Recently I got stuck driving the Z28 on a cold night and hit some black ice, and slid into a curb around 50MPH. Besides a damaged RFwheel and a severely bent RF ball joint, only one problem remains. The entire K-member has shifted towards the drivers side - about 1/2" in the rear and very slightly in the front.

I've loosened all 6 K-member bolts completely, and rethreaded each about 6-7 threads. The K-member refuses to budge. I've tried hammering, prying, several come-alongs, and even jacking the body up and several big guys pushing on the body. Nothing works. Am I missing something obvious here? Looking for suggestions OTHER than a frame machine.

 

Sounds like you have bent the front subframe. Even though the car is a unibody, I would recommend taking to a place that can straighten frames so that can put it on the rack and see where the problem lies.

 

I am nearly positive there is no actual body/frame damage, as I have measured the entire frame per an old Chevrolet service manual. The K-member has shifted, and its left witness marks (bare paint on frame at RR bolt area). Bolts are not bent, and screw in and out freely.

The impact may have been at 50MPH, but I hit the curb at such an angle that the impact was not that bad.

 

It would be very hard for the k-member to shift unless you sheared off the locating pins. I still think you bent something.

 

arnt there little angle braces up front? have you loosened them as well?

 

any updates to this as im curious to see if the frame is bent... just got done putting in a new (used) one and it seem everything has shifted to the right

 

I finally got the K-member to move. I had to completely remove all bolts to do so, as I suspect the K-member was hanging on the threads of the bolts.

Getting everything to line up required the use of a port-a-power (hydraulic ram) to spread the rear of the K-member about 1/4"

But after lining everything back up and bolting it down, it appears to be OK. I'll be taking the car in for an alignment within a week or so. I guess I'll find out then if there is any other damage.