Someone hit my truck!!

[army70deuce]

So, on the way home from work for lunch I get the call..."Everything is fine but someone hit the deuce then ran away." I just laughed. Get home to the wife, cop and a bunch of college kids. I'm still laughing, as far as I can tell she was going really fast down a residential street missed the new dodge ram in front of the deuce and clipped the bumper of my truck. Yes I've included pictures. Besides my fender and bumper everything looked ok, and it is still driveable.

I had it parked next to the curb and when she hit the front it pushed it toward the curb so front wheel hits curb and stops, rear axle hits curb and stops, middle axle jumps the curb, possibly ramped the chock block. Now my middle axle does not line up with the rear. I've noticed that there is play where the axles connect to the spring (see picture).

Here is my question: So if I drive it around will they move back in line or is there something that I need to do to get it back in position?

If more pictures are required let me know and I will provide them. Thanks,

 

[Wildchild467]

Try pulling it forward a couple feet. the tandems will not always be in line as they have a little "wiggle room". driving in a straight line 10 feet or so should straighten them out. Your right front tandem tire looks bent or something. Check all of your suspension to see if anything is bent though.

 

[turnkey]

Front axle is leaking or what is that stuff on the inside by the front tire???

 

[army70deuce]

The leak is brake fluid. As far as driving forward I took it around the block and it is still off. I think I'll have to slide under and see if there is something bent that is keeping it from re-centering.

 

[army70deuce]

Don't see the leak in the pictures, all the fluid is from the other vehicle and the dark part on the ground is a black plastic from the other car. As far as other stuff I did get it stuck last week so there is a lot of dried mud that has dropped on the ground from being struck.

 

[FLYWHEEL]

Try driving in a tight figure 8 and then straight, as this will put a lot of side force on you rear axles. But it is always best to do a full visual inspection of the suspension components, e.g dog bones and trunion bearings.

 

[Valence]

The suspension does NOT like being struck by cars. Likely a torque rod is damaged. I recommend testing all 12 ends of the torque rods with a pry bar as indicted by this magazine article in this post (#8 by cranetruck):

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...ng-replacement&p=364035&viewfull=1#post364035

Check to make sure the torque rods are also all straight and not bent, twisted, cracked or damaged in any way. It appears that the passenger side center axle took the brunt of the impact (after the bumper peeled open the car like a can). I'd even verify that the wheel on that side isn't bent.

 

[dilligaf13]

It takes a lot more than a dodge truck hitting the front of your truck to effect your rear suspension. Last time I saw the rears sustain damage was when a F150 rear ended the rear axle at 60+ mph. Totaled the F150, broke a couple dog bones and the inter drive shaft ruptured the rear axle. It was still drivable if I remember correctly but not pretty. Troll1216 might still have pictures...

 

[daytonatrbo]

It takes a lot more than a dodge truck hitting the front of your truck to effect your rear suspension. Last time I saw the rears sustain damage was when a F150 rear ended the rear axle at 60+ mph. Totaled the F150, broke a couple dog bones and the inter drive shaft ruptured the rear axle. It was still drivable if I remember correctly but not pretty. Troll1216 might still have pictures...

....the Dodge was not involved in the accident. It looks like a Ford Escape, and it hit the axle.

 

[army70deuce]

Based on no damage to the fuel tank or anything to the rear of the fender, being that I didn't see it I think that hitting the front passenger corner pushed it back and towards the curb, this caused the deuce to roll over the chock block behind the second axle and get pressed against the curb. the 2nd axle is definitely shifted/offset to the passenger side. so it sticks out farther on the passenger side and the wheels are closer to the frame on the drivers side. I do agree there also appears to be an angle to the wheels near the other vehicle. I'm going to crawl under it right now and will let everyone know.

 

[FLYWHEEL]

So did the car hit the middle axle at all ?
I just re read the original post. The car hit the bumper/fender of the truck, pushing the truck back. The car must have spun 90 degrees and come to rest facing the middle axle. So there was probably no contact with middle axle and the car.

 

[army70deuce]

Found the answer, this is the passenger side front axle control arm. The more I look at the truck it appears that the middle axle is farther back than it should be on the passenger side and that is what is giving the appearance of it being pointed outward / . Should have looked under the truck sooner. Anyone know of a good place to get a replacement?

 

[FLYWHEEL]

So did the car hit the middle axle at all ?
I just re read the original post. The car hit the bumper/fender of the truck, pushing the truck back. The car must have spun 90 degrees and come to rest facing the middle axle. So there was probably no contact with middle axle and the car.

O.k. I guess I am wrong, that axle must have got hit pretty hard

 

[infidel got me]

Your truck took one heck of a lick to break that dogbone. The driver that hit your deuce better be in church Sunday, cause GOD was watching over her. Lucky no one was killed!

 

[dmetalmiki]

How in heck did did the lady and her car cause that amount of damage? That is seriously a MASSIVE impact to do that..And I for one one can not see how anyone walked from an impact like that..so.Her (the driver) of the car was not injured in the accident that TOTALED ? her vehicle?

 

[army70deuce]

Well I THOUGHT I found the answer and then I got out the tape measure. Here's what I have. The Axles on the drivers side are center to center 48", that seems like a nice official length to me. The passenger side is at 45.25" center to center. Also when I crawled under the vehicle and measured just the middle axle I took one measurement from the front inside bead of the wheel from passenger to driver side and it measured 49.25" the measurement from rear inside bead of wheel across the vehicle was around 47" so the two wheels on the middle axle are no longer parallel (rear axle rim to rim measurement is 48" and shows no damage so I assume that is the correct width). Also noticed one of my spring pack straps above the broken dog bone is broken. I really hope I don't have to replace the axle.

As my father-in-law mentioned glad it was the truck and not a person, we live behind a college and the road has dog walkers and joggers all the time. In fact two joggers and a neighbor with their dog walked by while we were taking pictures.

 

[Valence]

You said earlier the driver ran away. So it was a hit and run, and they ditched the car?

Do you have insurance? Does the person responsible? Hopefully yes.... if so, I'd let said insurances pay to tow and have the truck repaired. They can do the leg work and acquire the parts at the heavily priced places like Boyce Equipment, Eastern Surplus, or Memphis Equipment (or etc, etc, etc).

 

[army70deuce]

The car was definitely totaled. However, she ran away and was either drunk or still dizzy from impact because the witnesses said she was not walking straight. Cops have an ID and are looking for her. Car had a temp tag and probably didn't have insurance so guess my Uninsured motorist policy will have to cover it. Found a torque rod assembly (dog bone) now need to discover why the wheel is no longer parallel to the other side, might be an axle shaft replacement, guess I'll have to take the wheel and possibly the hub off to find out the cause.

 

[Kaiser67M715]

I would say, now that we know the damage, is that the car hit the truck so hard it hit the curb with the outside of the tires, the middle axle was able to jump the curb because of the chock, this pit the extra stress on the dog bones and spring packs, because one axle was pressed against the curb the other was on top, so in this case the rear axle sounds like it took a pretty good shock over the middle. And I would be willing to say the rims bent on the middle axle when they jumped the curb(this is really just a guess)


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[mkcoen]

Make sure you contact your ins comp before you do any tear down so they can send an adjuster to look at the damage. They have an easier out to deny a portion of the damage if they didn't inspect it first ("how do we know it was related, blah, blah, blah). At minimum take extensive photos, measurements, keep all damaged parts, all receipts, etc. Given that the vehicle had a temp tag and the driver ran away there's a good chance you're looking at an uninsured motorist claim.