Things are getting ugly.. What would you do??

[Iroc do you]

So here’s the rundown, I bought this truck a few weeks ago knowing it needed some work. Front end work that is.. upon glancing at things, its seemed to me like someone had replaced control arms, both uppers and lowers on each side. The truck had three different size tires on it and the spare. Seeing how the tires in the front were drastically different, it seemed like the tires were just playing tricks on the eyes. I knew the sway bar bushing in the passenger side was hanging on by one bolt and thought maybe it just needs an alignment. Got new tires, 275 60’s all the way around. Upon putting them on after fixing the sway bar I noticed this… plans were to get it aligned or at least figure out what all is out of whack. Well needless to say this needs to be addressed first and foremost. Suggestions? (Pics of both sides for comparison, these were took as if you are looking at the front of the truck.) 1994 Silverado, 2wd

 

[Hipster]

looks like it was hit and it shoved the lca. whether the hole where the lca mounts to, the elongated one, has also moved, been bent, from where it should be, is yet to be determined. Not saying it can't be fixed, but I would want it on a frame machine with a measuring system underneath it so I could pull it, fix/weld up the elongated holes with everything in the right place so that it will take an alignment.

Second glance, maybe someone yanked the lca trying to do a quick fix and they damaged it further.

Bolts rocking and beating around in a hole tend to self destruct.

 

[Iroc do you]

looks like it was hit and it shoved the lca. whether the hole where the lca mounts to, the elongated one, has also moved, been bent, from where it should be, is yet to be determined. Not saying it can't be fixed, but I would want it on a frame machine with a measuring system underneath it so I could pull it, fix/weld up the elongated holes with everything in the right place so that it will take an alignment.

Second glance, maybe someone yanked the lca trying to do a quick fix and they damaged it further.

Bolts rocking and beating around in a hole tend to self destruct.

looks like it was hit and it shoved the lca. whether the hole where the lca mounts to, the elongated one, has also moved, been bent, from where it should be, is yet to be determined. Not saying it can't be fixed, but I would want it on a frame machine with a measuring system underneath it so I could pull it, fix/weld up the elongated holes with everything in the right place so that it will take an alignment.

Second glance, maybe someone yanked the lca trying to do a quick fix and they damaged it further.

Bolts rocking and beating around in a hole tend to self destruct.

You’re absolutely right about bolts wanting to self destruct in cases like this. I knew things were wonky but i had no idea it would end up being this bad. My guess someone hit something, did what they had to in order to make the new control arm reach a point to were it could be mounted. Rather it was right or not.. The fender on that side isn’t original to the truck either. It’s definitely got some damage on the driver side that someone did a pretty bad job at hiding. It’s gotten worse since ive had it, it officially got taken off the road this afternoon. So I should be reaching out to body shops? Im pretty darn handy but I’ll be the first to admit this one is a little over my head. I definitely need to get it right, I bought this to be a daily. Other than this the truck is in great shape.

 

[Hipster]

Talk to a bodyshop, generally frame work doesn't come cheap, by today's collision repair standards this would call for a frame replacement, so finding a shop to mess with it(and the liabilities involved) might also be an issue.

 

[Iroc do you]

Talk to a bodyshop, generally frame work doesn't come cheap, by today's collision repair standards this would call for a frame replacement, so finding a shop to mess with it(and the liabilities involved) might also be

Talk to a bodyshop, generally frame work doesn't come cheap, by today's collision repair standards this would call for a frame replacement, so finding a shop to mess with it(and the liabilities involved) might also be an issue

Talk to a bodyshop, generally frame work doesn't come cheap, by today's collision repair standards this would call for a frame replacement, so finding a shop to mess with it(and the liabilities involved) might also be an issue.

Definitely will be doing so. Im familiar with paint & body but not so much the frame aspect of things. I guess ideally what i would want is to get that hole fixed, then it would be measured and go from there? All the while praying nothing is actually bent? Outside of maybe this control arm, ( might be new but im sure this isn’t good for it ). This is one those deals that needs to be done all at once & ideally by the same person with the know how and the means to measure & fix it if at all possible.. Im trying my best to convince myself everything is going to be okay here ‍

 

[95burban]

Weld a washer to the frame and let it eat.

 

[alpinecrick]

Just go to a shop that has a frame alignment and see if the frame is or is not ok. The lower CAs can be found at the junk yards, the uppers are available brand new.

If the frame ain't terrible, upper and lower CA's (at least on that side) new CA bushings, ball joints, etc are all available. The truck looks like its a C1500 rather than a K1500?

Oh, and check the CA mounts on the frame, too.

 

[alpinecrick]

Weld a washer to the frame and let it eat.

A grade 8 washer would probably do the trick as long as the frame ain't too bad.

 

[Hipster]

Weld a washer to the frame and let it eat a tire off the front of it every 4k miles.

fixed it for ya lol

 

[Hipster]

Definitely will be doing so. Im familiar with paint & body but not so much the frame aspect of things. I guess ideally what i would want is to get that hole fixed, then it would be measured and go from there? All the while praying nothing is actually bent? Outside of maybe this control arm, ( might be new but im sure this isn’t good for it ). This is one those deals that needs to be done all at once & ideally by the same person with the know how and the means to measure & fix it if at all possible.. Im trying my best to convince myself everything is going to be okay here ‍

Actually it would get measured first pretty much in it's entirety to see the full extent of damage. Not uncommon for collision energy to travel into other bolted on or welded components, If the welded in engine crossmember is out of whack, realistically a frame swap is a better solution.

Kinda gotta think if the truck is worth putting this kind of money in, or cut losses and move on before getting deeper. Throwing good money after bad. A $1500 truck would be getting parted out, $5k well that's a different story