Took a hit tonight, and the custom bumper held up great!

[Shdwdrgn]

Coming home from work tonight, I was cruising down a long left-hand turn lane. I saw the regular lanes were backed up quite a ways from the light, and then everybody slammed on their brakes and two vehicles decided to dive into my lane. Right in front of me. I don't even know if I managed to hit the brakes before I hit her, but my bumper took the brunt of the impact, actually collapsed her front wheel before bouncing off and sliding across the front quarter-panel. The door also took a little hit up front, so it will probably have to be replaced as well, but it still looks square to the body, so nothing too serious. Also somehow took a chunk out of my front wheel, enough that I could see the inside edge of the tire hanging there, yet somehow it still held air.

One thing IS wrong though. After I put the spare on and was driving home, the steering was squirrelly as hell. Looking at it, the alignment is obviously out of whack, so the hit on the wheel must have knocked something. Nothing felt like it was still shifting so I carefully drove it home. Definite toe-in, plus the bottom of the wheel is sitting too far in, so a full inspection and alignment is in the works.

This girl had JUST bought the car and was driving it to her insurance agent... guess what that means? Fortunately MY insurance covers that, but I imagine they're going to try and jack me. So first thing in the morning I'll be calling my agent to let him know what's going on. Got the full police report, and she got the ticket for the accident plus lack of insurance. Tomorrow will be a lot of fun (he said sarcastically) but I took the day off to deal with whatever needs done.

Anyway, this is the first real test of the bumper I made, and as far as I can tell it didn't even dent. It was dark when I got home, will get better pictures in the morning, I think think the only chance for real damage will be if something underneath was bent.





Oh yeah, one other funny thing... As I bounced off the road I saw a marker sign coming up... yep I'm gonna hit it, nothing to be done about it... *blip* it's gone! The signpost hit the bumper, bent underneath, and the skid plate flattened it almost to the ground, so I don't think it even touched anything underneath the truck. There's an obvious scratch straight down the bumper and skid, but I'll try to look underneath tomorrow.

[Jrgunn5150]

Geez, are you ok?

[Shdwdrgn]

Yeah... bit of a jolt when we hit, but nobody was really hurt. And I'm starting to think that maybe it was my rim colliding with her rim that caused most of the impact and obvious damage.

[Jrgunn5150]

Well that's a positive.

We bought an FJ Cruiser today, and adding to insurance was as easy as calling the agent with the VIN. I've always heard that you are covered on your current policy for an "in transit" vehicle, but I haven't tested that theory lol.

[navigator]

I always just call the agent with the VIN as well. And pick up temporary ins cards on the way to pick up the vehicle.

[DirtyBacon04]

As long as you've got uninsured motorist coverage, you're fine. Your insurance company will likely pursue the other driver in court. Nothing for you to be worried about.

[Shdwdrgn]

Yep, it's covered. Talked to my agent this morning, he's handling the paperwork,and OK'ed me to go get the alignment fixed so I could drive it for now. Alignment found no bent or damaged parts (amazingly!), it just slid the bottom frame over quit a bit. Picked up a replacement rim from a junkyard for $70 including tax and a new hubcap, going to get the tire swapped after lunch.

Trying to get the fender pulled back from the door, not having much luck. Might have to use a come-along to pull the whole thing forward. I'll get more pics posted this evening, but overall it seems like the damage is pretty minimal, considering...

[Shdwdrgn]

I got the alignment done with no problems this morning, however when I tried to turn around in the street I discovered the wheel would only turn half as far to the left. After I picked up the replacement wheel from the salvage yard I took everything back to the shop. They checked it over and were able to get it to turn all the way, but there's a real sticky spot turning to the left. After double-checking everything, they believe something is screwed up in the steering rack, so I'm getting a new one installed now.

In the meantime, daylight pics... You can actually see that the tire is tipped inwards at the bottom here. It was also pushed back far enough to rub the wheel-well when turning. The bottom A-frame got shifted quite a bit, and after alignment all of that is fine.





And the damage to the wheel...



Yeah I have no idea how this was still holding air.

[Jrgunn5150]

Damn, that's a good sized chunk

[Shdwdrgn]

Damn, that's a good sized chunk

It'll buff right out!!!

[Shdwdrgn]

Oh yeah, one more... the "damage" taken from mowing over the road sign...



I wish all of the damage had looked like this.

[Rickalicka18]

Your rim looks like one my rims (except worse) when I slid into a curb trying to drift hahaha.... Which later popped my tire, so I got a new one... And I also have the same kind of dent on my fender except not as bad... I dragged my bikes handlebars on the fender while putting my tb in the garage... Lol. Glad you're okay though! That steel bumper looks wicked sturdy too, nice work!

[Shdwdrgn]

Yeah the bumper is 3/16" all the way through, got some good advice from folks here while I was building it. The cross-piece is similarly heavy as I wanted the option of adding a winch later on. I got a good idea from the guy at the salvage yard today, using something like brake cable to run the hidden release pin for the hitch from a remote location. That would eliminate the need of having the release come out the side of the bumper, in-line with the pin and I could put it some place out of the way (he suggested under the hood for security against theft of the hitch). I may have to investigate this...

Anyway, just got a call back from the shop. They just finished installed the new steering rack, said its a bit stiffer than the original, probably because it needs time to break in. They're closing up now, but will do a new alignment first thing in the morning and give me a call. Now I just have to figure out a way to pull the fender back forward to clear the door.

[Shdwdrgn]

Got the truck back this morning, and the steering definitely feels a lot better now... however there's still a slight hitch at the very end when turning left. Basically when stopped in the street, if I rotate the wheel all the way to the left, it hits a spot that 'feels' like the end of the turning radius, but if I roll slightly forward or backward, the wheel gives and turns another 1/4 turn. It does not do this when turning to the right (and I still need to experiment with what happens in 4WD).

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Any thoughts on what I might look for? Remember that I was hit on the right side. Tomorrow I'm going to put the front end up on jackstands and remove the tires to try and get a better look at what is going on, but any suggestions would be helpful in figuring out what I'm looking for.

[Shdwdrgn]

Got the wheels off and jacked up the front this morning, it took a bit but I finally figured it out. When you turn the wheels all the way to the left, the steering hits a limiter on the passenger side. That limiter sits at a 45-degree angle, and I could see the scrapes showing it was slipping some. After a bit of playing around, I found that the lower ball joint has about 1/4" of play in it, and I just replaced the lower control arms last Fall so they're only got about 6000 miles on them. The amount of slack looks exactly like they old ones did when I replaced them. So what's happening with the steering it that the ball joint is dropped down slightly, and the steering hits the limiter, but when I roll backwards slightly the ball joint shifts all the way up, and lets the limiter slide up the angle, giving me another 1/4 turn of the wheel.

I have to get back to work tomorrow to catch up on some things, but will call the shop back, tell them what I'm seeing, and have them order in a new ball joint, then bring it by Tuesday morning (hopefully) to replace. And of course this will probably require a THIRD alignment.

Everything else seems to be fine now though. The new steering rack is even smoother than the original, and the alignment is perfect so it coasts nice and straight down the highway. I haven't heard any chirping from the wheel bearing yet, but I'm listening for it. And I got the fender pried out of the door so I can open the door smoothly again until we get the body work done. Hopefully almost done with the steering issues, and once I'm happy with that the body work should be a piece of cake for them to finish up.

[Jrgunn5150]

I'm glad you're getting it back together, and fast too!

[Shdwdrgn]

It's easy to get it done quick when you're spending someone else's money. The thing is, if I'd waited around for the insurance to do the repairs, they would have stopped with the first alignment and claimed everything was perfectly fine. Luckily since I normally do my own repairs, I have a little bit of an idea of where to look and how to feel for problems. And of course, like most people, I can tell you when it still doesn't feel right.

[Jrgunn5150]

My insurance company just totals everything lol.

[Shdwdrgn]

Got the new ball joint installed and a third alignment... and it's still wanting to drift to the left, plus I can't rotate the wheels all the way to the left (noticeable when trying to make a U-turn on my street). They say everything is within spec, but I think I might have a theory. Since the impact was on the wheel itself, it makes me wonder if the vertical piece which holds the wheel axle (the part that connects between the upper and lower ball joints) was actually twisted backwards? If so, that would explain why the wheel can't turn all the way to the left, and I'm guessing it might explain why I'm still drifting left and why it feels 'stiff' trying to correct back to the right.

-- Checking pictures, I think the part I'm looking at is called the knuckle or spindle? Considering what it does, it looks like a pretty lightweight piece, so the idea of it being bent is certainly possible... but would that really cause my symptoms or should I be looking at something else?

[bartonmd]

FWIW, on the OP, about the chick driving with newly purchased vehicle to her insurance agent... If she already has insurance with them, they probably cover newly purchased vehicles. Mine covers anything that I buy, for up to like a week, without telling them about it.

Mike