ack! Rear ended a Z71! Bodylift survival info......

adrenalnjunky · Post by **adrenalnjunky** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:07 am

Hey all, I know I've been fairly quiet lately, but thought I'd share some info.

Sat Afternoon, I was sitting behind a Z71 Yukon, that had about a 4 inch lift and some 33's on it, at a red light. Light turns green and we all start rolling. This is where I make the mistake of getting distracted at something happening in a parking lot off to the left. Next thing I know BANG, I've rear ended the Yukon that had stopped for the guy in fromt of him.

I figure I was moving somewhere between 5-10 mph when I caught him, and unfortunately I didn't even touch the brakes, cause I just didn't see him stopped.

Damage assessment: Westin Safari Bar = crushed- the lower cross bar lined up with his trailer hitch, and my Pro-Comp lights caught the bumper - both are destroyed. I never expected the Safari Bar to stand up to anything like that, so I wasn't disappointed in it's lack of survivability.

My red lower portion of the bumper was all warped out of shape, and the bumper was bowed up in the middle some. The movement of the bumper put a stress crack in my grille shell right below the driver's side turn signal housing.

Later on, I realize that the whole bumper has pushed itself back almost 2 inches to where the frame horns are almost poking through the lower valance of the bumper. Then it hits me that the Bodylift bolts must have bent and allowed it to move.

I finish going where I was going, and doing what I was doing, and take the truck home to show the wife - Boy was she happy, she bought me those lights for Christmas. I start taking stuff apart to assess the damage, and end up having to run a tow strap through the bumper and around a tree and use reverse to try pulling the bumper back out a little so that I can even get a socket on the bumper mount bolts. Once I get the bumper off I realize that the bodylift bolts, and blocks are fine, it's the slots in the frame horns that have bent to allow the bolts to angle backwards. I beat them back straight using my favorite BFH, and then go to town trying to straighten my bumper. Once I had the bumper off I noticed that the lower valance and the black trim strip both survied with only a small crack to the valance right above one of the tow hooks - a little 5 min epoxy took care of that, no one should ever see it anyway. I get the bumper as straight as I can and deem it close enough to good as it's gonna get, and go back to getting everything put back together. A little more epoxy on the crack in the grille and now you can barely tell the crack is there either. A little hot glue on the turn signal that cracked off one of it's mounting tabs and everything bolts up relatively straight.

All in all, I'm glad that everything turned out the way that it did, but at the same time, I learned that the front bumper doesn't have the stregnth that it should in a front end collision. And now I'm sure it's even less now that I've had to massage parts back into place. It'll hold up, and the truck is back presentable with only a few hours of work to it. Now I need to find a new Safari Bar, but without the mounting kit, because my mounts were custom built to work with the BL, and they survived the hit.

The police officer came and wrote up the accident report, and comes back to my truck and gives me my registration and driver's licens back and she tells me "No ticket." I was surprised at that, I've never gotten off that easy, esp when I'm fully at fault. So I respond with "Really?". Now I feel like an idiot and that I'm tempting fate. She says " Hey, this stuff happens, no big deal." I was stunned, and begin going through my mind for the several friends I have on the local PD that might have called in a favor, but as of today , none have contacted me asking for a steak dinner or free beer tab at the local pub.

Oh well, it happens.

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:22 am

Good to hear everything worked out OK.

The wimpy front bumpers are a good and bad thing really. Bad in that a 5-10 mph fender bender can really mess things up. But good in the sense that because it bends so easily, it dissipates the energy of a front end collision better, which at higher speeds can save your life. So weight the good with the bad I guess.

adrenalnjunky · Post by **adrenalnjunky** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:29 am

Yeah -- that's kinda the way I saw it too.

I'm going to do tires before I try replacing any of the lights or safari bar. I might look for a good deal on a pre-runner bar, but I really liked the look of the safari.

This was my first accident in about 6 years, so I figure I was due for it.

What sucks is that I just got me and my wife of 4 months set up with my new insurance company about 2 months ago. Good thing the agent is a friend of the family, and there was no ticket issued. I'm sure the other guy will file a claim, and then probably pocket the check, as all his bumper needs is to be loosened and angled back level. I won't be making a claim as I'm running $500 deductibles, and well, all I need is $150 in safari bar and off-road lights, that probably won't be covered anyway.

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 9:04 am

It looks like conman still has his ORI prerunner bar for sale in the Classifieds section. It's the same as mine.

Also, I've got a couple 100W KC Daylighters that I could send you for cost of shipping only. They're kind of old and in need of a little repair (the "dome" part of the light is a little loose on the base...nothing a couple screws, small stove bolts, or rivets can't fix) but the bulbs are new and work just fine. They're painted black. I'll even throw in the plastic covers if you want.

Let me know.

kwalsh · Post by **kwalsh** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 9:12 am

No airbag deploy?

adrenalnjunky · Post by **adrenalnjunky** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:05 am

No airbags -- thank God. I don't think I was moving fast enough to need them.

Good thing too as I was pulling a heavy 12 x 10 foot trailer with a couple of lawnmowers on it, I had momentum working aginst me too.

AZ - figure up what you think shipping to zipcode 71291 is, and I'll take them off your hands - thanks man.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:46 am

wow, sounds like you got off lucky. no airbags and no tickets.

ya i know first hand about those front bumpers too.....junk!

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 11:32 am

adrenalnjunky wrote:AZ - figure up what you think shipping to zipcode 71291 is, and I'll take them off your hands - thanks man.

You've got mail.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 1:40 pm

AZS10Crew wrote:
adrenalnjunky wrote:AZ - figure up what you think shipping to zipcode 71291 is, and I'll take them off your hands - thanks man.
You've got mail.

what, are yall falling in love?

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 1:49 pm

a2b wrote:
AZS10Crew wrote:
adrenalnjunky wrote:AZ - figure up what you think shipping to zipcode 71291 is, and I'll take them off your hands - thanks man.
You've got mail.
what, are yall falling in love?

Jealous?

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 3:21 pm

no, but i am bumbed you moved

Jay-Bird · Post by **Jay-Bird** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:41 am

red yukon?

adrenalnjunky · Post by **adrenalnjunky** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:51 am

nah it was kinda purple.