DAMN!

 

I'm just sitting back in my chair, going "what the...." I can't believe they are replacing the whole Frame! I believe you though when you say they will do it right, just a big job with lots of pieces to take apart and put back together, that's all, it will just take a lot of time. Still it's amazing. Thanks for the great pics. Why not cut out the damaged areas and weld in replacements?

I always worry about that front crossmember, seems awful vulnerable to me, how many do you see get damaged?

whole thing reminds me of a job I did once, had an axe and the handle was all messed up, so instead of replacing the whole axe, we disassembled the whole thing and replaced the handle. Took a long time to reconnect all the parts but it was worth it, $13.75 for the new handle as opposed to 39.95 for the whole axe. Like most big jobs though, never completely finished it, there were some leftover pieces when we were done.

 

You have never seen what happens to metal when you weld a large area like you are suggesting. The steel will distort from the heat of the weld and would definately not be straight any longer.

I almost had to have this done to my own truck as an accident I was in missed the frame and pushed the bumper back on the driverside far enough to rip the mounting bracket for the bumper off of the frame. The only reason they welded the new bracket is that the bracket is small enough to not cause the serious distortion in the frame that welding a crossmember would cause. Also the truck was 6 months old at that point. The body shop manager did tell me that if I had the accident a month earlier they would have had to replace the frame as Ford hadn't released the replacement bracket. Here is what the bracket looks like almost four years later.

 

Our local dealer has done several "new frame" lightning
rebuilds, and they are very experienced. Your loss estimate
has to be greater than some percent (can vary) before
the insurance company will total a vehicle. As Superfords
said a check for even $20,000 is better than one for 34,000

 

I had the same thing done. I wrecked my 01 Screw, bridge ran right out in front of me I bent the left front tow hook, as soon as the tow truck got there he told me I needed a new frame. On the bright side it only took 2 months to get a new frame! They fixed it, I traded it 8000 miles after I wrecked it.(had 22000 on it when I traded it)

 

I got hit from behind by a semi :o in my '97 F150 4x4 XLT x-cab. Nearly bent the frame double in the back. Insurance company decided to fix the truck instead of totalling it, so I made them replace the frame. The guy (single person) who did it did an excellent job, and the truck was "tighter" after it was hit than it was before.

Of course, I had to drive around a Dodge rental truck for three weeks! Wound up costing the insurance company over $15k to fix, then I turned around and sold the truck for $13.5k

 

When I used to work on "big trucks" ie; KW,mack etc. we would just support the truck unbolt everything on the bent side and slide the rail out. Much easier then dismantling the whole vehicle.

 

So on a new truck the Ins. Co. is paying for a used frame? You would of thought they could at least of sprung for a new one. I wonder what the donor F150 looked like that the frame came off of? The Ins. Co. wouldn't be Allstate would it? Thanks for the pics and info...

 

like like to pro rate everything!!! The engine in my bronco spun a bearing while on a test drive while being repaired, the motor was junk. There was no way to prove weather some debris from doing the manifold gaskets was cloging one of the oil gallies or even the pump pickup, or wether it was because it has over 100k miles on it. I got the insurance company to pay for a rebuild, but all the rebuilders wanted to put new mountes, new radiator and some other **** the insurance company didn't want to pay for, and if i didn't do it, they wanted warrenty the rebuild. So it would have cost me almost 1500 bucks for the extra stuff so I elected to go with a used motor. The put a motor from an e150 in there, but before they put it in I went down there and had them pull the oil pan and watched them do a leakdown on every cylinder. They put it in but the truck never was the same. But they fought tooth and nail and refused to put a new motor in it, so i can see why they went with a used frame. Even though the shop's insurance offered a rental because i demanded it, i couldn't have one because i was not over 23 at the time, so i made them issue it to my father and i drove his truck. Needless to say it was a cluster **** and insurance companies can be a pain in the ***.

 

well, the truck was back in one piece this afternoon and driven out the door! all in all, it took them about a day and a half. not too shabby...

 

well, the truck was back in one piece this afternoon and driven out the door! all in all, it took them about a day and a half. not too shabby...

WOW! That's pretty impressive they were able to complete it in that amount of time. Now that's called service