come-along around a tree

 

[jimmy21669]

You could try a come-along around a tree

I have done that too, and it worked. Point the truck at a tree, put it in park with the ebrake on. Chock the wheels so you don't drag the rig.

If you do not have access to a come-along, use two tow straps and your hi-lift jack if you have one. This is what I did and it worked out great.

 

[souske]

Mike, if you feel like driving up to North county, you are welcome to use my jeep and winch to try and tweak it back

 

[ocean_jet]

Mike, if you feel like driving up to North county, you are welcome to use my jeep and winch to try and tweak it back

Thanks Sean... any chance you want to drive over to Rancho Bernardo? My Jeep is in pieces at the moment..

I can provide gas money and all the beer you can drink in an afternoon. Plus, lunch would be on me.




Thanks for the tips on fixing this...

... anyone have any thoughts on just putting the frame stiffeners on as-is?

Thanks!

 

[jeeperjohn]

Mike, I would make every effort possible to straighten the frame. I can think of a couple of ways to do it with basic tools. If you reinforce it in the bent condition you will constantly be having issues with stuff up front.

 

[ocean_jet]

Mike, I would make every effort possible to straighten the frame. I can think of a couple of ways to do it with basic tools. If you reinforce it in the bent condition you will constantly be having issues with stuff up front.

John, what kind of issues are you thinking?

I've been driving it this way for over 2 years with no noticable problems. Could it be slowly wearing out my steering box?

Thanks, I always appreciate your insight.




As for straightening it out, I have been thinking about using a come along on a tree, or a winch on another Jeep, but is seems to me this needs to be pulled DOWN, not out. The damage occured by coming down on a rock, and (I think) the bumper being pushed up. Seems to me I would need to pull down to reverse that?

Am I correct in that thinking?

With that in mind, I was thinking of sinking an achor in my garage floor, and using a come along to pull the cross member down. I could put jack stands on the frame rail just behind where the frame is bent.


Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[ehall]

If you're willing to sink an anchor you could use a stump or cinderblock to brace the square part and use that for a lever

 

[DieselSJ]

Try to fix them. Find a body shop with a frame machine and let them pull it back straight. Once they bend, they lost A LOT of their strength. Fix it as best you can before you add the stiffeners.

 

[ocean_jet]

Try to fix them. Find a body shop with a frame machine and let them pull it back straight. Once they bend, they lost A LOT of their strength. Fix it as best you can before you add the stiffeners.

Took these pcitures to a body shop. They said, rough quote without seeing the actual vehicle would be about $700-800. And that's if I have the car delivered already disassembled. More if i drive it in and they have to disassemble.

Back to the home rememdies I guess...

 

[rockclimber]

I can't think of a way to easily do this at home, especially since the frame is folded in...

but a thought I had was using 2 really stout pieces of steel, say 1/2" or 3/4" long enough to get about 4" on either side of the bend;
drill 4 holes in them, weld nuts to one plate to be slid into the uniframe.
then, line the other up so that the bend is in the middle of it, and the holes are on either side and drill holes through the frame rail(make these oversize to accomodate some movement of the uniframe). then slide the piece with welded nuts into the frame rail (may require some sheet metal cutting to enlarge the opening in the front. once it is lined up run some bolts through and tighten then down like a giant clamp. that should pull the unibody back together.

you might consider welding a piece of 3/16" plate across that area as well, just to give it extra beef. you could then notch the HD-offroad stiffeners to fit.

 

[Jes]

Took these pcitures to a body shop. They said, rough quote without seeing the actual vehicle would be about $700-800. And that's if I have the car delivered already disassembled. More if i drive it in and they have to disassemble.

Back to the home rememdies I guess...

That's a ripoff. Mine was bent on the driver's side a lot worse than that, the fender was actually bent on its' mounting flange, and the steering wheel was off center by almost a quarter turn. I got it straightened out for under $300 then added steel reinforcements.

 

[jeeperjohn]

John, what kind of issues are you thinking?

I've been driving it this way for over 2 years with no noticable problems. Could it be slowly wearing out my steering box?

.

The bent parts apply more stress on everything that bolts up to them leading to cracks and misalignment issues.

 

[tayloredxj]

If you can tie down to the bottom of a tree or something straight down then you can jack up the jeep while pulling the front down. i work in a body shop and in all reality this is a 30 minute job. good luck just something to think about is put a jack stand under just behind the bend so the suspension wont compress under pressure.

 

[TimboSlice]

Sounds crazy but if you have a forklift you can use, I bent the frame on my old pickup and used a fork lift to pull it back. The weight of the forklift and momentum you can get is huge.

 

[ericfx1984]

come along and tree

that or a BFH

 

[ocean_jet]

come along and tree

that or a BFH

Haha...

Tried the BFH. That did nothing except attract a crowd of neihgbors who wanted to watch me beat the hell out of my Jeep with a 12 pound sledge.

Maybe I need a bigger BFG... :gee:


I am going to try something this weekend... just not exactly sure yet.

 

[ocean_jet]

i work in a body shop and in all reality this is a 30 minute job.

Thanks for that info... I got a second quote... $1,000!


Yikes.

 

[jap813]

bfh does not mean a 12lb it means at least a 20 lb. I used a railroad tie once to straighten a frame you need to chain it to a point behind the bend the put something else in to act as a pivot then use a come along to pull it down in front of the bend

 

[ocean_jet]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I took a real close look at this yesterday and I think I figured out what happened. I am pretty sure the bumper hit the rock way out on the end of the bumper on the driver side. (Red Arrow). This forced the driver side of the bumper up, and I think it caused the cross memeber to pivot around the driver side (red dot) frame rail, causing the passanger side of the cross member to be pushed down (yellow arrow).

The driver side seem to have minimal damange, but upon closer inspection, I can see how the passanger side has been pushed down, about a 1/2 inch. I can see the damage and separation between the cross member and the metal where the radiator is mounted.

So, I want to try to push the passanger side of the cross member up...

But, I cannot really think of any way to pull/push that side up. If I pull it with a come-a-long, won't it just life the Jeep off the ground? Is there any way to hold the rest of the Jeep down while I pull up on that corner?



Thanks!