Vacation plans tossed a snag...

[Jeff_H]

My weeks vacation at the farm got off to a bad start earlier today.



Had the truck loaded up with tools, etc. Had my 18ft trailer with the '84 Ranger on it headed back to the farm. 40mph area and as I was entering the intersection with a GREEN light, this old Taurus driver took a left turn in front of me. Maybe they thought I could stop? I had my foot in the brakes but with all this weight, it is not stopping too fast. I hit the car on the RF corner and it pivoted around my LF and went scrapping and sliding down the side before it all came to a stop. It was like a slow motion train wreck. There were no skid marks on the street so not sure what that says about my brakes. I guess ABS in the truck would prevent skids.

Got everything towed back home for $260 and called the insurance Co. No way I was having it taken to a lot with all my stuff in there, etc.

I think the front frame is tweaked as the gap between cab and box is not even and I can see the sway bar mounts have moved relative to the bar about a inch or so.

Not sure if I try rent a truck Monday or just take what I can in the car. I have a unfinished roofing project down there. Don't know if possible to rent a pickup for towing the trailer. I do have concerns about the hitch on the trailer. The receiver insert with ball got bent upward and I think the nose on the trailer maybe bent down a little bit.

Fortunately, I was not hurt other than my nerves are shot. The other party got taken away but I don't think they were seriously hurt. So far I could tell, their airbag didn't go and mine did not either.

[tsenecal]

Glad you weren't hurt. "Getting off to a bad start" is putting it pretty mild. You'll have to see how the trailer tracks, and check tire wear, when you get a vehicle to pull it with. If the frame is bent on the truck , it is most likely totaled, but the trailer may be fine. Good luck with everything.

[52-fan]

Sorry for your loss. I hope the other guy had good insurance. I am always concerned about people who drive around with no insurance and no license.

[t walgamuth]

The truck might drive ok with a little tweak if nothing structural is broken.

[Milaca]

Aside from all of the damage shown, that photo looks like an advertisement for the Ford Motor Company!
Sorry about your truck, I know it was in really nice clean condition. It would be very difficult to find one of that vintage in as nice of condition.
As for renting a pickup, Menards and U-Haul rent them but I have no experience with them.
I hope things work out okay, good luck.

[Jeff_H]

I probably will end up just putting as much stuff in the car as I can and head to the farm Tuesday or late Monday at earliest. I'm probably suffering from some post crash anxiety yet that I hope lets up. Still feeling all nervous/queasy. I should go out in the garage and work on my Studebaker (that is not running) to get my mind off all this.

That truck has just under 69k on it, seldom driven in the winter so its not rusted, etc. I hope the possible frame damage is repairable so even if they want to total it, I could get it repaired enough for use. As Milaca says, hard to impossible to replace with a like vehicle that I know all the repair history on and use. About 95% of used trucks around here are 4x4 crew cabs and not what I want/need.

[Jeff_H]

Update on this....

As feared/expected, insurance totaled the truck. The itemized estimate I asked for had about 1/2 of the costs to fix the side of the box where the other car scraped and made a shallow crease. Its not so bad a person could just live with that. The other 1/2 was front end damage. With the payout amount, I should be able to get all that fixed with some left over.

So, I decided to keep the truck and get the front fixed. Before committing to it though, I went looking for a frame shop. Body shop #1 thought the frame damage too much for their guy but I got a recommendation for another shop that could do it. A very old shop (in business since 1916!) Numerous requested photos were emailed so they knew what they were looking at. I'd gone ahead and dismantled all the mangled/broken stuff so the full extent was visible. As of right now, truck will go in on Sept 24. Hopefully I have it back on the road by end of Oct. I still would like to get stuff hauled down to the farm before snow.

If the truck was in the usual condition for its age in this area, it would not be worth fixing. There is not a spec of rust on this as its seen very little winter use. When taking things apart, every bolt came out w/o problems, including the ones that held the valance panel under the bumper that would typically be rusted solid and have to be cut/mangled apart. I should be able to reuse about 95% of them, others were damaged from the wreck.

I am working to acquire parts as my plan right now is reassemble the front after the frame is fixed. The hood and fenders are not damaged at all so no painting is needed. I am going to just let the box side damage be for now at least. Does not affect being able to use it.

I found out that shipping costs for large bulky parts like this is really $$$$. Local junkyards don't seem to have much available either oddly given how many of that body style truck were made. I got a new OEM bumper from the dealer parts counter as shipping a new aftermarket bumper was only slightly cheaper. Body man wants a bumper on hand when working on the frame.

So, one curiosity question if anyone would know:

I got a aftermarket header panel (the panel that is behind the grill, headlights attach to it). The OEM one was fiberglass and cracked/broken at the bottom in the wreck. This aftermarket part is made from possibly glass filled nylon or maybe ABS. Definitely not fiberglass. Is this anything to be concerned about? Warpage? This is not visible on the outside of the truck and is covered by the grill/headlights.

[Jeff_H]

Finally after ~9mo my truck is on the road again.

I had it at a frame shop a few weeks last October, worked on putting new parts on for a while in November but pretty much didn't touch it all winter until about a month ago. It was finally ready for the safety inspection last week so I could get the salvage title amended and registration updated as the tags had long expired. Got all that done yesterday. I had the inspection shop do an alignment and adj the headlights. Other than they had to install something called a "cam bolt" to correct the RF camber and adj the toe it was no problems. These trucks don't have factory adjustments for caster/camber so there is a aftermarket item for that.

I had to replace the bumper, bumper trim, frame brackets, valance, fog lights, header panel, and grill. Also the radiator that was bent (but not leaking). New receiver hitch in the back. Reused original headlights and markers. The only new bulb (other than the fog lights) I had to install so it would pass the inspection was the rear license plate had 1 side burned out. Put a new fan blade on too as there was chunks out of some of the blades, but I don't think that happened in the crash and no evidence it ever hit anything. The edges looked old and possibly teeth marks from critters??

Other than the big ugly crease/scratch on the box behind the cab, you would not know anything happened. Did no body work or painting on the hood/fenders.

Should be good for the summer road trip season.

[tsenecal]

Glad you got everything straightened out and back on the road!