ilh
Active Member
- Joined
- February 11, 2008
- Messages
- 60
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- richmond, bc
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '02 ST
okay guys. forgive me here but i have made a dumb mistake.
i was driving my buddy justin's '91 around triangle beach (its the local mudhole) and unfourtunately because of my stupidity i met a steel fencepost at 40-50 km/h (that's 25-30mph for you americans). basically the little dirt road pulls right to dodge a thorn bush, a big rut, and then left to avoid the fence. i was going too fast and the front-end didnt touch down fast enough to correct before i hit the fencepost.
SMACK! I hit the thing so damn hard the column popped into reverse and the truck stalled. dead-stop. restart the truck, work it out of the little rut, and we're good to go. sort of.
my passenger, brad: "oh ****, dude..."
thankfully, besides a couple scrapes, sore knuckles, and brad hitting his head on the roof once because he wasnt wearing a seatbelt (idiot), nobody was hurt. however, the truck is a bit different.
obviously i felt terrible because the one time i ragged on a buddys truck a bit, it came back and bit me in the ass. i felt terrible so i made sure i fixed the truck for him. monday i went and surveyed the damage.
i've damaged the quarter-panel, broken the headlight trim and plastic underneath, and a bit of trim and the bumper needs a bit of coaxing. that's fine, i can do that. headlight assy today cost me $75, off a ranger. no wreckers in richmond have friggin' 91-94 explorers though! what the hell!?
body work is fine and dandy. i've done countless hours of it on my '69 C10. but this is where my expertise ends. the steering wheel now has to be half-turn to the left for the truck to pull straight. it appears the passenger front wheel has gained a bit of camber and a significant amount of toe-out.
attached is a picture of it today as we were tearing it apart to get the quarter off. the truck is lock-to-lock to the left (driver's side.) as you can tell, the wheels arent pointing in the same place.
where should i look for damage? will components be bent or can an alignment shop simply correct this? i suspected i might need a tie rod, but i cant be certain. i know i have to shell out for him to get it aligned when its back on the road, but i want to know if i should replace anything else before it gets sent in.
any help is much appreciated!
-ian
i was driving my buddy justin's '91 around triangle beach (its the local mudhole) and unfourtunately because of my stupidity i met a steel fencepost at 40-50 km/h (that's 25-30mph for you americans). basically the little dirt road pulls right to dodge a thorn bush, a big rut, and then left to avoid the fence. i was going too fast and the front-end didnt touch down fast enough to correct before i hit the fencepost.
SMACK! I hit the thing so damn hard the column popped into reverse and the truck stalled. dead-stop. restart the truck, work it out of the little rut, and we're good to go. sort of.
my passenger, brad: "oh ****, dude..."
thankfully, besides a couple scrapes, sore knuckles, and brad hitting his head on the roof once because he wasnt wearing a seatbelt (idiot), nobody was hurt. however, the truck is a bit different.
obviously i felt terrible because the one time i ragged on a buddys truck a bit, it came back and bit me in the ass. i felt terrible so i made sure i fixed the truck for him. monday i went and surveyed the damage.
i've damaged the quarter-panel, broken the headlight trim and plastic underneath, and a bit of trim and the bumper needs a bit of coaxing. that's fine, i can do that. headlight assy today cost me $75, off a ranger. no wreckers in richmond have friggin' 91-94 explorers though! what the hell!?
body work is fine and dandy. i've done countless hours of it on my '69 C10. but this is where my expertise ends. the steering wheel now has to be half-turn to the left for the truck to pull straight. it appears the passenger front wheel has gained a bit of camber and a significant amount of toe-out.
attached is a picture of it today as we were tearing it apart to get the quarter off. the truck is lock-to-lock to the left (driver's side.) as you can tell, the wheels arent pointing in the same place.
where should i look for damage? will components be bent or can an alignment shop simply correct this? i suspected i might need a tie rod, but i cant be certain. i know i have to shell out for him to get it aligned when its back on the road, but i want to know if i should replace anything else before it gets sent in.
any help is much appreciated!
-ian
