Okay, well the truck was hit by someone running a red-light and has been sitting in my back yard. I did not have full coverage and the person who hit it lives on welfare and had no insurance. So, no money to get out of them and i am stuck fixing this myself. Over the next few weeks I will be repairing here and there. Few things will be control arm bushing,upper lower ball joints, shocks, inner outer tie rods, Radiator, new fan, a little exhaust work and some other things. Ya most people may just junk the truck but as many here I love my durango and i will get it back to new and even better then before. I had planned on doing more like pulling the engine rebuilding it and tranny, painting them and installing headers ext... That will have to wait, I need my truck rolling ASAP so i can take advantage of the jobs that are hiring around here and get out of the dead end job i am in now.

So, this will be a ongoing HOW TO guide. I will do my best to take pics (as you see cam is not that great) and answer any questions.

Here is what it looks like now with fender and front off of it. (with door i already installed.)

 

If you have uninsured/underinsured coverage on your policy it should also have uninsured property damage. That pays to fix YOUR property if hit by an uninsured driver regardless as to whether you have full coverage, collision on your policy, etc. You have to file a claim within a year of the accident.

Ouch.

IndyD

 

Ya man you can call it ironic or just plain bad luck (i call it the story of my life) I just had dropped the uninsured motorist part of my policy just a few weeks before this. I was at the time trying to save every penny I could in order to pay bills cause of job loss. So, a no go with having it paid for. thats why she has been sitting out back for several months.

I originally bought this truck to hot rod out and turn it into a great off road monster, but as life has it the truck ended up being my daily driver. lost job, lost my Ram and some other toys I had. much more goes along with that story as well but not here for all that.

 

I don't want to rub salt in the wound, however for others reading the thread now and later... what did that save to cancel Uninsured Motorist Liability, Underinsured Motorist liability and Under/Uninsured Motorist Property Damage coverage? Like $10 a month?

Hind site is always 20/20 I know. Sorry to hear about the bad decision. 1 out of 4 drivers is uninsured on the roads now. Everyone should be careful on making coverage cuts without fully understanding the ramifications. I see penny-foolish a lot lately.

I bet you would trade that $50 10 times over for the Durango fixed. Our uninsured property damage coverage for $10,000 is $1 per six months. That's like 17 cents a month. Sorry man.

IndyD

 

Sorry to hear!!!!!!!


Hope you can get it back runnin and everything is alright as well as yourself?

 

i just redid a deer collision i bought all my parts on ebay. 25 % of what autobody shop could get them. Lots of parts on craigs list.

 

Yup, I as well have got a few parts off of ebay as well as pull-a-part. I also have a family member who works at Orielly DC able to get a discount, this is where i am getting most of my suspension/steering parts from.

 

moved here
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1794061-post38.html

 

I used two old/cheap screw drivers in two of the holes. Ruined the screwdrivers, but got the fan off. Wouldn't one of the spanners from the kit you rented fit into two of the holes too?

If you find a nice rear hatch in your hunt for parts, lease let me know. Especially if it is already platinum painted! If you open and look up and under the lip, I have rust there now. Worse than I would like to have thats for sure. If I can find a replacement that I don't have to paint, I think I am ahead buying it as a replacement instead of fixing mine and getting it repainted. TIA!

Looks like you are on to a good start at repairs on your beast. Good luck!!

IndyDurango

 

a no problem Indy, can u send me a pic of your truck and if u have it the color code so I can help ya out if I come across one.. Ya as u see above there is rust on my rig as well. You can see lower fire wall where I used some Bondo, I grinned all the rust out before applying it and now going to put a Anti rust primer there. Thats another thing i am doing to this truck, removing all little rust spots, not going to show you all this though because i am not a body man and probably not doing it correct. Although i am reading online and getting info i had not known before.

Oh ya, the worthless tool. Well I tried to figure out how to get it to work far as fitting in the holes, NO WAY would they fit in the holes. I tried and tried for about 2 hours t figure it out (just because i wanted to right a DIY on how to use the tools) and could not find out how to get them to work.. I do know they Will not fit i the holes in anyway. non of the wrench will even fit on the nut. I looked for instructions online as well and no luck there.