[Wellsy]

Quick question for you all..

Ran into some problems on the highway last week, got involved in a 36 car pileup because of crappy weather/road conditions, and some moron who thought he was god because he drove a 4x4..

Anyways.. my tow rig got pretty fubarred... Trailer actually broke off and ran into the side of my 2002 Dodge 2500. (See pics). Frame is bent in the rear, but I'm hoping not too bad.. Insurance adjuster figures it is fixable...

My concern is how strong with the straigthened frame be?? I assume it will lose of its initial strength because of the bending and re-straigthening..

Should I be worried about it, or wait and see how bad the frame actually is???

Thanks All

Pics from the crash:

 

[Ben Holloway]

holy crap! man what happened to your toy???

Ben

 

[Wellsy]

Not 100% sure what all damage has been done to the Toy yet. Just got it home today, going to put the old tires back on and then get it towed into the body shop.

I'm concerned the frame on the toy may be bent. Figure if it hit the Dodge frame hard enough to bend it, that the toy frame could probably be tweaked too. The gap between the box and cab is way off, over 2 inches on one side and hitting on the other.

Damagae I have seen so far on it:

-Prozap bumper needs some serious straightening.
-Broken air cleaner box and accesories around it
-Broken turn signals
-Jacobs Ignition system may be toast
-Hood, fender, hood mounts
-Front springs (bent)
-Possible front spring hanger
-Electric fan toast
-Something is 'clunking' pretty bad when I turn it
-and I'm sure much more.

Dodge damage:

-Bent frame
-Toast Box
-Toast topper
-Toast rear axle. Broke brake caliper and tire right off axle..
-Broken front turn signal
-I'm sure more to come...

Ohh what fun...!!! Nothing like toasting both your vehicles at once..

 

[MOGXJ44]

Of course they think it's fixable. With a truck worth $20-30k like that they'll want to just throw $15k at it and return it back to you with a bunch of problems that won't surface for at least a year. Better to have them total it if you can.
A friend of mine got into a minor fender bender on the freeway in his '95 Mitsu 3000GT Spider. $25k car about two years ago. The damage to his car didn't look bad from the outside, but all around the structural parts of the rear there was misalignments that were causing the retractable hardtop to leak. Long story short, he had an excellent body shop (Leif's) that fought round and round with the insurance company for him. Wouldn't let it out of the shop until it was right. A year later and over $20k in body work trying to get it right, the insurance company finally just totalled the car.
Your situation is much harder to prove whether or not it gets done right. His just needed a hose over the roof to send it back to the bodyshop. Somehow you've got to show that the fixed frame/rear axle is inferior for towing/hauling than it was before. Good luck. Keep reminding your insurance company about all those insurance premium $$$ you paid them over the years. Unfortunately, they only see it as a one way street. I wish you well.
Travis

 

[7938]

Mileage (and the places you get estimates from) will determine the finnal outcome. I had a brand new truck in 91 that got hit hard on the side. It had 11,000 miles on it when it got hit. I got the 3 estimates for the claim and the one shop insisted that the bend frame be replaced because the truck was "basically new". That was the company I told them I wanted to go with and they paid for a new frame.



Sorry about your misfortune.

 

[Norm]

The frame will never be as strong as it was new once it is bent and straightend. The insurence company is looking out for themselves, not for you. Find a good shop willing to fight for you and tell them you are towing a 10K trailer with it.

 

[NastyNate]

Man, that sucks. Did the same thing flattowing my MJ last winter. MJ ended up upside down on top of the bed of my Dad's truck. Funny thing was, we drove them both home. Not so funny thing...the insurance company was going to drop me so I paid to fix Dad's truck and left the MJ as is. Towing in snow/ice sucks balls!!

 

[Wellsy]

Well they are still trying to figure out what to do with the Dodge..

Current estimates are around $17,000, and that is not including the broken rear axle. (Snapped the housing).

They are going to strip it down and see how bad the frame is and go from there..

At this point I'm hoping they find lotsa more wrong and just get me a new truck...!!

Later All

 

[GRMhick]

PM me with what the buy back price ends up being on the dodge.

Garrett