C10 slides offroad at 50+MPH after near collision...

[weq92f]

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I'm driving along in my classic at 60 on two lane blacktop just miles from home. A white SUV coming toward me on same road turns across my lane at an intersection fairly far still in front so I let off the gas slightly as it makes a U-turn on the side of the road there as if it's going to follow me after I pass... but too late I realize the thing is not stopping and I have very few options. The SUV came right back into my lane and was impossibly close as I jerked the wheel left to avoid the T-bone of Orange into White that was about to happen. Somehow I missed the SUV but I was sideways on the road headed off road and there was a nasty little dip in the turf that was just going to have to get driven right over. I really thought the truck was going to flip or break or something but no....it just took the hit and I slid sideways to a stop in an empty field.

I missed the road sign and the little sign stuck into the turf by just enough but you can see where the front end of my truck took out a large swath of dirt, mud and sod after it went down into the depression and hit the rising berm on the other side.

We got it on the lift today to assess damage that we didn't already know about. There are no smoking guns, no broken bits or obviously bent suspension parts however the front bumper took a hard enough hit to bend it around the frame horns in two spots. It's obvious from the deposits of earth that the bumper, lower swing arms, engine cradle, sway bar and sway bar frame mounts all made contact with the ground. Note also that both front tires made contact with the top of the inner wheel well (see pic of passenger side) and the bump stops both hit their targets hard (passenger bump stop is damaged from the impact).

Most of the impact force got applied to the passenger front corner as it went down into the ditch first and bottomed out first. I don't know whether the front wheels were turned into the slide at impact or whether they were not but the passenger front wheel had rocks embedded between the wheel and the sealing bead surface of the tire. That tire was not repairable.

What I'm left with is a massive negative camber passenger front now. When I grab the passenger wheel at 12 and 6 O'clock and jerk it in that plane, I find there's a bit of slop in there. That slop is in the bearing rather that the ball joint or a-arm bushing.

Where could this negative camber have come from given all the above. I need to find a way to document what problems were introduced by this little forced off-road adventure. There's going to be insurance agents and repair shops involved I'm sure at least in the initial phases of diagnosis and cost estimates and such.

I've not made contact with anyone yet regarding this as I'm not sure exactly how to approach damage assessment. What are your thoughts?

Options as I see them at this point:

1) drop it at an alignment shop and have them tell me if it is still within tolerable adjustment thresholds to make it right again.

2) find a shop willing to put it on an alignment table or frame table. I've spoken in past with frame folk and none of them were interested in working on anything this old

3) allow an adjuster to look at it

4) ??


Thanks guys/gals,

-Kevin

[weq92f]

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The lift pics...

Note how the passenger wheel/tire is hanging there looking very wrong all angled like that. It looks bad when the truck is on the ground too.

-Kevin

[weq92f]

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Passenger wheel well witness marks...

...and the rocks in the passenger side tire bead...

-Kevin

[Rich69shortfleet]

That sucks big time. I don't suppose the white SUV stopped to help or at least apologize....

[1970cstblazer]

Minimally, there is something bent in the RH front suspension. Worst case, the frame is lightly tweaked. Obviously very repairable, but a PITA nonetheless.

[awryexperiment]

People suck. I'm sorry to hear about this but I guess it could have been far worse. Good luck, keep us informed.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by 1970cstblazer

Minimally, there is something bent in the RH front suspension. Worst case, the frame is lightly tweaked. Obviously very repairable, but a PITA nonetheless.

X2, something is definitely tweaked..Thank goodness it's not bent on the roof.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

X2, something is definitely tweaked..Thank goodness it's not bent on the roof.

Yessir. Damn shame it happened but it could easily been a lot worse. Glad you are OK and the truck is -- well, sorta OK.

[weq92f]

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The SUV driver recognized something bad happened and pulled over to assist me. I got all her details (DL, insurance and pics of her vehicle). Another person pulled over as well and it turns out this gal recognized my truck and knows me. She offered to assist later in court if necessary as a witness!

I'm looking for advice on where to take it to get the damage documented properly.

Scenario1:
Roll into Collisions -R- Us (made up Big Box body shop) and ask them to give estimate. 16 year old kid with clip board comes out and starts writing and mumbling. He finds some scratches and notes the bent up bumper then writes an estimate for paint correction, replacement bumper and a front end alignment.

Scenario2:
Roll into Rod's Custom Chassis and Suspension (again...made up) and ask them to give estimate. 60 year old gent walks up to the truck with clip board in hand and says geez that's not sitting right then proceeds to mount the truck to a frame table and shows me where the hard points on the frame are not where they should be and goes on to explain how to get them put back right again (or as close to right as possible).

I really want to end up closer to Scenario2 above.

How would you go about this if you were in my shoes?

Thanks,

-Kevin

[Steeveedee]

Doesn't need to be a custom shop, but a reputable body shop with frame straightening equipment would be my choice.

[samkost]

Most importantly, we are glad you are O.K.
Fortunate that you have witnesses and the SUV driver did the right thing.
Good luck in this ordeal and your proper quality repairs.
Orange is a lucky color.

[dagnabbitt]

Scenario 2 for sure. I'd get the frame looked at and basically replace all the front suspension parts, if it was my truck. You want to be made whole again, as they say.

[crazyjeenyus]

Shame that it happened to such a nice truck. If you were runnin west coast mirrors you might've clipped that sign!

I think getting two or three quotes (all from sources you trust) shows due diligence in coming up with accurate?? pricing.

Is now a good time to consider a QA1 front suspension upgrade?

Keep us posted on things, I'm excited to see this ride back on the road.

Cheers!

[weq92f]

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I certainly do appreciate the good vibes here...and Thank You. I'm happy to be still walking around myself... Indeed this could have been me recovering from a t-bone collision at 50+MPH...or dead given what I was driving.

The last time something like this happened...a no-fault-of-my-own collision or accident...I contacted my insurance, Hagerty at the time, and they took full control of everything. I had a check in my hand in no time and they went after the at-fault-driver's insurance company. My ride was put back to good and I was a happy camper. Unfortunately they started raising rates after that and within 4 or 5 years, priced me out of their client pool. I'm with Grundy now and wish to not repeat that performance and end up uninsurable on the classic market, hence my slow, careful approach this time and my seeking advice from you all.

I suppose if it comes down to replacing all the bolted on components in the front suspension just for peace of mind and to be thorough, a guy ~could~ add additional funds on top of the insurance claim and purchase upgraded components (ex. tubular arms, coil overs and kit) instead of stock! That is certainly not out of the question. If a guy could somehow snag a set of Wilwood bracketry, calipers, rotors and kit to go with my Wilwood Modular drop spindle set...well that would just be dandy!

I'll be on the phone starting tomorrow Tuesday to get some eyes on the hardware and try to get some answers on damage severity. I've ordered and should receive two new front tires tomorrow as well but will probably drive it around on the spare until it's time for the repairs as that corner is F'd up bad enough to eat tires.

Anybody in DFW area want to recommend a shop?

Thanks again fellas,

-Kevin

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by weq92f

.

The SUV driver recognized something bad happened and pulled over to assist me. I got all her details (DL, insurance and pics of her vehicle). Another person pulled over as well and it turns out this gal recognized my truck and knows me. She offered to assist later in court if necessary as a witness!

I'm looking for advice on where to take it to get the damage documented properly.

Scenario1:
Roll into Collisions -R- Us (made up Big Box body shop) and ask them to give estimate. 16 year old kid with clip board comes out and starts writing and mumbling. He finds some scratches and notes the bent up bumper then writes an estimate for paint correction, replacement bumper and a front end alignment.

Scenario2:
Roll into Rod's Custom Chassis and Suspension (again...made up) and ask them to give estimate. 60 year old gent walks up to the truck with clip board in hand and says geez that's not sitting right then proceeds to mount the truck to a frame table and shows me where the hard points on the frame are not where they should be and goes on to explain how to get them put back right again (or as close to right as possible).

I really want to end up closer to Scenario2 above.

How would you go about this if you were in my shoes?

Thanks,

-Kevin

I'm glad the other party stopped and you have their info. Nowadays people don't always care. I'm still happy you didn't roll and you're ok.

[weq92f]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I'm glad the other party stopped and you have their info. Nowadays people don't always care. I'm still happy you didn't roll and you're ok.

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Me too, me too. I remember worrying about the truck rolling over as I was sliding down into the ditch. It was a concern but so were so many other things and it all happened so fast. People talk about making split second decisions but really everything was a reaction. There was not time to make any decisions it was just don't hit the SUV, oh great nobody was coming in the other lane so I'm gonna slide right across that without issue, oh a ditch well just grit teeth and stiffen up a bit and just like that it's over and the dust is settling all around.

A friend of mine got hit with a quartering blow from behind at speed on the freeway. He described the subsequent roll over very much as I remember this whole accident. "It happened so fast and then it was over equally as fast." He remembered trying to lower his body down toward the seat once the rollover started.

Stay safe out there guys and continually confess your love to your loved ones as you typically don't get to choose your departure date.

-Kevin

[Steeveedee]

Do you have any cameras in your truck? My wife's econobox has a backup camera, and when she was working, a windshield camera. I have some, just been delinquent on putting them in my econobox and the truck. At least I'll possibly have a recording of my death...

[twoskies]

Glad to hear you walked out of the wreck
im with the others on option 2
just hope it works out that way
just a thought, would be alot of work, especially if their insurance would cover most if not all the cost
but a new frame built the way you want, suspension, disc brakes, etc

anyway it works, again glad you walked away

Good Luck on it

[MS66]

That blows! Glad your reactions were good and didn't over react. Also good that she turned around and came back giving her info. Nice truck BTW!
This does need to be checked on a frame machine to verify any tweaks in the rails, however slight it might be. I'd personally want to take the cradle out and verify everything is straight. Just re-installing it may put it all back in spec to take a good alignment.
I like your thoughts on upgrading while you're in there.
Good fortune on getting it put back in correct form!
That does suck about Hagerty, they seem shady to me and I've never had a claim on my policies. Seems they just like to raise the premiums for good measure.

[SCOTI]

Are you familiar w/the Garland/Sachse area NE of Dallas? If you're close to that area, there's a collision shop in Sachse that does repairs on modern stuff but is also familiar w/older vehicles/classics. It's a family-owned place that works w/most big insurance companies & understands the mechanical/structural items as well as cosmetic things.

I'd get the front-end alignment checked for sure as a minimum & the frame should be scrutinized just to be safe. It's easier than one thinks to tweak the front rails in a collision w/mother earth. It probably needs to be on a lift to inspect & measure the rails/x-members for square.

Any sheet metal damage during your off-road excursion?

[MikeB]

Apparently an orange trucks is easy to miss! Did you ask the driver what the heck she was thinking?

Yeah, I'd get a couple estimates from reputable shops with experience aligning older vehicles. The good ones can do a "pull" on frame rails. Sounds like the older guy at "Rod's" knew what he was looking at. Then go to your insurance agent and tell them which shop you want to use and why.

[SCOTI]

Did you get it home on a rollback (have you driven it since the accident)?

[weq92f]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Did you get it home on a rollback (have you driven it since the accident)?

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Wasn't far from home so I limped it back there. I drove it around quite a bit afterward and it seems fine other than the front wheels having negative camber and the thing eating tires.

I'll probably drive it to whatever shop is going to have a look at it.

Good news: I've contacted the other driver's insurance. It seems as though the policy is current...they took my claim information and churned out a Claim Number (Travelers Insurance)....so that ball is rolling.

-Kevin

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by weq92f

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Wasn't far from home so I limped it back there. I drove it around quite a bit afterward and it seems fine other than the front wheels having negative camber and the thing eating tires.

I'll probably drive it to whatever shop is going to have a look at it.

Good news: I've contacted the other driver's insurance. It seems as though the policy is current...they took my claim information and churned out a Claim Number (Travelers Insurance)....so that ball is rolling.

-Kevin

That's good. My '99 was involved in a curb/median impact last week. The other driver that was involved (signaling to turn right then turned left in front of me) simply drove off after I hit the median. Hopefully the carnage is minimal.

PM related.... 2x before & 1x after repair pics of my '90 from a few years ago......

[54blackhornet]

Truck can be fixed I’m just glad that you are safe.