One of the best things about 1st gens...

[Curious Hound]

Can i straigten the core support if it is indeed bent? Maybe a comealong on a tree?

Sure! It's just sheet metal. I straightened the one on my ex-wife's Honda Accord with just pry-bars and rope.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Reconstruction surgery complete. Mostly.

Come spring im gonna pull the fender and try to straigten that

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks a lot better... but I would have waited until after the rut.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Looks a lot better... but I would have waited until after the rut.

I didnt wanna cream another one and have the radiator be the first line of defense.

 

[Rick W]

I’m coming to this chat late, but two comments on hitting deer and first GEN repairs.

A lifetime ago, I had a 1981 Lincoln town car that I actually bought new. Fast-forward when it had 130,000 miles on it, I was riding in South Georgia and I had a buck with a pretty good size rack run off the side of the road. I didn’t hit him, he hit me. He crashed into the car right about where the door gap is to the front fender. His horns caused a crease down the side of the car about 6 feet long, but very mild, and it was about an inch below the bend at the top of the door. It was perfectly straight and in line with that crease. I had to fiddle with it to get that horn wax, resin stuff off the paint, but I never fixed the dent. There was no scratch, and it was so straight, I don’t think anybody ever noticed that it was there

And as regards repairing first gens compared to everything after that, that has more computer stuff and all. What I love about it is the same thing I loved about my 56 Dodge truck. If it does break down, which is rare, you can hunt around on the side of the road and fix it with what you find and a pair of pliers or screwdriver

 

[Shran]

I hit a deer on the interstate a few years ago with my 2010 Silverado and it just broke the grill, driver's side headlight and tweaked the fender just a tiny bit. I was probably going 70mph when I hit it too. Very small amount of damage done.

I know people who have hit a bunch of deer and I've only got just the one. Raccoons though, I guess those are my animal to hit, I've got a bunch of those.

 

[superj]

i have had two squirrels commit suicide by running along next to me and then cutting in front of the wheel when i couldn't see them anymore.

i always feel bad for them when they do that. i have never hit anything else, luckily. living in the city is good for that.

 

[Rick W]

An afterthought, a couple years ago I was driving on a country road at dusk going about 55 and an owl swooped down from a tree and hit right square in the middle of the front bumper of my F250. The owl hit almost dead center on the bumper just below the grill. It did not do any damage to the truck, but it looked like I hit a blood bank. There was blood all over the front of the truck. And feathers.

When my kids were learning how to drive, I had to pound in their heads that if they were driving at speed and something jumped out in front of him, even a puppy or a cute bunny rabbit, hold on tight, but don’t slam on the brakes and yank the wheel in a panic. Of course, no antilock brakes back then…

 

[bobbywalter]

i hit deer sometimes daily.

my wife could not believe how stupid the bucks are in pennsylvania....

i hit a giant bastard near miami in oklahoma sat....came right over the wall ...plowed it down and spun it up into the poor bastard next to me which destroyed his nice ol ford....

i try not to hit em hard....usually just tag em. but when they fly over the wall or off of a bank....just hope to not get killed.

 

[bobbywalter]

for sure the ford bumper was much stronger then this pos dodge.

i only had to yank it out a lil twice and it was hard to tell it was bent in to begin with.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Ive hit many animals...not by choice obviously....but running around in early morning hours in rural areas like i often do the most common victims are possums and coons.

The weirdest one i ever hit was a pheasant. I hit with my old 83 F150. It actually got stuck, still alive, in the mirror mount. I had s random piece of a 2x4 in the bed, i got out and shoved it out with the wood and it took off lol.

I did cream a deer once with my 78 F350. It had a big ass, old school tow truck style bumper on it. The carnage even at 40mph was unreal....and not to the truck. All it did to that was crack the marker lens. The deer looked like it went through a meat grinder.

I hit chickens twice....once with my colorado (busted grill), once with the semi, loaded, at 60mph. It literally vaporized the chicken.

I did see a guy once smoke a deer with a big ol 379 pete out on 94 in wisconsin one night. He had to be doing 70-75 when he hit it. He had one of those big ass moose catchers on it. He smoked it, deer basically vaporized, he never even slowed down. Blood and guts everywhere.

Im just glad my old ranger survived this one lol

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Dad hit three turkeys once on the the way to a tractor pull with a gooseneck in tow in his 80 F-350.

One hit the bumper and seemingly exploded midair, one went under the truck and met its fate with the five axles.

Third flew over the cab and bought the trailer hitch.

Only damage was possibly a slight dent to the grille trim but we couldn't swear it was like that before.

People that got there after us were commenting on the massive turkey massacre all over the highway.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

D-28 that was in my Choptop took out a chicken once. I was hauling down a back road as it was getting dark and a bunch of chickens crossed the road, then one turned back and there was nothing I could do except square it up and hope it would duck. It didn’t, there was a startled squawk and then an explosion of feathers. I didn’t stop until I got where I was going and there was blood and feathers stuck to the TTB.

I had ducks crossing the road one morning and one didn’t get moving fast enough and I was running late so I wasn’t moving slow enough in the green Ranger before it got lowered. I thought for sure it was going to be a repeat of the chicken, but nope, apparently ducks are smarter than chickens. This one literally ducked. When I looked in my mirror it stood up, stretched and beat it’s wings like “look what I did!”

 

[Shran]

I hit what I think was a duck in my old Astro van, it flew right into my windshield at 70mph. It did no damage but I had a big greasy mess on the glass... no blood, it just looked like someone smeared fat all over it. Gross.