About two weeks ago, I was driving along in the right lane of a four lane road. Someone pulled out of a convenience store a little bit close in front of me, but they took the left lane so I breathed a sigh of relief. About the time I got the breath out, the idiot made a 90* right turn directly in front of me from the left lane. He was literally 50-60 feet in front of me at that point. I hit the brake pedal hard with both feet, loud tire squeal, and WHAM. The left front corner of my 1998 XLT slammed into the right 1/4 panel. I pulled off of the main road, with the metal bumper dragging on the tire. Within three minutes, the driver ran away on foot after stating they had no insurance, leaving two women and a baby to handle his screwup. I dropped it off at the body shop the next morning, knowing I wouldn't get a cent from the driver who ran away. Fast forward to the end of the next week, and my frame has a kink in it... Thankfully my boss at work let me use the company truck that he bought from the company when we got a new one. It was a 5.0 powered 2012 model, I was hooked from the first time I hit the gas pedal, haha. And yes I know that isn't a 98 front end, I changed it to 99-03 around 2004...

What really sucked was a multitude of new suspension parts front and rear, new brakes about a month or so old with rotors, master cylinder, booster, etc... I had also picked it up from the axle shop, with a FULL rear axle rebuild with 3:73's to the tune of about $1650, FOUR days before the crash.... Also 1 month old BF Goodrich Advantage T/A Sport tires... What a waste.... It was ugly but rode and drove like it was only a few years old...

So fast forward another week, we started looking online at what local Ford dealers had used... We happened on this one the first day we looked, and it was still there when we got there this morning. Took it for a test drive, and it was all over. 74,000 miles. An hour or two later we drove it home, then dropped off the loaner at work... Hopefully this one will last me 22 years because I will be 76 by then if I am still alive, haha...

 

It’s a shame about your old truck. Hope the new one is a good one for you.

 

I know, sigh... I was falling in love with it all over again, with all of the recent improvements. Then wham....! All it takes is one clueless idiot to ruin your day.,,,,98

 

That's a shame. I'm still loving my 2002. But, I'm sure you will enjoy the newer one. Good luck with it.

 

That is a shame. This is why I don't drive nice stuff out on the roads no more. All it takes is something like this.