94 Rear-ended by commercial flatbed

[Cedar]

Hi Guys and Gals,
I'm looking for some encouragement and advice after my 94 Ex got rear-ended by a Kenworth crane/flatbed carrying a load of pre-cast concrete. If you can personally recommend a body shop that can take an honest look at my frame in the Portland, OR or surrounding area please give me a heads up!

I was on my way to MHCC in Gresham and slowed down to stop for a bus with stop-sign out and red-flashers. Before I even came to a complete stop the truck was on me. He locked his brakes up and managed to pull right, impacting the passenger side rear. The guy admitted he didn't see the bus and I take that to mean he didn't see me either...

The insurance already totaled it but it just seems like such a waste if I don't go ahead and get an estimate on the frame and engine tuning to make it roadworthy. The trailer receiver took the brunt of the force creating a kink in the passenger rear frame, rear of the axel and just forward of the leaf-spring bracket. It was enough to flake the paint off. That's the part I'm most worried about.

No air-bags deployed but the inertial fuel-switch was triggered and the seat-back broke (only ratchets all the way reclined). With the fuel-switch reset, the engine turns over but does not idle right, there's extra hum and whir to it and just sounds off (friend says could just be muffler). The brakes were ridiculously sensitive once I got it powered up (I had to coast it down hill into the parking lot no power because of the fuel shutoff and maybe this is because of all the brake pumping?). The main questions I'm going to try and answer are whether I can get the frame trued so I'm not burning through tires and whether anything might have broken in the engine, from there brakes, and sheet-metal/bumper will be absolute last on my list since I'm sure I can find that at the salvage yard.

I grew up in this Ex, been in the family for 18 years, 256k miles. It never stranded me anywhere other than the fruit-stand a few miles from home and it's gotten better with age since I stopped taking it to the stealership.

If you've got any advice about how to choose a body shop, what to watch out for and wisdom of restoring a rear-ended ex/cars, I'm all ears. As for my mechanical abilities, the most involved I've gotten is having replaced the radius arm bushings and brackets last summer.

 

[wood1]

Yikes, at least he saw you and didn't hit you at full speed! No doubt you can get the parts you need cheap at a junk yard, hatch, bumper, seat etc. You are right in saying you need to get a qualified body man look at it. Must have hit pretty hard to bend the frame...

Oh, FYI U haul is considered the enemy...

Good luck!

 

[tweakedlogic]

Sorry to hear about that. Might be a good time to take the money and upgrade.

Speaking of uhaul, they will not rent a trailer to Explorers. Flat out refuse due to the Firestone debacle, even though that was the second gen and all those tires are long gone.

So why the hell to they sell trailer hitches? Morons.

 

[IAmTodd]

Glad to hear you're ok. I would agree to take the money and run. Or find a truck that needs a new engine/trans and swap yours over. You're looking at a couple thousand to fix it up and lets face it, the truck just isn't worth that.

If you got the air bags to pop, I would have to say WOW(seeing that we don't have air bags)!

 

[mr cribb]

Sorry to hear about that. Might be a good time to take the money and upgrade.

Speaking of uhaul, they will not rent a trailer to Explorers. Flat out refuse due to the Firestone debacle, even though that was the second gen and all those tires are long gone.

So why the hell to they sell trailer hitches? Morons.

+1 I don't get their logic either.

Sorry to hear about the X.

 

[IAmTodd]

+1 I don't get their logic either.

Considering it's a 94 the hitch could have been mounted well before the whole rollover began. Way back when you could rent from UHaul.

 

[mr cribb]

Considering it's a 94 the hitch could have been mounted well before the whole rollover began. Way back when you could rent from UHaul.

Dunno, but they still sell hitches for them to this day.

 

[safn1949]

The problem is you are going to get hammered on the insurance,the truck is worth about $900 to them. Make sure you don't have any whiplash or anything wrong before you sign off on their offer,anything that comes up after that and you are hosed.

 

[Cedar]

I didn't know about the u-haul issue. I'll keep that in mind.

After talking with nearby frame shop we both agreed it's worth more to the salvage yards than the insurance is going to give me so I'll keep it on that point alone. Went and started it up again and it's got some extra idle noises, vibrations really, that just sound bad, but not quite like it's going to come apart. Trying to sort out the insurance so I can get it to the shop and get an estimate on the important work.

Oh, and this version does have airbags (they didn't go off, figure I'd need to get those checked too). It was built on the 94/95 cusp so it's got a variety of 95 parts/systems which makes it confusing looking for parts at the salvage yards.

 

[wood1]

Maybe you could post pics of the frame damage. And the air bags, never hear of that...

 

[Cedar]

Can anyone explain if the brakes being super sensitive (totally out of character for the ex where you're pedal to the floor for normal braking) after the collision? I had to coast it downhill without power and pumped the brakes hard in order to stop. If there were something simple I could do in the lot it might be driveable.

 

[Pollarican]

Sounds like you might have ripped a rear brake line getting hit from the rear. Pop your hood and take a look at the master cylinder. There are two reservoirs, one for front and one for rear brakes. If you lost rear brakes one will be empty, and your pedal will behave like that.

 

[Cedar]

K, I'll check that out, that'd be a clear sign at least.


Here's the frame through the wheel well looking back:

Then from below looking over the muffler there:

 

[mr cribb]

It doesn't look too bad after taking that kind of hit.

 

[IAmTodd]

And the air bags, never hear of that...

For sure. Sounds interesting....

 

[VintageUpgrades]

Glad you are OK. Being the original owner of my 93, I would be heartbroken to have it totaled in a minor wreck. At the same time, I would like an F250.

Could you post a photo of your dash? I am curious as I have never seen a gen 2 dash in a gen 1 from Ford.

Mitch

 

[tweakedlogic]

Remember that you are not making a claim with your insurance. It's the other guy's fault, but his insurance will try and low ball to see what you'll take. If they say it's worth $900, you show them craigslist adds where the same truck is $2000 or more.

My wife had a new car with one payment left. (this was before we met) A lady ran a light a t-boned her totaling the car. The lady's insurance offered to pay off the car. Not knowing any better, my wife accepted. She should have gotten a new car out of the deal.

 

[IAmTodd]

new car with one payment left

:scratch:

 

[Cedar]

In case anyone wanders through this thread and reading about the rough idle noises or vibrations. The impact KOd a transmission mount and didn't help the engine mounts any, though they weren't deemed to need replacement.

 

[IAmTodd]

Did you get everything fixed? Or was that just a later finding?