Well as the title says, I'm almost 100% certain that the K member on my iroc is bent where the front left lower control arm (a member) attaches. The location of the front mounting point looks to be okay, but the rear is twisted out of location by about 3/8". This results in my left front wheel being about 1/2" to 3/4" further to the rear than where it should be. None of this is entirely visible and obviously bent, but I've spent a while measuring it all up.

My first question is whether this would be fixable, or whether I should replace the k member. At this point (with all the suspension still fitted) I don't entirely know if the metal is damaged beyond being bent. Is it likely that I'd be able to get it bent back to the correct position?

Any hints, tricks or suggestions would be very welcome.

Si.

 

Wow, sounds like you have big issues. I hope thats not your problem. I've got nothin man, I'm really sorry.

 

you know the arms arnt ment to be square with the chassis right? they are suppost to be swept back a small amount.......

 

I think I have the same problem, just not as severe as yours. I just installed new tubular a arms from Pro Fab Racing and that helped a little. I belive the stock a arm was slightly bent as well. I'm gonna go ahead and buy a new tubular crossmember from Pro fab instead of messing with the one on there now. I'm sure you could have your crossmember repaired at a frame shop if all that is bent is the mounting point. Alot of the times there is more to it than what the eye can see though. You may find that fixing that one problem will not correct everything. Get an estimate of what it would cost to fix it and compare it with the cost of a tubular crossmember. If you have the money, I would go with the tubular piece in a heartbeat.

 

it would be cool to get a group purchase going on the K member and A arms........

 

Yeah I know they are at an angle, but what I did was measure the front to rear (relative to the car) posistion of the mounts. I'm assuming that the left and right a arms are identical but opposite if you know what I mean....

I'm starting to come round to the thought of just replacing the k member. Has anyone done this with the engine still in there???? Sounds crazy but......?

Si.

 

yeap.

i put the engine on a engine lift and did it.


i really really wish i had a way to mechaniclly hold it.. incase the lift broke or somthign, but i basicly just dropped the old Kmember from under it, slapped the new one up there, and then lowered it back onto the new mounts.

 

I did mine with the engine in the car. Supported the body on jackstands, put a big piece of wood on a jack and supported the motor. It was pretty easy. I wish I had an extra jack to push the k-member into place. But alls I had was an extra set of hands. I supported the motor so that the new member slid right up where the old one was. Nice and easy.

One thing you might want to keep an eye on is the rear most mounting tab for your control arms. It's welded on...and mine when I bent mine...cracked.

I say replace it...you're never gonna get it bent back into spec..and if you do, it will probably be a tad bit weaker and you dont need that holding your motor and suspension. I got my replacement k-member from http://www.tacreationsusa.com/
It was 110 bucks to my door, all nice and sand blasted.

 

You have the exact same problem I do, so I'm curious, does your car pull to the left at all when you brake?

 

It pulls to the left all the time..... but yes when braking its a bit worse.

I realised I had a major problem when I did a full alignment, and did the castor angle swap for driving on the left hand side of the road, only to find that I could not get the castor angle I wanted on the left hand side because the bottom end is so far back that the top is on its end stop and I only get 2.6degrees of negative castor. I thought this was very odd but completed the alignment (putting 2.1 degrees of castor on the right), and it still had the pull.

I also found that the sway bar endlink had sheered off at that side.

Si.

 

Ouch. If you busted your endlink, check your steering parts. I cracked my centerlink during my little adventure.