Help! Transporter sub frame alignment specialists needed. Anybody out there have any suggestions?

[williecba]

I had an accident which resulted in my offside wheels going over a pedestrian refuge island at about 25mph. This not only destroyed 2 wheels and tyres but also did some damage to the suspension. This is easily fixed. However the impact seems to have caused the sub frame to turn slightly. Suspension experts who have looked at the vehicle state that in their opinion I need to find a company who are specialists at aligning Transporter sub frames if I want the job done well.
Does anybody out there have any ideas of someone who could do the job well?

 

[Paynewright]

If it is twisted then presumably should be replaced rather than adjust out the issue? Any mechanic should be able to swap one out then just get alignment done once all back together?

 

[williecba]

They said the sub frame wasn't damaged and that there is a certain amount of adjustment when it is bolted onto the van. They say that it has changed its position, swivelled relative to the body and that it should be possible to align it correctly to the van BUT most dealers would not be able to do this properly. Hence my request if anybody knows a specialist in doing this.

 

[TrevorK]

I had something similar. I bought a year old van from SMC, which seemed to be crabbing, and they agreed to pay for 4 wheel tracking at Kwikfit. KF could not adjust the OSR trailing arm to tolerance. I went back to my local dealer who said they said it looked fine and no evidence of unusual wear. Last autumn I had an MOT tyrewear advisory, and my local Autobarn needed to change complete OSR trailing arm and NSR elliptical bolts and bushes. Tracked true (thank heavens) and the £1650 bill was coveted under an extended warranty. It feels like you could run up a big bill, so you might need to put in an insurance claim.

 

[Paynewright]

Centre Gravity in Atherstone might be worth a call.

I wonder if it would be prudent to pay them for an initial assessment then go from there? Or get under with a tape measure and check some diagonal measurements from symetrical reference points?? Even things like measuring distance between wheel centres can show differences.

I think you need to know whether the subframe is deformed or whether it has just moved on its fixings.

 

[williecba]

The guys at CRS who fitted my lowered suspension reckoned that the centre of the right front wheel has moved back 4-5 cms whereas the left one is still central. To them it seems that the right side of the sub frame has turned slightly to the rear. I will have a new lower wishbone and ball joint fitted at the end of next week and then we will know exactly how far it is out of true. Meanwhile it drives fine, self centres and everything, it is just that the steering wheel is turned about 25 degrees to the right. Meanwhile it drives fine and I'm quite happy doing 70 down the motorway.

 

[Grim Reaper]

The way to tell if you have an out of alignment subframe is to look at the caster angles.
A well aligned subframe will give similar caster angles on both sides.
If it's rotated to the right or to the left instead of being straight, one angle will be greater than the other, the strut top mounting point being the top of the triangle, if one wheel is further forwards than the other the angle between strut top and steering joint will be larger for the further forward wheel.

 

[Paynewright]

The way to tell if you have an out of alignment subframe is to look at the caster angles.
A well aligned subframe will give similar caster angles on both sides.
If it's rotated to the right or to the left instead of being straight, one angle will be greater than the other, the strut top mounting point being the top of the triangle, if one wheel is further forwards than the other the angle between strut top and steering joint will be larger for the further forward wheel.
View attachment 165153View attachment 165154

Exacltly this.

I had to drop the front subframe on my 996 Porsche and Centre Gravity had to slacken it off and tweak it to equalise the castor angles.

I would be under the van and measuring the subframe for symmetry - even if you can measure the distance between the ends of the tubes and compare to a known good one that would be a start.

 

[BognorMotors]

We can do this - if you want to travel. Just need to get it on a Hunter Elite and adjust from there. Any credible suspension expert will have this equipment or similar and will be able to sort, so if there is someone near to you get it booked in. Look on alignmycar.co.Uk, this has a full list of garages with this equipment.

 

[williecba]

Thanks BMVS, that is the information I needed. I am in the South East so I'll call you on Monday morning and try and arrange a trip to the seaside.

 

[Daveoliver51]

I had an accident which resulted in my offside wheels going over a pedestrian refuge island at about 25mph. This not only destroyed 2 wheels and tyres but also did some damage to the suspension. This is easily fixed. However the impact seems to have caused the sub frame to turn slightly. Suspension experts who have looked at the vehicle state that in their opinion I need to find a company who are specialists at aligning Transporter sub frames if I want the job done well.
Does anybody out there have any ideas of someone who could do the job well?

Did your steering wheel fail to return to centre after turning a corner? I have also hit an island and am having the same problem.

 

[williecba]

No the steering wheel continued to self centre but when it centred it was turned about 20-25 degrees to the right. There was no pulling to the left or right. It seemed that both the front wheels were still pointing in the same direction which I was very worried they would not. The van did not seem to crab up the road but I suppose it must have done a bit. Realising that something on the suspension was going to be broken and need replacing I decided to bite the bullet and have the suspension lowered, partially because I wanted a softer ride because mine is a T32 kombi which 95% of the time only has me and about 40Kg of cargo in it, but also because I wanted it dropped 4-5 cms so that I could fit roof rails and cross bars and still be low enough to get into the local multistorey. This meant a long drive up to CRS from South London but having done a couple of days to work and back I felt confident of being able to do a long journey. In fact as I shot up the A1M my speed gradually crept up to 70 and the beast felt fine. I probably did over 400 miles in the week before I took it down to Bognor's to get it fixed and had no problems at all. check my post

Thanks to the forum I am once again a happy bunny.​

 

[rolla]

I made some front subframe centering bolts, I used 4 old bolts (as they are stretch bolts) bored out some large (american truck) wheel nuts and dabbed some braze to hold in place, they were just enough in width to capture the upper mount, centralise each mount in play.
I pulled the stretch bolts up to spec(120ft/Lb (I think) + 180' turn, the rear mounts went solid after the applied spec, but the fronts felt soft still so I kept pulling on my mega bar to squeeze them,
so I felt the same applied torque ... yeah FT ... ..
I had scrubbed shavings inside my old mounts and the van tracked/pulled on our shit cambered roads, everyone said the subframes don't move ... yeah dream on.
If someone has moved the subframe on a tracking/alignment service, those stretch bolts, by nature should be changed, as your most likely to not gain the same torque setting for your subframe to body mounts, which in turn will allow the subframe to move under considrable load.

 

[rolla]

The slightly off-centred mount picture, is the rear mounts, they line up a few millimetres closer to each other opposed to the front mounts, which line up like a bulls-eye.
I have done 7000 plus miles, not had it tracked yet, drives pretty good, doesn't fall into cambers ....