With new and used vehicle prices as they are, I'm getting the old girl back up to snuff. The body will never be the same, but I'll try. Here's what beat her up so badly.

Wall cloud

More wall cloud

My poor Dakota

These are killer hail stones

She really took a beating

Came through the windshield

Big as a fist

Half as big as my size 10

 

THROUGH the windshield???? That's pretty bad. Windshields are TOUGH for a reason.

 

Take a look at the roof, especially at the hard corners. Those posts are designed for rollover impacts and things like that. There's also some dents along the hard parts of the truck bed as well and on the tailgate. Every piece of glass was broken out of the truck, with exception of the rear window. All the lights, all the mirrors, all the glass, the tail lights.

 

Wow, that's an ominous looking storm. That's the worst hail damage I've seen. Usually you get a million dings but those things were punching like Mike Tyson. That would have been totaled out by an insurance company, but I'm assuming you didn't have full coverage... I'd be tempted to part out the drivetrain and buy another truck on Craigslist or something.

I had a house that was hit by hail almost that large. They came down like rain. The vents on the roof looked like they were hammered flat and one side of the hose looked like it was machine gunned. Coming outside after an episode like that, the neighborhood looked like a war zone. In the weeks following what seemed like a thousand roofing companies descended on the neighborhood, then disappeared like mist once the roofs were done. Good luck with warranties on those. Found out they chase storms like these. I stuck with a local roofer.

 

I thought about getting rid of this truck a couple of times and if used car prices had stayed low, I probably would have by now. I had a small Fiat 500 Abarth as my daily driver, but unfortunately, I slid it off the road and totaled it. Now the truck is my daily driver. It's very dependable. I know it inside and out. The damage is all cosmetic. I can buy body parts cheaper than I can buy a used truck. Now that it's running good and I'm taking care of the minor details mechanically, I'll work a little bit on the cosmetics and maybe sell it for a better price. I'm keeping track of all my costs. Then I can put the cash towards a newer vehicle. I also just like working on the truck. I got a little depressed after the hail damage and kind of let it go, but I'm getting the bug again.

 

The good thing is that these trucks, unlike most new-ea cars, are still modular and come apart easily. I can have a whole front clip off in a couple of hours.

There's several LKQ yards in our area. I think there's even one out your way. I know there's one southeast of Dallas and one by me in Burleson. Not sure what to say about the roof. that will be a bit of a pain to deal with, might be better off having a body shop re-do the seams. One of our racing friends owns a body shop over in the Mabank area.

PS if you want the bigger/nicer 16" wheels, I'll be getting rid of some soon. I'm converting my truck to 5-lug for race wheels - put a ford 9" under over the winter and will be putting the converted fronts on sometime this summer.

 

Yeah, the roof will be the last thing I take care of and it won't be me doing the work. It is creased too much and will take a pro, for sure. I can change the hood, the fenders and the bed easily enough.

Thanks for the offer on the wheels, but I think I'm going to stick with original - I like the ride of the taller side walls. I am looking for a rear sway bar with mounting brackets. I will probably get new sway bar end links if I can source a used bar.