De-tweaking a unibody

[Ktmracer419]

i basically drove into/onto a concrete wall and now my hood, fenders, front crossmember and header panel don't line up. as well as my alternator and fan hit my framerail.

I would like to at least get it visibly straight and no longer have fan and alternator clearance issues.

The jeep still drives fine and dandy.

the last inch of the fan blades are bent flat from hitting the frame and at rest the fan is within a half inch of the frame. Hits on bumps and most left turns. Motor mounts have one trip on them.

the tough part about this is nothing is the stock sheet metal.

the crossmember is 1/4" thick 2x6" box steel, and the frame is plated with 3/16" plate down the sides from the crossmember to leaf hangers. Underneath the crossmember is tied back about 6" with some 3/16" plate.

overall


fan clearance


how the hood wants to shut


alternator clearance (note the ground wire extension is snapped off from making contact with the frame)


hood latched as good as it gets



my plan of action was to cut the crossmember out and perhaps make some releif cuts in the 3/16" along the framerail (stitch welded for the most part)

once the fenders, radiator, header panel and all that nonsense is out of there i would go to town with a sledgehammer, or get creative with a hi-lift.

thoughts?

Remember it doesnt need to be perfect. if i can make it visibly straight i will be happy. and maybe notch the frame for fan/alt clearance or go to a dual electric fan setup

[Wide-J]

Rent a Port-O-Power to get to tweaking! In all seriousness, depending on where you are bent, a Port-O-Power is really a great tool to have. I would start from the back of the jeep on a common point and start cross measuring to see what got shifted. We had a frame machine in the body shop I worked at, but cross measuring really helped dial in what was tweaked. We used to have chains that were concreted into the floor also. You could wrap a frame with a chain at one point, and use the frame machine (or in your case, an engine hoist) to pull up on another point. It would straighten out frame rails very easily.

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

Do you know exactly where its bent? If its bent forward of the cross member I don't think taking it out will help you much. You might actually want to keep it in just so you don't make another bend to counter the bend you already have. Leaving it in might help to straiten the bend thats in there is what i'm saying

[Ktmracer419]

Do you know exactly where its bent? If its bent forward of the cross member I don't think taking it out will help you much. You might actually want to keep it in just so you don't make another bend to counter the bend you already have. Leaving it in might help to straiten the bend thats in there is what i'm saying

front crossmember

there is nothing forward of it

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

front crossmember

there is nothing forward of it

I meant the unibody rails forward of the crossmember. If its bent forward of the cross member i really dont think you need to remove it

[Ktmracer419]

I meant the unibody rails forward of the crossmember. If its bent forward of the cross member i really dont think you need to remove it

i am not removing my tranny crossmember. im removing my front 2x6 crossmember that doubles as my bumper

[HitItWithSomeSpeed]

Sam. You are outta control bud.

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

i am not removing my tranny crossmember. im removing my front 2x6 crossmember that doubles as my bumper

Sorry I must have misread it. I retract my comment then

[justtorchit]

im just throwing this out there that i have anchors in my garage floor and portopowers for tweeking frames back to shape....

ive tweeked some really bent race car frames back to stock with it all before...
let me know if ya need help

[wannabejeep]

so you had to one up Will huh?

[Bigbike]

so you had to one up Will huh?

its cause he's an attention whore.

[HeavyMetal]

so you had to one up Will huh?

Seriously. He even bent it the exact same way in the exact same place

[kappy]

im just throwing this out there that i have anchors in my garage floor and portopowers for tweeking frames back to shape....

ive tweeked some really bent race car frames back to stock with it all before...
let me know if ya need help

yes this is true takes time but it can be done

[customcreationsllc]

I've done the really crude method before I'm sure Sam would try it.

Strap the front to a tree.
Strap the other side of the XJ to a truck and drive away, Keep pulling and moving the points until its straight enough.

I've bent plenty of bumpers and and front cross members like this.

[Ktmracer419]

yes this is true takes time but it can be done

what kind of time?