Wife wrecked my Ranger tonight (fixed pics) :(

[97RangerXLT]

She wasn't hurt and no one else was involved, which in itself is amazing since it was on 465 in rush hour traffic. basically the cars in front of her came to a sudden stop and when she realized it, it was too late and she panic stopped and slid right into the guard rail. hooked the trucks bumper right on top of it.

Prognosis:

After unhooking it from the guard rail, the truck drives fine, but the steering wheel is now canted at a 5 or 6 degree to the left while driving straight. it does not pull to any one side and drives fine. A/C even still works

The bumper is bent. not bad, but definitely bent and pushed in on the passenger side. valence panel is in the bed of the truck, basically in one piece but probably not worth trying to reattach. license plate frame is gone...but not needed as IN does not need a front plate. part of the core support on the passenger side is slightly tweaked. frame rails look fine. the bumper is up against the frame rail on the passenger side.

And now, before I show the pics and mayhem, a request for those that have a 93-97 4wd Ranger (stock) can you take a look at the pics of the steering linkage and tell me if the drag link or inner tie rods look bent more than they should be? maybe post up pics of yours for comparison..

The pic the wife sent me:

Core support is bent just a little bit, can barely tell.

Driver side frame rail:

Passenger side frame rail:

Passenger tie rod:

Driver side tie rod:

So what do you think on the steering? just take it to an alignment shop and hope for the best? replace the tie rods and drag link? The steering other than being off center seems to work fine, but I am probably going to wear teh tires out if it is off...

AJ

 

[Mark_88]

Glad the wife is OK...I'd have to go out tomorrow in the daylight to see if there was any difference in the linkage...my frame is now a 96 so it would be similar...getting down on the driveway to snap pics might be a bit of a challenge but something I can do...

I couldn't see most of the pics because it requires google login and I'm just too tired...sorry! Will look tomorrow...morning...

 

[Mike1919]

When someone hit ne in a parking lot going 10 mph. They hut me right in the passenger side front wheel and the steering wheel was off by probably 110 degrees. It drove just fine and even did 55 with no shaking. Turned out the steering gear box shaft actually bent throwing everything off.

 

[Haywire6000]

I cant even see anything other the the first image even logged in.... I will take a few photos of my 93 4x4 tomorrow and throw them up.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I see the first pic, no others.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Hmm..will have to look into how that is set up. The first pic was uploaded from my computer and the others were uploaded from my phone...

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[black_demon69]

I say its time to get a new wife especially since she wrecked your ranger


just kidding

you do need to get under there and do a through check of all front end parts including radius arm bushings and arms...

ho and glad wife is ok

 

[97RangerXLT]

ok re did the pictures... used flickr this time as picasa's uploader sucks. plus it looks like flickr is giving me 1 TB of storage

And now, for the $54 replacement that I scored at the pull a part on Saturday:

AJ

 

[The_Epsicle]

That doesn't look like a whole lot of damage to me, well beside the bumper that is. I can take some pictures of the underside of my 94 4x4 tomorrow if you'd like something to compare them to. I understand the gearbox is sensitive to jarring forces so if the Ranger hit near the pitman arm you might've had some damage to the gearbox itself causing the steering issues, but I'm not really knowledgeable enough to know.

 

[straycat]

Glad she is a-ok, Bro!!! Easy fix at least and not having to worry about paying out for hitting somebody in front of her...Whew!!!!!
One of my friends was following his wife home after he just bought a newer Sport Trac and she was driving his '06 Ranger when all of a sudden traffic was halted up ahead of them. She was driving in the far left lane on the interstate and she tried to avoid a truck in front of here and when she turned onto the shoulder of the road she hit a huge slightly buried large rock and the right front tire just lifted up in the air and she went right back into the traffic lane and smacked the left rear bumper and tail gate of the truck.
Minor damage but he payed the guy later about $400 for the damage. Could have been worse if they called the cops to report the accident. He was already taking off his front bumper to put on his new winch bumper so he did not mind the damage to the Ranger's front bumper.