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Aaaaaaannnnnddddd I just re-read the thread and not once is the word "bear" used. You guys said Braves and I was thinking Mike Ditka and "Da Bares" the whole time for some reason...
so I had to try it, google naked bears, WTF. What is that? Talk about sheltered, I never knew a genre like that existed. Who the hell coined that phrase and it became so popular that google has nothing but hairy dudes on the page, and not single brown bear with no fur…
Eye bleach for sure. It's like an accident, you know you shouldn't look but you do anyhow.
On the excursion, you could try to fight the total loss claim and ask for a few other quotes.
I would not think that kinda a damage would ruin a truck permanently. That area it was hit is better than from a side. AT least it doesn't effect the tracking of the truck.
If it was me and I liked it, I'd maybe try to keep the truck.
Glad your okay...Atlanta is a messed up place to drive in.
I don’t normally get involved in forums being a vendor but after having spent 15 years studying rear end collisions into receiver hitches I can tell you that - besides the lady that hit you - your ball mount was the main culprit for ruining your frame.
A lot of people use their ball mount for vehicle protection and it will work with impacts less then 5 mph. The biggest problem is that passenger car bumpers don’t line up with pickup trucks and SUVs and they end up hitting the receiver hitch. And because of their soft suspensions, they dive (especially if they hit the brakes right before impact). This creates a downward force or wedge effect and a ball mount in the receiver hitch accentuates this force because it is longer lever. Archimedes: “Give me a lever long enough and I’ll move the earth.”
A ball mount in the receiver hitch will ruin the frame if hit at speeds above 5 mph in a uni-body vehicle. This Jeep Grand Cherokee was hit by a small Ford Focus between 5 and 10 mph and the downward pressure from the "bullet" vehicle forced the receiver hitch down in the rear and up in the front forcing the rear of the vehicle downward and the roof upward. The ball mount in the receiver hitch of the Jeep acted like a can opener.
Although this vehicle had little rear end damage the car was totaled because the frame was sprung. On a frame railed vehicle (like your Excursion) the impact only needs to be above 15 mph - depending on what type of ball mount you have in the receiver hitch. The bigger the drop in the ball mount, the more leverage that can be applied by this downward force.
Plus any vehicle equipped with a receiver hitch creates a stiffer “crash pulse” when hit from the rear increasing the risk of whiplash by 22%...there’s no give. Adding a ball mount to the receiver hitch only moves this risk outward toward the bullet vehicle.
At least you did not have any whiplash injures but if you had your wife and or kids in the vehicle it could have been worse since they are two times more likely to suffer a whiplash injury because their necks are not as strong.
Leaving your ball mount in the receiver hitch for protection is never a good idea but if you are going to leave it in then turn it around in the “rise” position (even if the ball is down). That will at least negate some of the downward force that can be applied to the frame from a rear end collision.
Sincerely,
Jeff Mohr
CEO
Mohr Mfg
Last edited by Stewart_H; Aug 9, 2014 at 05:30 PM.
I don’t normally get involved in forums being a vendor but after having spent 15 years studying rear end collisions into receiver hitches I can tell you that - besides the lady that hit you - your ball mount was the main culprit for ruining your frame.
A lot of people use their ball mount for vehicle protection and it will work with impacts less then 5 mph. The biggest problem is that passenger car bumpers don’t line up with pickup trucks and SUVs and they end up hitting the receiver hitch. And because of their soft suspensions, they dive (especially if they hit the brakes right before impact). This creates a downward force or wedge effect and a ball mount in the receiver hitch accentuates this force because it is longer lever. Archimedes: “Give me a lever long enough and I’ll move the earth.”
A ball mount in the receiver hitch will ruin the frame if hit at speeds above 5 mph in a uni-body vehicle. This Jeep Grand Cherokee was hit by a small Ford Focus between 5 and 10 mph and the downward pressure from the "bullet" vehicle forced the receiver hitch down in the rear and up in the front forcing the rear of the vehicle downward and the roof upward. The ball mount in the receiver hitch of the Jeep acted like a can opener.
Although this vehicle had little rear end damage the car was totaled because the frame was sprung. On a frame railed vehicle (like your Excursion) the impact only needs to be above 15 mph - depending on what type of ball mount you have in the receiver hitch. The bigger the drop in the ball mount, the more leverage that can be applied by this downward force.
Plus any vehicle equipped with a receiver hitch creates a stiffer “crash pulse” when hit from the rear increasing the risk of whiplash by 22%...there’s no give. Adding a ball mount to the receiver hitch only moves this risk outward toward the bullet vehicle.
At least you did not have any whiplash injures but if you had your wife and or kids in the vehicle it could have been worse since they are two times more likely to suffer a whiplash injury because their necks are not as strong.
Leaving your ball mount in the receiver hitch for protection is never a good idea but if you are going to leave it in then turn it around in the “rise” position (even if the ball is down). That will at least negate some of the downward force that can be applied to the frame from a rear end collision.
Sincerely,
Jeff Mohr
CEO
Mohr Mfg
Jeff,
I have your product. Not knocking it.
I met the OP yesterday sold him my OEM Stereo and he described the accident to me, she never slowed down, never touched the brakes, 45+/- MPH, threw his 8000 lb vehicle 10+ feet forward into another vehicle.
Last edited by Stewart_H; Aug 9, 2014 at 05:31 PM.
We had one older gentleman from Las Vegas that was hit in the rear at 45+...
The impact knocked his vehicle forward about 15-20 feet as well. He had one of our attenuators on the rear and, although the truck had $6,000 in damage (mostly because the truck box was shoved into the cab) he didn't loose the truck from frame damage.
She was driving an SUV from the early 90s herself, so she was higher up than the average car. Still, after seeing Medac's Ex yesterday with your sparebumber product, I have already decided to have it on my next Ex.
And the only reason my ball happened to be on, was because I was just using it this weekend and then ran to the airport first thing Monday morning. I even considered stopping to take it off, and decided not to so i wouldnt get my interview clothes dirty. Go figure, eh?
The only thing that matters is that you walked away without getting injured. There are so many distractions today and there's nothing worse then a rear end collision...you simply cannot avoid it and they're never your fault.
It's too bad it tweaked the frame...the Excursion is one great truck. I hope you find another one to replace it. My wife is driving a 1999 Lincoln Navigator and it just passed 415,000 miles...every time we think about trading it in we ask ourselves WHY?
The guy with the Dodge that was hit was really happy he could fix it. The insurance company would never give him what its worth.
Glad to hear you're OK...another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes whiplash injuries don't show up for a week or two so keep that in mind.
i fixed this for my brother just 2 weeks ago both sides of the frame were bent in 3 inches about 2 feet in from the rear and they never even questioned frame damage, it crazy how some places make it a huge deal and some dont
I'll be ordering one myself, maybe we can get a "group buy" going? My Girlfriend drives the X more then I do, this device would add some peace of mind when she's out-n-about. Driving Semi-Truck for almost 20 years, I've seen my fair share of stupid.
I'm having an issue finding an Ex in my price range, unfortunately. My kids are pressing me to buy a newer Suburban so I could get something with a Warranty.
I went and looked at 2 Ex's today, and the one that was my forerunner, turns out that the owner of the dealership has been using it as his daily driver, and just took it to Daytona for raceweek. When I saw it, it was dirty nasty, smelled like cigarette smoke, had some kind of liquid sloshing around in the cup holders... I was so turned off... but more so when I asked if he offered any kind of warranty, and he said no. So I told him if I decided to buy it, I was going to take it to Ford and have them give it a once-over. His response was, "you know they're gonna tell you it needs more than $5k of work". So yeah, needle in the red zone...
So, I currently have 3 options:
1) Buy one of the lesser excursions ive found. But that arent Diesel or 4wd.
2) Buy a 2007 or later Suburban from a dealership with a warranty.
3) Buy a cheap beater for less than $2k, and drive it around until the right truck presents itself. This beater would need A/C at a minimum and be presentable to pass down to my kids when I move into my next truck.
I -REALLY- don't want to just buy a cheap Ex and not get the diesel or 4wd, which is why #1 isnt appealing. I hate the idea of driving a small car, which is why the kids are rooting for #2.
How about you guys? Any words of wisdom to help me decide where I'm going with this?
