First thing I would do, is drop the spare tire and see if that takes
care of the binding steering.

On Jul 20, 2009, at 10:55 AM, Allan Streib wrote:

> Wife hit another car from behind in my '91 GL.  No injuries,
> thankfully.  The impact was largely just above the bumper on the
> driver's side.  It doesn't look TOO bad, but the steering is binding
> pretty badly.  I'm guessing the steering box up front was damaged,
> or there's some crushed sheet metal interfering with it.  Also the
> driver's door has been bumped a bit out of place though it will
> still open and close.  The door itself is undamaged; the damage
> appears to be confined to the front nose sheet metal.
>
> The van is a high-miler (over 200K) but no rust and in pretty good
> shape.  I've put in a new steering rack, ball joints, radius rod
> bushings, shifter linkage kits, fuel hoses, gas tank vents, and
> misc. other work over the past year.
>
> Wondering how much work it would be to cut off the front nose (or
> maybe just the left half of it) and replace it?  I have a welder and
> though I'm not very experienced at it am willing to give it a try.
>
> Is there likely to be any other structural distortion?  I know the
> front ends of these vans are pretty strong, so hoping it's repairable.
>
> I can post photos later today.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL