bent front beam?

[vwboat]

Ran off the road in the dark and hit a small tree. after pulling myself back on the road noticed that the car wanted to pull to the left. Next morning I check car and can not see any thing bent or even appear to be hit or bent,

How do I check if my beam is bent? Thanks for any help/info.

[dustymojave]

You would need to unbolt the beam and put a straightedge across the back of it. You may have bent trailing arms also. Those are harder to measure. Another thing to check for bent is tie rods. Damage is more visible for these. You may also bend a steering arm on a spindle. Or even the spindle shaft.

It seems you need to take it to an alignment shop that is familiar with beam front ends on old school VWs. Lots of people working at alignment shops these days have NO CLUE about such front suspension.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[earthquake]

The driver side lower tube on my front beam is bent a bit, I must have nailed a big rock at one point. Its bent back about 1/4" from the stock front mount, I am going to try to straighten it out with a piece of chain and a bottle jack one of these days, I have too much work in it just to toss it out.

Casey
_________________
74 CLASS 11 LOOK-A-LIKE
69 DUNE BUGGY
79 INTERNATIONAL SCOUT II
05 SCION XB SERIES RELEASE 2[#437]
95 Chevy C3500 dually
98 Ford E150
Link to Kelly J. Nolte 3/20/53 - 11/6/08
https://time-zonelabs.blogspot.com/p/about-kelly.html
DEATH TO CHINGERS!
[From a military recruitment poster in the novel "The Stainless Steel Rat" By Harry Harrison]

[dustymojave]

As long as the tube is not kinked, that will work.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[vwboat]

Thanks for the reply's Trusted alignment shop confirmed beam and trailing arms bent. Have found good buy on two used beams. Have to check them out but got for a very very small amount.
Thanks again for the reply's and help.