I haven’t been on in a while, but am always Ford faithful. Our vintage OBS’s are super tough azz trucks!! The site is only letting me insert one pic per post. I'll keep working on it until I get all 7 pics up.

As you can see, a 4dr Toyota at 35-40mph is no match for an OBS F250. In addition to praising our own, I’m looking for some advice or comments on how to fix my truck and/or get hard to find parts. As you can see, my cherry 96 Stroker got slammed into pretty hard at midnight May 15 on I-80 east/northbound just north of Berkeley, CA. I’m lucky to not have a broken back or neck and still be able to drive it. As much as I don’t like CA, I had to go there for my son’s Masters graduation from Berkeley. The trip may have cost me my truck. For some ridiculously stupid reason, CA DOT decided to do routine maintenance on I-80 and close it in both directions on a Saturday graduation night. I was coming to a stop in the 5mi long traffic jam when I heard skidding behind me, then the biggest impact I’ve ever felt. The Toyota rental car went under the left rear bumper, as the folded up hood hit the tailgate. The driver appeared wasted and the passenger in the pic is trapped by the dashboard. Cops wouldn’t even tell me if he had insurance but I found out today from the police report it was a rental and “self – insured,” which means he didn’t buy insurance and presumably has insurance for his own vehicle that should cover me. My insurance is trying to find out what insurance he has and go after them.

It’s unbelievable to me that no glass was broken, the camper shell didn’t shatter and it’s 100% driveable. I drove it from the scene, realigned the camper shell the next day and drove it back to Utah a few days later. I found a tail light in Utah, fixed the cut trailer wiring and trailered my Bronco home from Utah last weekend with no issues at all. It steers and brakes straight as an arrow. The bed and possibly the frame is tweaked in the left rear behind the axle.With no air in the bags and nothing in the bed, the bottom of the frame and hitch measure ½ - ¾ in higher off the ground on the left side. Forward of the axle are no issues and I don't see any evidence the left frame rail is pushed forward. The driver door has wind noise, the front of the pass door binds on the fender and the hood needs to be jiggled to unlatch. The cruise control panel popped off the wheel but went right back in place and works. All systems seem to be fine. The bed hit the back of the cab on the driver side and is crooked on the frame. I got an estimate of $5K from the shop I want to fix it, provided the frame doesn’t need too much work. They need to take more precise measurements in the shop. If the frame is tweaked too much, it could be totaled but I don’t want to give up this truck considering its condition, reliability, only 118K mi and what I’ve done to it. I simply can’t replace it for what I would get as a total loss and can’t buy a new truck. It doesn’t make sense to junk a perfectly running truck. I don’t have the time or space to find another truck and swap the driveline. I’ll buy it back as scrap if they total it and work with the body shop. The bodyshop says they can get the tailgate but not the wide aluminum trim panel it has.They are still looking for the left side bed panel. Provided they get parts, I know the shop can make it good as new. I’ve seen their miracle work before.

Does anybody know where to get these parts or a way to economically fix the frame if it is bent upward behind the axle? Would it be viable to leave the frame alone and use the equivalent of body lift spacers to level the bed? It would be about an inch higher than factory but I can live with that. What’s out there in after market bumpers?

I’m not looking forward to this long process but hopefully Bonnie will be back to “normal” soon. Thanks for the help and input!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad your OK. The car got it bad!

 

Good to hear you're ok.
Unfortunately I think they might total it. Mine had about the same damage and it totaled

 

All too often people settle for the "average price" for the vehicle involved in the crash. Insurance companies won't give any consideration to the condition of the truck unless you force the issue. If it's insured for replacement cost, tell them to find a truck just like it.

 

You can bet I'm gonna push it and tell them to find an equivalent replacement. I got a value of $10,990 off NADA in the condition it's in. Hopefully after looking at the frame it can be fixed for the $5K price for the body work.

 

I dunno...the way the bed met the cab and what you are saying about doors/hood, I'd count on it being totaled. I'd want it totaled personally just due to future tire wear issues, etc. Glad you are ok!

 

Glad you are ok.
I also got hit from behind in my obs a year ago, the receiver hitch received the impact, it was one of those GMC Yukon's followed by a chevy 2500 panel van loaded with paints both vehicles appeared to be totalled judging by how much damage they had, while my obs bumper got bent little and my tailgate. According to the police report both drivers were on their phone, and the cause of the accident, stupid people jeez.( this happen on a stop light during rush hour.)

 

I cant believe the people in the car lived... sadly, insurance companies hate older trucks. I saw an excursion get totalled just because the front axle snapped after an accident. This was back in 2007 on a 2004. I wish you the best of luck! Sorry to hear that happned.

 

I'm amazed nobody was killed in that car. I'll need to run through the blue book evaluation again, print it and save a link so I can push it in the face of the ins companies. Still don't know which company the idiot has who hit me. I'm assuming (very dangerous to do) since he was able to rent the car without buying insurance, he had to prove to the rental company he had other insurance. It's interesting he rented the car even though he is a Berkeley resident. I see people texting on the highway every day. From the high perch in the truck or Bronco I see people steering with their knees and both hands on the phone all the time.