Hi everyone,its been a long time since I have been on here. Bad luck has brought me back for your expertise on repairs!

On july 19th We were headed west bound on I-80 about 3-4 miles east of Evanston Wyoming at about 1:30 a.m. and out of the blue a small pack of Elk ran out in front of us!!!!!!! (talk about bad luck),,, we got lucky as I was not doing the posted speed limit which is 75, we had just rounded the turn and I dropped down out of 5th to 4th and was only going about 45-47 MPH (thankfully)! Needless to say I hit one head on, just to the right of the center of our 94 Ford Explorer (No FiberGlass Here) , well we killed the Elk although it did not die right away, it ran about a half mile back up the road headed east along the shoulder/ditch line where it fell down and died.
However our Beloved Explorer still Lives! . I have never had to do body work like this before so if some one with experience in the matter can look at the pictures in my album , and help get me started with suggestions. Thank You in advance!


here is the link to the album pictures
Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - EricB's Album: 94 explorere vs Elk


Eric.

 

First suggestion is to find one that was never hit in the front and get a bunch of measurements. Your gonna need them since the structure is all messed up. Next step is to try and find all your parts your gonna need. Then before you cut anything, try and pull the radiator support and other structure. Even though you will probably have to replace the rad support, it is better to pull on the junk one than the good one. Once you have the structure where you want it, just tack it in place at a few spots, just in case you have to take it apart. Then put all the panels back on to check that everything is in place. Take it all off again and finish repairing the structure. Paint the structure, then put on all the panels and finish your repairs.

 

thanks for the reply! I took all the measurements , found a couple 94's at the wrecking yard "so I have parts access" , pulled all the damaged engine parts off and have replaced everything Mechanical , there was so much little things that were destroyed like the Edis6 module etc , little things you don't really think of , anyways stuck a new battery in it the other day and it fired right back up , runs smooth as ever. The whole front end and passenger side fender are all off and I am working on repairing the inner fender , I am probably going to rebuild the front inner grill area with some new metal because I dont have a cordless drill with 3 or four batteries laying around to drill out the rivets on another 94 at the wrecking yard , although it would be nice if they would let me drive in to the yard with my generator in back then I would have all my corded power tools to work with , but they wont for insurance reasons " I dont blame them " ,
and the guy said he would sell me all the front end pieces, passenger side fender , hood and all the front end pieces for 125 bucks so Im gonna grab what I can get my hands on.
I will post some pictures when I can.

 

Yards will cut off what you want. You will just have to show them where. They will charge a cutting fee, but its not that much. Thats great news that you got it running once again. Good luck with your repairs.