It's not over till it's over.
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Amateur
Joined: Oct 2006
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It's not over till it's over.
Been thinking about posting this for a while. Maybe it will offer some encouragement to the younger crowd. My son trashed his '99 1500 last June (2010). Short story - it involved a ditch and a very large pine tree. Nothing hurt except the truck. The tree did lose some bark but it will live.
The passenger side of the front axle was torn up. Busted steering knuckle, busted ball joints, broken u-joint, holes for ball joints were stretched out of round. Went through two used axles before I got one that was any good. Replaced all the ball joints and u-joints before putting it in. Replaced control arms and shocks. Here's a tip if you're replacing the rubber bushings in a control arm on a 4X4 - PULL them in - don't try to push them in place. And the spacers from a ball joint kit help tremendously.
After we got the axle in place, I sent it to the frame shop where they replaced the front frame horn and straightened it. That one hurt a little $1,000. I got lucky and found all the sheet metal on one truck at a junkyard for $400. Hood, door, fender and radiator frame. Put the sheet metal on then took care of the body work. Rear fender required some dent pulling and putty work, but it was all minor after we replaced the really crunched up stuff.
New rim, new bumper and skirt, new headlights, fog lights and mirror. Then it was off to paint. My brother-in-law works for an auto parts store where he mixes paint, so I had connections there. Auto paint is incredibly expensive.
It all sounds easy, and really - technically - it was. But it took us 4 months of working in the hottest part of the summer to get it ready for paint. I originally thought about it for 2-3 weeks before finally deciding to fix the truck instead of scrapping it. It's been a great truck - has 230,000 miles on it and ran like it was brand new. Still does. What finally made up my mind was the idea that my 21-year old son needed to fix his own screw-up (and by that I mean he needed to help me fix his screw-up). But he did. He was by my side the entire time, actually doing most of the more physical things that his old dad pays too high a price (in pain) to do. It was also interesting to see how he approached each new problem. There were many times when we both just scratched our heads and wondered: "how are we gonna do that?" I have to say, he was often more clever and inventive than I was.
The truck started out red and I was just going to have the hood and right side repainted, but he wanted to change it to blue. I figured what the heck. After all that, the truck deserved a total makeover. The total cost was about $4,000 to do at least $10,000 worth of repairs, but I learned a lot and my son learned even more. I figure with that many miles on it, an engine overhaul is on the horizon, but it still runs great and doesn't use any oil so who knows.
You can fix just about anything - if you want to.
The passenger side of the front axle was torn up. Busted steering knuckle, busted ball joints, broken u-joint, holes for ball joints were stretched out of round. Went through two used axles before I got one that was any good. Replaced all the ball joints and u-joints before putting it in. Replaced control arms and shocks. Here's a tip if you're replacing the rubber bushings in a control arm on a 4X4 - PULL them in - don't try to push them in place. And the spacers from a ball joint kit help tremendously.
After we got the axle in place, I sent it to the frame shop where they replaced the front frame horn and straightened it. That one hurt a little $1,000. I got lucky and found all the sheet metal on one truck at a junkyard for $400. Hood, door, fender and radiator frame. Put the sheet metal on then took care of the body work. Rear fender required some dent pulling and putty work, but it was all minor after we replaced the really crunched up stuff.
New rim, new bumper and skirt, new headlights, fog lights and mirror. Then it was off to paint. My brother-in-law works for an auto parts store where he mixes paint, so I had connections there. Auto paint is incredibly expensive.
It all sounds easy, and really - technically - it was. But it took us 4 months of working in the hottest part of the summer to get it ready for paint. I originally thought about it for 2-3 weeks before finally deciding to fix the truck instead of scrapping it. It's been a great truck - has 230,000 miles on it and ran like it was brand new. Still does. What finally made up my mind was the idea that my 21-year old son needed to fix his own screw-up (and by that I mean he needed to help me fix his screw-up). But he did. He was by my side the entire time, actually doing most of the more physical things that his old dad pays too high a price (in pain) to do. It was also interesting to see how he approached each new problem. There were many times when we both just scratched our heads and wondered: "how are we gonna do that?" I have to say, he was often more clever and inventive than I was.
The truck started out red and I was just going to have the hood and right side repainted, but he wanted to change it to blue. I figured what the heck. After all that, the truck deserved a total makeover. The total cost was about $4,000 to do at least $10,000 worth of repairs, but I learned a lot and my son learned even more. I figure with that many miles on it, an engine overhaul is on the horizon, but it still runs great and doesn't use any oil so who knows.
You can fix just about anything - if you want to.
Administrator
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87,479
Likes: 4,223
From: Clayton MI
Wow! The finished product looks AWESOME!
Congrats to both of you on a job very well done. Makes for some great Father/Son time too.
But, erm..... witchy woman? Are you ghost writing here?
Congrats to both of you on a job very well done. Makes for some great Father/Son time too.
But, erm..... witchy woman? Are you ghost writing here?
both for the truck and use of the title an old Eagles tune for the s/n
Champion
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,831
Likes: 1
From: Miami, Fl
Normally I would wonder why someone would put 4k into a 2nd gen after a wreck like that but, it sounds like yall had a good time fixing it and what you and your son learned from it will stay with you.
And the outcome looks great, that truck doesnt even look the same...but that was the point..lol
And the outcome looks great, that truck doesnt even look the same...but that was the point..lol
Champion
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,570
Likes: 0
Lol, first thing that came to my mind was "the Eagles".
Just have to say, Nice job! Looks great. Would you happen to have progression pictures as well?
Just have to say, Nice job! Looks great. Would you happen to have progression pictures as well?
