Way cool. It's been a long road, but, it'll be worth it.

 

My son did that to one of ours and 02 slt plus. Was able to get a new grill, radiator, fan and electric fan an replace. My wife was side swiped and the insurance let us keep and 03 for 350 so fight with the insurance company. You can get good after market parts. If you still decide to part out I need front axles to fix my wifes

 

Hey all,


Very bummed to not be able to legally drive it after all that, but that's how it goes with Pennsylvania and the enhanced inspection. It's likely many of those things were bad or going bad prior to the accident, and this just threw a spotlight onto them.

I do certainly want to thank so many of you for all the advice. At the end of the day this will be a loss in cash for investment and certainly time but I did enjoy getting it running and on the road and even getting the bumper and body back to working order. It's just a shame so many other parts on it are bad (likely just always bad, years of driving and not being put under the microscope of an enhanced inspection).

Thank you all!

 

I think I would just put it on Craigslist and sell it as is. As high as some car prices are now, you can probably get most of your money back and someone with spare parts and ability can finish it Who knows, someone in your area might have one that was wrecked or burned and has the parts needed to finish it.

I've bought a few of those over the years. You have a clear title to it don't you?

 

Could you sell it to someone out of state? Someplace they don't have inspections?

Axle boots aren't really a big deal, nor are the lower ball joints. You can those at the same time. The steering rack though, yeah, that's not cheap. Selling it for scrap is gonna hurt after all the work you have done.....

 

To put my $0.02 in, I recently had to replace the rack on my wife's 2001 Durango due to blown seals and other issues. Locally in Reno, Napa had a reman rack and pinion for $238 (I'm sure you can get better price online but needed it like now). Not really too hard to replace after the outer tie rods are removed from the steering knuckle. As for the lower ball joints they are a PITA to replace (rent the tool to press them out at Autozone) but again Napa has them for $36 ish a piece but on Amazon you can get Detroit Axle upper and lower ball joints for $48 and for boots, you can get the "universal" split type boots for about $22 each on Amazon. After all the hard work you have done to get your Durango back on the road it would be a shame to see her end up in the junkyard at this point.
Again, just my $0.02.

Best of luck

Steve

 

Yeah grouch it's a clean title just a salvage one and I never took it off the insurance.

Sure do appreciate your guys' encouragement to keep going. Were it not the steering rack you might have me under there with a jack back at it trying to learn how to replace boots and ball joints. I'll be at the garage tomorrow, maybe the guy who inspected it can tell me what the issue with the steering rack was.

I really wanted to get a sticker on it and keep it on the road for sure, finding a buyer than can help get it there may be the next best thing. I did put some feelers out on FB to catch interest, everyone wants to know if it will pass inspection and if it won't they don't want to buy it. So far anyway.

Looks like going rate for the scrap yards is around $700. But yeah would hate to see that be the direction it goes for sure. I do wish PA had less restrictions on inspection but I suppose it's to keep the car safe to drive. With all the rust under there it doesn't surprise me it needs stuff.

Still proud to have gotten it drive-able again for sure, hate that it will likely be a loss on the investment tho. That's cars tho.

 

This is the same hit type I received too eh Totally rebuilt mine. The devil you know rather then hoping to buy something equivilant. and comparable. That wont need money in near future

 

Not a bad thing to lose a bit of investment, if like me you really like the machine eh We see people buy frame rotten vehicles and restore them custom or factory for 10s of thousands eh No chance of recovering the investment. As you said eh That's cars lol Glad you are alright in the end eh.

 

Definitely understand the hesitation about the steering rack replacement. I was shocked how easy it was once we got started, but then again my brother (from another mother) and I never have been accused of being all that sane . Seriously though look at a couple of youtube videos on it...its not that complex...you will need an alignment after but still doable.

Best of luck

Steve