Bent my car tonight, accidently....

[dads_69]

While working on my car tongiht, I accidently jacked the frontend up and droped it, now its bent somewhat.Jack stand ca caught it and caused it to tweak on op. side of floor jack.  Long story made short.......Pass. door is 3/8 off, drivers door is off by 1' or more. Car is gutted right now, so maybe thats a reason, I do work at a bodyshop, so getting it on a frame rack should be easy enough. But timing also is a factor. Any sug. for from *Drop Top* or *hotrod98* welcomed right now. My boss is out of town and I'm so pissed right now, I can't even see straight for doing something so dumb. I have photos, but I can't post them til tomorrow. I was getting the car ready to take down to the powdercoating shop and sand blasters, so, yeah, this doesn't help me out much right now by doing something so stupid when I know better.
Mark

[dads_69]

Well, I jacked the car back up and tried to move the car around, but no luck. I can't even open up the doors of the car. I never have had this happen to me before, guess theres always a first time for eveything afterall. Trying to downlaod photos, still won't go through.
Mark

[Rack]

That freakin' sucks. I hope it ends up not being as bad as it appears so far. My car fell off the jack a few days ago, but luckily it wasn't raised high at all when it happened.

[terrible one]

Ouch!  That is really a bummer man. I wish you luck!

[dads_69]

Took half the day off from work to try and come up with something with my car. Brought another frame guy over to the house here to see what we can do to get the car up and out of my garage. Well, that failed as well. We atempted to lift the car back onto the dollie, but it gave way and droped the car again this time completely on the ground, front half only. As I walked away for a few, I realized, I got a chain letter Saturday by email, from a friend.  I'm not a superstious guy, but I think he put a hex on me, hahaha.......Digi. cam batterys are dead, so I can't get photos to transfer yet. After the smoke cleared, we laughed and said, can it get any worse?
Mark

[Judhudson]

I've had something similiar to that happen to me.  I had my jackstands at the rear of my charger, and I went to jack the car up to remove them.  Well, I didn't move one all of the way and when I let the jack down *CRUNCH*.  It made a huge hole in the backseat area that I had to fix

It happens

[Big Lebowski]

  Ouch, that hurts. A frame guy can fix it.

[Todd Wilson]

Sorry to hear that!   Bring it and some PBR to Kansas and we will straighten it out with the old truck!   




Todd

[Mike DC]

   
How far did the front end have to fall to get it bent so badly?  Was there a suspension on it at the time? 

Dropping a car is never good for it, but dropping it from a jack doesn't sould like enough to bend a Charger unibody that badly. 
It makes me wonder whether the body was solid enough to begin with. 

 

[dads_69]

For starters, there are no quarter panels, trunk pan, rear frame rail center piece, no torsion bars, fenders are only resting on the car, doors are bolted on it, but it was 2 1/2 feet at least above the floor when it fell. Second time it was higher off the floor jacked up. Car is strong, but yet weak right now cause of it needing sand blasted and not having a frontend bolted onto it, just a wheel dollie and thats it, and even that colapassed. Goodtimes..........not!
Mark

[4402tuff4u]

That's the beauty with working with steel/metal. It can be fixed. You might have to bring it to a place where they have a frame locking device so that an opposite force can be applied to the frame while it's locked in place. At that time, you might want to add frame connectors or other type of reinforcement by a professional. Steel/metal by nature will hold memory deflections, so you might want reinforce it.

[BigBlockSam]

don't worry it'll just be a funny story to tell  your charger friends  in the future. 

[Drop Top]

Ouch! That sucks! You need to take it to a frame shop. But if you want to try/or need to fix it yourself. With out pictures its hard to tell. But from what I read. Get a good strong set of stands. Put them under just behind where its bent or buckeled. Now your going to have to be able to pull the front part of the car down. With eather a comealong atached to the floor or a jack system from the top down. The easiest would be pulling down on it. Do it one side at a time if you have to. But its better to do both sides at a time. I don't know if you have the tools at home to do this with. Thats why I sugjest a good frame shop. Enless you dropped it from 4 ft or more. It shouldn't have bent. I would check inside the rails for a rust problem or something ellse of that nature. Once you get it straight you might want to renforce the area by plateing both sides with 1/4 plate. Before you do any welding or take it down from the jacks. Make sure you aline the doors and fenders with out any pressure on the frame. Usually you need to go past the area a 1/4 inch or so it will spring back that much. Good luck and get some pictures up soon. It would help very much!

[dads_69]

Carl, thanks for replying. I'm taking my car to work and having the frame guy repair it. He looked at it here at home and said, *why am I so stressed out over something so small*! I said, because this time its my car and not a customers ride. We laughed......I have frame connectors on the way along with some other body parts. Front suspinsion is all powdercoated and I'm waiting on 4 extra items them so I can install it completely right after front engine bay is blasted and painted. I'll post photos soon. Hard to tell how messed up it is in them, but you can soemwhat tell if you look close.
Mark

[tan top]

damn sorry to hear that , now your frame guy has looked at it . it does not sound too bad , i know  thats no consolation though as it is your charger , would be intrested to see any  pictures .

[dads_69]

Not as bad as it looks in photos now, done some tweaking to it today and its much closer. Panels are only scerwed on right now in photos, so sides are not as far out as them seam. Can't wait to get it to the frame shop though.
Mark

[mikepmcs]

Sorry about your car Mark, you are lucky you work at a body shop.  I'm saying nay on the hex from your friend and actually am looking at it like it was good luck you have the resources readily available to fix it.

ok, i'm following this and now i have a question concern about my 69.  A while back I had the front jacked up when i was re-doin' my shifter cable and noticed at a certain height i could not shut the door(ie: thought the body/frame might be flexing). After reading this, i'm sure that is what was going on. I'm afraid to ask but is this something I need to be worried about.  I should be able to open and close my doors with the front jacked up to at least 2 feet shouldn't I.
v/r
Mike

[BigBlockSam]

HEY mIKE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, IF I JACK UP MY RR, I CAN'T GET THE DOOR OPEN. RENE

[Drop Top]

That is one of the reasons people use frame connectors. To get rid of body flex. Makes for a much needed titer body. Better handling and traction. As an added bonus you can open the doors when its on stands. One way to open doors on a car on stands without connectors. Move the stand behind the front wheel wells on the frame. This will allow the front to lay down a little and leave room for the door to swing out. If your jacking up the front and back at the same time. Put the rear stands just in front of the rear wheel wells. Also on the frame. If you do it this way you shouldn't have any problems.

[Wakko]

DT, where else would you put the jack stands? I always put mine behind the front tires on the frame rails and usually put them under the rearend itself  when I jack the ass end up.   

[Drop Top]

Wakko. Most people I see put the stands under the suspention front and rear. I was sugjesting useing the frame front and rear. Sounds like useing the frame on the front and the suspention for the rear works for you. You have to remember in this situation the car is missing some major pieces. So in this case its better to use the frame. Sounds like in your case your frame is in good solid shape.