Project: Beat Old F150 aka "BIG SIX"

[Kaan]

so after a rough weekend of working hard... 1500ish lbs of oak was hauled home. she'll cruise up and down hills, do stop and go traffic, and ran the oakton to front royal on I-66 at 75mph with no issues. you just cant short shift 3 to 4 going up hill



the shop drama will have to be written up later. the owner is a complete asshat.

[Kaan]

So i contacted the machine shop early last week... they didnt remember what was wrong with it and threw out the old yoke... because, i'm sure they weld on new yokes once an hour A couple of days later i talked to a Warren County cop friend and was warned about dealing with the owner. he knows lots of cops, does all the inspections in town for the used car places, sends the machine shop a ton of business, etc. I was told specifically not to confront the owner in person because he would call the cops on me.

So after hearing all that i knew the phone call i was going to make would be useless... but i'm a stuborn ass and did it anyway. After he finally remembered the truck and the work, I got the "you are lying, you have no proof..." and he hung up the phone on me. I'll just have to tow our shit up to a shop in winchester that is highly recommended by some of the local racers... if i ever take my cars to a shop again.

[CaptainHenreh]

So when am I writing the yelp review, and for fuck's sake what's the name of the shop?

[Kaan]

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[Kaan]

In other news... after hauling wood like a boss i did stress the old girl a little. One of my rusty rear leaf spring mounts is ripping itself apart. I've parked it for now... i need to get a free weekend to remove the bed, do crazy bed prep, at least do the interior bed monstaliner, cut and replace both rear spring mounts (yes they make a kit becasue this is pretty common). i'd post pictures but my firewall hates me and photobucket.

[Kaan]

So last Saturday I worked on the truck a little.. I cut off the rear shackle mounts on both sides but couldn't actually remove the shackles from the leaf springs. I don't have the right size jack stands to really work on it so off it is to the rednecks that build F150 pulling trucks! sometimes its good to know people



then you just grind the rivets! wear eye protection and ear protection... its really loud under the bed of the truck. I should have known I was in trouble when I hit the shackle with impact (after soaking it) and it tore right off the mount lol




next step will be to wire brush and chassis save the poor thing... when I get it back.

[Kaan]

RIP - Jan 12 2015

black ice, down hill, in 2wd, no ABS.... and an oak tree


you can see the frame rail poking through the bumper a little in the picture. the body shop said the frame is tweaked a little, the steering rack needs work, then the obvious bumper/hood/grill/etc... They said that they felt the air bags should have gone off but didn't and to address that possible issues isn't even in the estimate.

[Senor_Taylor]

Nooo! Glad you're okay, at least.

[Jake]

I didn't realize it had an airbag!

Glad you're okay... curious to see what's next.

[Kaan]

I'm sure it will scream "compensation!"

[BLINGMW]

waaaiiiiit a second, nothing about that picture screams "totaled" when talking about a beater truck. Does it run and drive? Looks fine to me. :dunno: seriously.

Now if you're looking for an excuse to buy a nicer truck and/or are doing serious towing, well that's fine.

Glad you're ok!

[Goodspeed]

Daaaamn. Sorry Kaan

[ScottyB]

sucks, but i'd be thankful about the airbag. at that age who knows when and how hard that thing would let go. glad you guys are OK!

i'm honestly surprised its not worth fixing, i would think nearly any frame shop worth their salt is familiar with an old F150 frame.

[HAULN-SS]

I think I would've slapped a bumper on that thing, got an alignment, and kept on keepin' on as a beater if that's it's intention. And probably unplugged that airbag.

[BLINGMW]

...i would think nearly any frame shop worth their salt is familiar with an old F150 frame.

Well sure, but if their frame adjustment rig IS an F150 and a tree, then it's tough to predict the outcome.

[ViPER1313]

I think I would've slapped a bumper on that thing, got an alignment, and kept on keepin' on as a beater if that's it's intention. And probably unplugged that airbag.

This. Tis merely a flesh wound.

[Kaan]

$3800 payout on it... I think i'll take the cash.

[davej]

take the payout and buy it back.
that's what my father-in-law did after dropping an oak tree on top of his gmc. some jack hammering to get it pushed back out, new windshield and the plow/farm truck is back in business.

[Senor_Taylor]

Same. Insurance bought my first truck for WELL over what we paid for it. Bought it back and used the money to fix it and have some left over. Some how, they didn't make it a salvage title. Don't ask me why.

[Kaan]

Well I learned a very "good" lesson yesterday. If you are like me and drive older rare-ish birds... check the insurance companies 3rd party assessment of the value of your vehicle. They just kick out reports as fast as possible and don't really look at things correctly.

I get the call from the insurance company... they tell me "oh we assessed the value of your truck as $721, minus your deductible of $500, we will be sending you a check for $221" I immediately call BS on the poor insurance lady who is telling me this is what her report says. I said something like "Lets use some common sense... can you get a running, driving, 4wd pickup truck that can pass inspection for $721?!?!?!" she replies "well I guess you can in your area since the report says so." (I text Sylvia and I get the... take what you can get, it was an old beater... I wasn't satisfied)

SO... I am a little ticked at this point... and I ask to see the report. and she tells me "well if you are going to dispute the report you are going to need 3 dealer quotes for similar trucks... same make, model, etc within 100 miles... and fax it to me." So I start searching around the internet and there are NO trucks like this one. within 15 minutes or so the report shows up and I see spreadsheets and stuff... I get to data analysis.

Condition of my truck... crappy.... that's about all they got right. They didn't get all the accessories on my truck correct, they didn't take into account my truck is a 4x4, etc etc. they had 5 comparable trucks and all but 1 is 2wd. They also used private party sales for 3 of the 5 trucks... but I have to dispute with only dealer quotes? fuck that. so I keep searching and the one 4wd they have doesn't have lots of options on it... and its $3950

so I call back to dispute the report because they are using all 2wd trucks and not making an adjustment on price because of that "small detail"... the new lady on the phone was much nicer. she goes over everything with me, we check more boxes on my truck, she conferences in her boss... they put me on hold while they search for a truck, they conference in the manager at the company that ran the report... we ALL try to find more trucks... the only truck is that PA truck. The assessment company manager says "we need to adjust the price on that truck because its located in PA and if it were a VA truck it would be worth 10% more because of PA rust" ....

it took a little over an hour but I got a GOOD price out of the company. I'm guessing time well spent.