Bent bullbar mounting rail

Hi Guys, I am the proud owner of a GQ TD42 diesel wagon that I'm planning some big mods for, however there is one issue that I'm worried about. I bought the GQ with accident damage in the form of a very bent bull bar courtesy of a large tree that jumped out in front of the last owner! I have taken the bull bar off and had my father in law cut and weld a new section of steel in the middle of the bar and it came out great. The only thing is, the left (passenger) side rail where the bull bar slots into is also bent.. which required my fixed bullbar to be modded slightly to fit in there and now it is at a slight angle sloping downwards compared to the other side. My question is, is there a way that this can be fixed (straightened) or whatever so that I can replace my bar with a decent aftermarket winch bar and have it line up again properly? Luckily the chassis is not bent, but I want to respray the truck and fit a new bar and get her looking sweet. Can this be done and what sort of cost would I be looking at? Cheers, Scotty

photos would help.

To help ensure we are all on the same page, starting at the outside, first there is the bull bar. Then there is some sort of mounting kit, then there is the chassis.

To help identify the chassis, it also has body mounting brackets etc etc.

With the bull bar off, and the mounting kit out, you are left with two rectangular steel tubes looking at you - the ends of the chassis. If these are even and straight, diagonals checked I suppose, etc. then the adjustment is required to the mounting kit, or the bull bar.

How does that line up with what you have?

Yeh Silver it is one of those rectangular tubes that is the problem, so I'm guessing it is the end of the chassis rail? There is no problem with steering or alignment etc whilst driving which is why it was not written off I'm guessing.. But if it is the chassis rail as you described can it be straightened somehow? It looks like it would take a lot of heat and then bending it upwards from underneath by heavy hammering or some other pneumatic straightening. Sorry I have no photos, but the bull bar is mounted in a way that it's not easily taken off again, which is the reason I need to fix the problem and to replace with a new bar. Thanks for the reply.

Can this possibly be sorted by a smash repairer with a chassis jig/rack or whatever they straighten chassis with?

Yes it can.

Smash repairers do this all the time.

Mic

You could modify the mounting kit to make up the difference, I guess.

The thing is, a few other important components are bolted up to and positioned/aligned by the chassis rail. For example the two front body mounts. Playing with the bull bar mounting kit isn't going to fix that. And it would be so much nicer to just slide the new bar mounting kit into a correctly aligned chassis than trying to correct even small misalignment errors in a modified but otherwise new bull bar and mounting kit.

I don't have the skills to even start to answer a question about how to straighten the chassis rails. They are rectangular tubes. Done incorrectly, bending tube in one place can lead to unwelcome bends and creases in other places :-)

As Mic said above, smash repairers and others do that kind of stuff all the time. I'd take it to someone with the right skills and tools and get it done right the first time, rather than maybe make the job a lot more expensive by creating kinks or creases somewhere else. Just my opinion :-)

As mentioned above any panel shop with a Car aligner or Auto robot can straighten a chassis rail pretty easily. They will always try and straighten it without any heat first and as a last resort will put a little bit of heat on it. Putting heat into a chassis rail or welding one requires the correct tools, welder and skill.

Cheers Mick.