After 25 years of driving in snow & ice, I finally had a little "accident" this weekend. I was driving at about 70mph, (in my '77 F250) and hit an ice-covered bridge and spun out, then ran right into a steel guard rail.
When I got out to take a look at the damage,I almost fell flat on my *** when I stepped onto the pavement! The whole road was like a skating rink, and instead of walking normally, I had to shuffle along without lifting my feet just to stay upright!
I got to the front end of the truck, and noticed two things: The section of guard rail where I hit was pushed back almost 3 feet deep, in an area almost exactly the size of my front end, and surprisingly, my truck wasn't all that bad off! The really don't make 'em like they used to...
I hit the rail almost perfectly head-on, and the impact pushed my (stock) bumper back into the leading edge of the fenders and lower grille edge. My Passenger side fender was pushed back enough to break the orange lens below the headlight and crease the fender itself vertically about 6 inches back from the front, but the driver's side was untouched. I popped the hood, and my fan, radiator, and AC condenser were all OK!
I closed the hood back up, climbed back in the cab, and started the engine, and it made a funny "groaning" noise for a second, but ran just fine! I checked the underside over as best as I could, and made sure the TC/4wd system was still working, (manual trans + NP 203) and all was OK.
I drove another 300 miles or so to get back home, and the only ill effect I've noticed is that it feels (and sounds) like I've suddenly got a little slop in my drivetrain somewhere, and when unless I shift a little more carefully than before, it's a little "jerky" engaging/disengaging, but I've got no extra vibration or noise at high speeds.
As I hit head-on, and pretty hard, do any of you out there think it's possible that the engine/trans/TC has shifted position relative to each other, and that this is what's causing the new jerkiness/sloppiness I'm getting?
I haven't really dug into it yet, but short of starting with something simple like replacing all of the u-joints, anybody got any ideas where I should start? I wasn't having this symptom before the run-in with the guard rail, and I don't want to keep driving it around like this for fear of making things worse.
Thanks for your help! Cameron