Hi all, I'm a bit of a newbie here although I have been reading a bunch - great info! Anyway, I have a '93 Legacy NA and while on a roadtrip a few months ago, got run off the road by a semi and hit many guardrails in the process. I bent back and repaired what I could, but it appears the frame starting at the midpoint of the engine compartment and forward is tweaked towards the passenger side by about an inch. I'm judging this by the gap between the hood (which looks like it isn't bent) and the frame. The only problem I've noticed is the need to hold the wheel a bit to the left in order to track straight while driving.
I'm planning on doing a pretty good tear down in about a month for it's 130,000 mile tune up as well as trying to fix an oil leak and I'm wondering if there is a way to fix the frame? Will a wheel alignment solve the tracking issues? Any reason I'm not thinking of for fixing it?
Thanks!
Bent Chassis
Moderators: Helpinators, Moderators
-
evolutionmovement
- Knowledgeable
- Posts: 9809
- Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:20 pm
- Location: Beverly, MA
Without pictures it's impossible to assess, but I wouldn't think an alignment would solve the problem. If a bent frame is the cause of the tracking problem, you'd only be able to "correct" the problem with an alignment at the straight ahead, but you will lose turning ability in one direction and under dynamic suspension and steering angle change, you'll be out of alignment. It may be safer to leave it consistently off. The only real way to maybe fix the issue would be to find a place that has a frame alignment rack and the specs to pull it back into shape. There's still the problem of fatigue and it still may not fix the issue. It won't be cheap. I'd recommend replacing the car or buying a shell to swap everything into.
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
Thanks for the reply, I didn't think of the steering, but now that you mention it, it looks like whether or not I get the wheels aligned I'll have reduced steering in one direction unless the frame itself is fixed. The wheel alignment would simply change where I would hold the wheel to keep straight.
This picture kind of shows it:
https://webfiles.colorado.edu/taylorbr/IMG_0527.JPG
This picture kind of shows it:
https://webfiles.colorado.edu/taylorbr/IMG_0527.JPG
Well considering my '93 only has 116k miles on it, no rust, and was driven by a grandma and maintained by a dealer before me, I decided to take it in to get the frame bent back. I just heard from the guy, I guess it was off by 1" starting at the front doors and forward 
I'll definitely have to make some custom fender braces after it's fixed, but it should be pretty sweet to have her facing the right direction again!
I'll definitely have to make some custom fender braces after it's fixed, but it should be pretty sweet to have her facing the right direction again!
