manhole cover damage

[63 & 64 Bowties]

on a 55 Chevy car.
I got these pics from another forum. Always a danger for static drops lower than 4" on our trucks too. The lower control arm just gets too close to the ground.
The frame "rolled under" as the crossmember took the hit.
Seams ripped, metal tore, and the whole thing was pushed down and back. Ouch!

[lolife99]

Ouch is right!
I've damaged a lower a-arm, or two,... but that's crazy.

[71swb4x4]

That sucks. Got a link to the thread?

[SCOTI]

That's what happened to my old roomates cherry patina'd 65.

You couldn't open the doors because of the cab getting tweaked because the frame was tweaked. I could put my fist between the back of the cab & top bedside. You couldn't slip a manilla folder between the cab & lower portion of the bedside.

Totaled

[YBNORML]

Damn! He must have been flying. Or the cover must have been really high.
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[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by YBNORML

Damn! He must have been flying. Or the cover must have been really high.
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I did moderate to severe damage to the 74 in the construction zone by my house. Bent both lower a-arms & broke both exhaust manifolds..... @ about 3-5mph (I was creeping along & came to a very, very, abrupt stop). I couldn't imagine how hard a manhole cover could be @ 30mph.

[N2TRUX]

Thats just ugly right there.

[YBNORML]

I've hit a few in my s-10 ( used to be my year round DD) it just kinda bounced over them. However the s-10 x-member does have a turn up at the front. Maybe that helps.
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[SactoJim]

Waaaaaay OUCH!

[63 & 64 Bowties]

Originally Posted by 71swb4x4

That sucks. Got a link to the thread?

Not much more info on the thread except that it was repaired at Fatman Fabrications shop in Charlotte, NC
http://webrodder.com/phpBB3/viewtopi...5cb3cbfd353589

[firedog]

my biggest fear when driving low around town

[LostMy65]

I have to subscribe to this thread, and come back later and post my experience I had back when I was young and
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[LostMy65]

Okay, I'm back.

My incident happened in my old 73 corolla.
In new housing subdivisions they will often wait to put the last layer of asphalt on until after most the construction is done, so the new homes can have brand new and clean paved streets.
I was driving thru the project before that final coat was down, and so all the manholes and utility access covers were all sticking up about 1" above the pavement.
I was young, and so still a rather aggressive driver.
I was clipping along weaving around the manholes, when I began to hear a grinding noise as if something metal was under my car dragging.
Which I quickly figured out was my muffler dragging - not dragging along, but rather the part that came loose was a section that was actually being pushed.
And then all of a sudden the muffler dragging, or rather; being pushed along, caught a manhole. This threw my whole car's rearend into the air - seriously into the air - I was in a nose dive, and my engine was screaming.
The back of my car sweeped to one side as it dropped back to the ground. I jumped out, heart racing, wondering what the heck just happened.
The muffler pipe was shoved all the way thru the floor, thru the back seat, and thru the gas tank that sits behind the backseat in those 70 corollas.

Story over?

Not by a long shot.

I then realized that the pipe going all the way thru the gas tank was causing my gas to leak out all over the ground. Yes, I was pretty observant as a youngster
So my youthful insight kicked in and I figured I had better hurry and get home before I ran outta gas. Seriously, yes, seriously.
But that's not all....
As I raced to get home, I saw the gas gauge dropping fast, and figured if I was to make it home, I had better stop and get some more gas before I ran out.
Here in Oregon we're not allowed to pump our own gas. So I ripped in and said; 'give me ten, cash, regular.'
The attendant is pumping the gas and says; 'hey, you're leaking gas pretty bad.' I said; 'I KNOW! JUST HURRY UP!'
In case you're wondering; I made it home alive.
The End.

Looking back almost 30 years ago, I think; 'what an idiot I was' and how foolishly lucky I was that thing didn't blow me up in a big orange corolla ball of fire.

[nuclearmeltdown2046]

Ironic as it may seam Oregon City is still plagued to this day with manhole covers being to high. Hit one last week in my 94 1500 . Put a pretty good dent in my exhaust pipe. I even slowed down to like 10mph . Thank God it didn't get my lower a-arm.

................................, peace Brian

[BIG KRIS]

Is this where a dropmember or ifs crossmember would have come in handy?

[nachodog2]

When i lowered my 64, i was runnin the truck on a strret that was getting repaved and the manhole was stickin up since the old asphalt had been removed and it gave me a nice little scare when my crossmember snagged it. Scared the hell out of me, felt like i rearended an invisible car.
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[dubds10]

Happened to me to in my airbag'd S10. I was driving down the road about 1" off the pavement. I didn't realize how low I was. I was doing around 40mph and then all the sudden there a big BOOM sound and my tranny's starting to act weird. I look in my mirror and saw this mountain of pavement in the middle of the road. I guess the road settled improperly and this one 2' round section was sitting up in the middle of the lane. I went to the mechanic and they took my tranny apart. Blew the clutch housing into pieces. He said went the took the tranny down there were metal bits dropping out of it. $1200 later I learned my lesson to check my height a little better before driving off. I had no gauges for my bags so I never knew my PSI in them. I just had to 'know' my truck well enough to know a good height.

Similar thing happened to my uncles '68 Fire chicken. Going through a construction zone one night we're all in the car jus cruising along at maybe 20mph. Well they had skimmed the pavement so all manholes etc were up 2-3" higher than the road way. Well when construction companies do this they have to pave around the manholes and other sewer covers to make an angled pavement so it's not a flat metal side you see or 'hit' with your vehicle lol Well they didn't put in the angled pavement and we hit a cover. Smoked the tranny crossmember bending it backwards and jamming the driveshaft/tranny output. Construction company's insurance covered all repairs of course.

[63 & 64 Bowties]

Update.
Here's a complete write-up on the repairs.
Very interesting read....
http://webrodder.com/article.php?AID=582&SID=16