We never made it to Grand Marias Friday.....I really don't even feel like telling you about it because it just flat out kills me what happened.

I'm in the middle of uploading pictures of it, and I'll post later about the details but the truck is in rough shape and the frame looks bent according to a Ford tech in Two Harbors MN. It's up there right now and should be on a tow truck this afternoon to come back to Stillwater and Scoonover's body shop (2.75 hour drive).

Just flat out sucks fellas....

Duke

 

"frame looks bent" Now this is never a good combination of words to hear...at least you and yours did come away in one piece, yes?

 

Yeah we walked away without a scratch, there isn't much body damage but the under carriage hit boulders that were between 3 feet by 3 feet to 4 feet by 4 feet.

We weren't even bruised and it didn't feel like we hit that hard, we were only going 30 mph.

I'll post the details of the accident in about an hour, I need a break.

Duke

 

Its good to hear that you are doing OK considering what it sounds like your truck went through.

 

Glad to hear that you made it out ok....hopefully the frame isnt bent and the truck makes it out ok too.

 

sounds like another brother with a built ford tuff story! the truck did its job for you and kept you safe! i thought i lost mine a few months ago but the frame was ok just all the body panels etc needing replaced. we are thankful you are ok!

 

Was it a slide-off due to snow?

We just finished our annual trip from Vancouver WA to Northern Utah and there were some rough, tense moments during those 1,500 miles.

 

That's what happens when a Texan tries to drive in snow!

Seriously, though, glad to hear no one got hurt and hope the truck can be put back together!

 

Glad you and everyone came out okay. Dont worry about the truck. She did her job well. Hopefully it wont be as bad as you think and shell be back on the road in no time. I too have felt the pain of an injured truck. My heart goes out to you. Again, good to hear your okay.

Take Care,

Luis S

 

Trucks can be replaced, lifes can't, glad you are okay! sorry to hear about this accident!

 

Like the other guys, I'm glad to hear that you're okay. The truck can be fixed/replaced bud...

Fire me an email if needed... I don't know if I can help any but I'm here if you need me. Best of luck J...

RP

 

Here is the story:

We left for Grand Marias Friday morning when the snow was lightly falling, well it got worse as we went. We made it half way to Grand Marias (2.5 hours of the 4.75 hour trip) and to a really small town called Two Harbors, north of Deluth.

The road was completely clear and then we turned the corner and they had stopped plowing. The road had 3 inches of slush, but still two open tire tracks. I was in 2WD because the road was clear before and I still had two open tire tracks. Well about 40 yards into the unplowed road out of no where our rear end flew out from behind me. I was only going 30 mph. I corrected it and kept the truck on the road and then the rear end whipped out to the left.

We were headed straight for a 65 mph sign and I was able to get slightly to the right, where I missed it by less than an inch. This put us in the ditch with boulders that ranged in size with the smallest being 3 feet by 3 feet, and the largest being 4 feet to roughly 5 feet.

Body damage was minimal, with small dents in the rear bumper, front bumper and rear quarter panel. There also could be some dents in both side doors.

Major damage was underneath and it speaks for itself. The Ford tech says I need an entire new rear end. He said the rear axle is salvageable but there is one part of it that is destroyed. He said insurance would probably want to but it off and re-weld be he said the best way to fix it is a completely new solid rear end.

 

Thanks RP and the rest of you guys for your support, I really appreciate it. I've done a lot of thinking on it and if the frame isn't bent then I'll be in business to fix this truck up and make it bigger and better then ever.

I'm ramping up to give this truck a completely new look and flavor; I'll really need everyone's help in doing this.

I'll need a new rear and front bumper for sure. You know what that means. I'm going to request the body shop not go with the 05 chrome bumpers but rather the 06 Harley Davidson bumpers. I'll pay the difference in cost between the two.

So I need to figure out old and new part numbers for these two major things to give this to the body shop on Tuesday.

I know I'll lose the functionality of front tow hooks but I think the supercrew harley davidson look will be awesome. The only time these tow hooks were used was to get me out of the ditch.

Duke

 

So anyone who can help me with part numbers for the black rear bumper and cost of it vs. the part numbers for the rear chrome bumper and cost of it - I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT.

Same goes for the 05 chrome bumper vs. the 06 Harley Davidson bumper.


Hey RP,

Funny note in all of this. Those painted mirrors took one crap load of a beating and guess what!!!! Not the slightest of scratches. They are officially undestructable! I love those freaking mirrors.

Duke

 

Ominous picture in the morning of. I took these two pictures the morning before the wreck. This was at 6:30am, I took them because I thought it looked cool with all the snow on it.