Very sad week since tuesday!!

greasemonkey6886 · Oct 29, 2011

Well the week started out good untill tuesday evening after work. Got off and was on the way to help a friend out with his car when an idiot pulled out in front of me from a stop sign. Locked my breaks down and tried to mis her but.... you guessed it KA-BLAM. :annoyed:

Good news is that no-one was hurt to include her two very young children that were in the car with her. Really good news considering I hit her in the drivers side rear door right where one of her kids was sitting in his car seat.
Now my beloved project Step-child sits in the driveway with a mangled front end just 20 days after getting her registered for the first time in four years of actually owning her. :bawling:

And the worst part of it

Yep that is a bent frame your looking at in the last two pics. Just the front 6 inches or so on both rails but it's still bent.
Now waiting on the insurance company to come look at it. Bad part is going to be keeping them from totalling it. I'm not getting rid of her or parting her out after all the work I've done to her. If they total her out then It will be a lot more work to put her back on the road because here in Ga. all the work has to be done by certified tech's and then state inspected in order to be "road-worthy" and able to get a tag again.
Any suggestions for the rebuild or dealing with the ins. company? Already know not to settle for anything less than replacement value and not "book" value.

Thanks
Paul

adsm08 · Oct 29, 2011

Frame swap. Find one that was rolled or the body rotted away and get the frame, but your shell on it, and go from there.

That will be the easiest way to fix that.

greasemonkey6886 · Oct 29, 2011

Thats what I was thinking too. Anyone know how hard the metal inner fender supports are to remove and replace? I know they are just spot welded to the cab but is it a royal PITA or not too bad? I know the core support is also welded to them but that works fine because mine is toast anyhow.

adsm08 · Oct 29, 2011

I'm pretty sure it involves a drill and a drill doctor.

I have not attempted this myself.

chrwilkins30 · Oct 29, 2011

core support is actually pretty easy. inner fenders I have no idea.

TwoWhels · Oct 30, 2011

Had to change mine.
Got spot weld drill bit/cutter
lot of drilling/ battery packs went dead at JY had to come back the next day with recharged battery's.
sheet metal screws holding it on now, done in 2004

greasemonkey6886 · Oct 30, 2011

That is pretty much what I thought. I will weld mine back on once I get it back together. Also thinking about boxing in the front portion of the new frame in the area in front of the sway bar mounts. It was designed by Ford to bend in case of a crash but it also causes you to replace frame.
Checked last night on the local u-pull jy website and a frame only cost's 109.99 but the hassle of stripping down to a frame at the jy may over-ride the cost. may wind up cheaper to buy a whole parts BII and go that route.

adsm08 · Oct 30, 2011

Never hurts to have more spare parts.

greasemonkey6886 · Oct 30, 2011

Very true!! I keep going with my parts collection I will eventually have enough to build a whole truck LOL!!

jhammel85 · Oct 30, 2011

Is there any way to have the frame pulled at a shop?

Otherwise I would also say to swap the body onto a better frame. Sorry for your luck man...It'll pay off!

greasemonkey6886 · Oct 30, 2011

It may be able to be pulled back. i had my wife check with a few shops she delivers parts to and they are saying that it would cost somewhere around $90 just to set up the frame machine then between $100 and $500 to straighten it depending on how bad it is. Of course to get an accurate price I am going to have to get to them.
I was looking at it yesterday and it looks as though it has been welded on the pass. side already at some point. It also has a small crack in the same area so it might be better to do a swap anyhow.

adsm08 · Oct 30, 2011

greasemonkey6886 said:
Very true!! I keep going with my parts collection I will eventually have enough to build a whole truck LOL!!

I used to say that when asked about why I kept parts that I took off my truck. I'd tell people "eventually I'll be able to build a whole extra truck, it just won't work."

No, if you think the frame has been repaired in the past, I wouldn't mess with trying to straighten it. Do the body swap. Then if you really want, hang onto the old rolling chassis and build yourself a replacement section for the front out of box-channel and repair it that way.

CraigK · Oct 31, 2011

Guaranteed write-off.

That's the problem with restoring these things. I was offered $800 "book value" for my '87 BII with 123,000 miles. Your best scenario is to fight them over the value (use receipts for all your parts/work and values from AutoTrader etc. - the longer you go without accepting an offer, the higher they will go), then when you do settle (it WILL be a write-off), buy the vehicle from them with the salvage title. I ended up with $1700 plus my BII, which I fixed up and still drive (with some crumpled bodywork).

CraigK

unoleisu · Oct 31, 2011

Reminds me of my first car...an AMC Spirit. I was a college student and driveing to school one morning after an ice storm. went sideways and ended up sliding down a ditch, and dropping into a creek. The front end was smashed like yours, and the passenger side twisted upwards. I had to pull the fender and bash it out with a framing hammer so the wheels could turn. Car tried to spinout on wet surfaces.
Headlight was baling wired inplace. (I had just financed it 2 weeks earlier, and needed it to get to school).
Got pulled over by every cop in town many times. (used to run up alleys and down side streets to avoid them) One day, the Chief of Police pulled me over. Didn't want to hear my "poor college student" story any more. (I was notorios, apparently), and told me he was issuing an order that if I was caught driving it anymore, I was to be arrested and car impounded. (no sense of humor)
I think it's fine. Has some personality. drive it!!

greasemonkey6886 · Nov 4, 2011

Well wound up setteling with insurance company for $2656.72 plus 7% sales tax. yes they done a total loss but I am keeping the BII without buying it back. They wanted to give me $2100 at first but I fought with them back and forth for a couple days disputng there comparibles and them disputing mine that I gathered.
Now comes the job of getting her put back together. Good news is that now I will have the money to do some of the things I didn't originally have the money for. So I guess in a way this turned out to be a blessing.

Very sad week since tuesday!!

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