HELP!! Front end accident Help!!

To make a long story short (I HIT A WALL @ 50MPH IN MY 1995 EXPLORER XLT).
Now I don't know too much about bodywork on trucks, but I work w/motorcycles all day and plan on doing the work myself due to $$$ constaints?

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I have good access to tools and a friend of mine works @ Holman Ford. I also found a place in the area that sells new aftermarket body-parts for cheap.

What I want to do is:

1. Put on a painted grill to match body color like the X-sports and get rid of the chrome one (I think the unpainted grill is cheaper to)

2. Put on a painted bumper also like the sports (can this be done or is it a bumper cover) elliminate chrome bumper.

Just like this one?
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Can someone please look at the pics and let me know what i'm going to need to fix my front end? So far this is what I THINK I need:

Left Fender $67.75 NEW unpainted
Bumper $77.50 NEW
Bumper cover????? $48.75
Hood $83.50 NEW unpainted
Grill Chrome $26.75
Grill Extensions $9.95 each NEW
Valance $14.95 NEW
Headlamp $45.75 NEW
Park/Side Marker $23.95
Do I need a (Header panel, grill panel opening)????
Do I need a (Radiator Support Assembly)?????

Also I noticed the piece that is fiberglass and is in back of what supports the grill, headlamp...ect is broken what is that piece???

My hood is also pushed to the side about 1/2inch, do you think that I can just put new mounting brackets on?

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Detailed help would be great!!!!

 

[jssong]

ur probably gonna need a new header panel assembly.. thats the piece that holds the headlights in place, looks pretty bad.. how did u hit a wall going 50.. and if u hit a wall going 50.. that isnt too much damage.. not sure about anything else.. u might be able to salvage the hood, and maybe just bend the mounting brackets back into place, but dont know how bad it really is.. good luck

 

[DocVijay]

What about the internals. Make sure all the mechanical bits inside are fine. If you hit it at 50 mph, there would probably be some serious damage. I think you may not have been going as fast as you think, because the damage looks very minor (fender, hood, grill, light, bumper). If it really was 50 mph, check all the steering, suspension, and even frame. I've seen cars hit something at 30 mph that are totalled.

One thing you could do is take it to Ford and ask for an estimate. Should be free to get one. Make sure they write down what is damaged and then go fix it yourself.

 

[espnfreak]

50 mph no way...that thing woulda been bashed in much more than that...

 

[loeyboy]

I was on the way to a motorcycle race in PA and I had my trailer on the back and a dump truck pushed me into the wall and I caught the corner of it before I did a 180 and jack-knifed my truck and trailer. I was doing about 55mph in the left lane! My trailer and my race bike got pretty F*$^&* up to.

Sorry for the double post!

 

[DocVijay]

Oh, so you didn't really hit the wall, more like you grazed the wall. That makes more sense. Like I said, I've seen accidents that happena t half the speed where the car is completely undrivable.

 

[loeyboy]

Everthing happened so fast! All I remember was stairing at the wall while I was getting tossed into the passenger seat and then getting up to see the back-end of my trailer lined up with the front of my truck and a 16 wheeler headed right for me!!!

Anyway....the truck runs/drives (alignment is a little off) has no leaks, the light bulbs were still attached to the wiring harness and worked but, blew-out when it rained. So I know they still work, I just don't know how easy it is going to be to put it back together?

I see guys on this site all the time changing their front ends. Can I install a X-Sport front end to my 95 XLT and eliminate the chrome grill and bumper?

Thanks for the responses so far!

Anyone think of anything else that I'm going to need?

 

[DocVijay]

The grille should be the same, just painted body color. The front half of the Explorers is pretty much the same as far as I know.

The only thing is to carefully look at the driver's side suspension to make sure nothing got bent out of shape. May be hard to tell.

Like I said, take it in for a free estimate and ask them to list what's broken. Tell them you are going to shop around and want a list to compare to see if everyone says the same things need to be replaced.

 

[Doug]

That doesnt look to bad. Id Pull off the fender and grill etc and see what sort of damage there is on the other side. from the pics it looks like you should just be able bolt up the new parts with relatively little persuasion. Its nice to see yet another member from the Garbage State.

 

[MONMIX]

Left bumper brackets ( there sould be two per side )
header pannel
Your rad support should be fine ,
you'll likely need to realign your hood , take the latch out to do this.
Make sure you have all your clips and retainers.
Looks like your fender liner might be a bit funkey , make sure your fender did not hit door.

That doesn't look like too bad of a hit.
I have worked in collision repair for ten years , lemmie know if you need any help.

 

[nc_snoskier]

sorry to hear about your accident.

ive got a question....if the dump truck pushed you into the wall, then would they (or their insurance company) not be responsible for the repair? i dont know, maybe i just read the post differently.

good luck with the repair.

 

[fordkrazy]

looks like every one has hit all the points....i would just like to add that for 83 bucks it will be worth it to replace the hood....it probably bent the structure metal of the hood too....you wont get those bends to come out right with out a LOT of bondo...and even then it prolly wont look right (especially with a new fender)
dont forget to look at the tie rods especially....is it 4x4?....if so look at the cv's and the shafts(on my 94 the hub started buzzin on the wheel that was hit by a ricer a year ago)....you really have to look....and its hard to tell on the hidden damage...
a good way to see if any thing is funny is to measure the distance tread to tread from the front to rear tires and if your off by more than 1/4" (gotta have the tires straight) then you prolly got some hidden damage somewhere.

and im with nc_snoskier....shouldnt the dump trucks insureance pay for everything?......