[Jeff M]

Awhile back I pulled my front end out to repair the front cross member. I noticed it had some nasty cracks and a wallowed out tie bolt hole. I welded up the cracks and bolt hole along with the drivers side crank bearing hole. I used carbide burrs and make sure all the repairs were near seamless inside the cross member channel. I drilled the new tie bolt hole, filed it square, etc.

Anyways, for the last couple of days I've had a really hard time installing the front end back under the car. I have my axle, spring, and wishbone assembled and I'm using a floor jack under the front axle to raise it up inside. It keeps binding on something, I'll get the bolt hole perfect and then it will magically be off by 1/8". I've tried jacking up the rear of the wishbone too, installing it first, etc. I realize you're supposed to install the spring first but I'm running out of ideas. Does the spring fit super tight into the cross member? I was thinking too maybe my floor jack is causing it to bind since they move as they are jacked up.

After further investigation I notice when looking down at the top of the cross member when facing the front of the car, you can see the two sections in the middle where it curves in and then it's flat where the spring touches inside. These seem to be bent in more than usual. I don't know if it became warped from the welding or what. It almost looks as if they were hit with a hammer? The attached picture shows the location I'm talking about. I've tried prying it out with a screw driver and it moves but it just seems really tight. I'm afraid of possibly cracking the cross member again after all the repair work I just finished.

Any ideas?