frame bent

D

dirty12

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Joined
Apr 20, 2009
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101
Ok i have a interesting story. I have a 18 2500 long bed Larmie longhorn ram. So back in nov a girl pulled out in front of me at a grocery store parking lot and i hit here on the side at about 10 to 15 miles an hour. My truck has a ranch hand bumper which i think is what caused a bent frame. So long story i get it to body shop and they order new frame. So this goes on for months and come to find out i guess new frame came in and they told me it was a little different from mine. Main thing was there was no holes for anything and in order to drill holes they had to call in a Chrysler engineer which took some more months. So after 8 months of screwing around i get my truck back. Problem is now all the wiring is a horrible mess. Nothing got attched to frame because most of the holes are not there for wires to push in. So i get looking more and my factory gooseneck hitch looks like its missing some bolts on the side. So i start looking online at hitchs and none of them look like mine. Come to fine out the hitch i have in my truck now is a 19-22 hitch. Now i am wondering if the didnt put a 19 or newer frame in my 18 truck. Any body have any insight on the frame models ? At this point i am trying to figure out what to do. Thinking maybe time to get lawyer involved.
 
From my experience with my wife having a frame put under her Wrangler when she was hit, send the vehicle up the road. The shop will never get everything aligned properly like they do in the factory. The shop basically had to rebuild your truck, especially if they don't even have the holes in the correct spot in the frame. If you have a very late 18 there is a possibility that parts of it are from 19.
 
56cummins said:
The shop should have returned the frame.
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^^^ Bingo.

I can't believe they didn't total the truck. I also can't see how a full frame replacement would be economical. Another thing I can't see is how a body shop (at least one with frame straightening capabilities) couldn't fix the current frame; especially, one damaged from a low-speed collision with a ranch hand on it. It is an art and isn't taught in collision repair as much anymore as well since most vehicles are basically disposable.

Those big ass bumpers do propagate damage further back into the frame assembly since they do not crush like the OEM trash. The shop should have called you and told you about all the missing holes and had you grant permission to install anyway. At that point, it is on you if it doesn't work out to cover the labor to make it work. Sounds like a cut-rate body shop to me. That would have never flown in dad's shop. Either they didn't order the correct year model frame or they ordered some third party trash that wasn't to OEM specs. Personally.....I'd have been pissed if they did that to my truck without any knowledge of it and it would be parked at their doorstep waiting on full repairs back to the OEM configuration. $.02
 
Yeah, your insurance company should be told you want a proper replacement...you got a hack job.

I have "made stuff fit" before when parts were no longer available, or it was changed and there were no other options, but we would have made sure you were:

A. Told in advance that there is an issue, we have no options, here's what will be different.
B. Found ways to properly anchor harnesses and things like factory, so that you wouldn't notice it easily. Not saying it would be factory, but it's not hard in most cases to not making it noticeable without major inspection.

Since that vehicle is so new, none of those issues should be possible, they just wanted rid of it without waiting for another frame...

Chris
 
I can’t believe they didn’t total it either. I pleaded and pleaded with them to do it, but they said the truck is worth too much. Has to be 75 percent damaged dollar wise to total. much cheaper to change the frame as far as to try to straighten the frame out. I guess it bent it up on the front, and if it bends there on the front, they said that they will not straighten them back. So now next week it’s going back to a different body shop in my hometown and I told him I want to thing tour all the way down and everything fixed back to factory. So will see how long this takes. Pretty insane that I have paid eight months of truck payments and insurance and then get it back like this only person getting screwed is me.
 
dirty12 said:
I can’t believe they didn’t total it either. I pleaded and pleaded with them to do it, but they said the truck is worth too much. Has to be 75 percent damaged dollar wise to total. much cheaper to change the frame as far as to try to straighten the frame out. I guess it bent it up on the front, and if it bends there on the front, they said that they will not straighten them back. So now next week it’s going back to a different body shop in my hometown and I told him I want to thing tour all the way down and everything fixed back to factory. So will see how long this takes. Pretty insane that I have paid eight months of truck payments and insurance and then get it back like this only person getting screwed is me.
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Are you sure insurance is covering anything at the new shop you dropped it off at? Don't forget your diminished value which should be pretty hefty on a truck that new. With my dealings with insurance, I think you're at a dead end unless you get an attorney. Unfortunately their the only ones that seem to get the insurance company's attention. I've been told numerous bold face lies by insurance company's. It's a ****ty world now days.
 
dirty12 said:
Much cheaper to change the frame as far as to try to straighten the frame out. I guess it bent it up on the front, and if it bends there on the front, they said that they will not straighten them back.
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Who told you that? Body shop or insurance? Whomever said that is needs loaded in a bull's ass and schidt in the river. They obviously don't have the frame straightening equipment nor the knowledge of how to use it. I used to love sitting at the shop growing up and watching the guys work on frames. It's a little 'artistic' if you will. I remember when Chief's Easy Liner started getting popular. It was light years ahead of what we ever had. All the Vo-techs started getting them. That's been a few years for sure.

Frame Repair - Chief Technology

Cool back ground story: The Legend of Lavell Chisum, Creator of Chief EZ Liner
 
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From my experience, body shops overall aren't great with mechanical repairs. You'd be better off finding a good diesel shop that is used to removing cabs all day. Doing a frame swap may sound complicated to those not setup for it, but it really isn't a big deal with a truck this new. Frame swap would be about a 2-2.5 day job on a truck like yours....if the part is right. They never should have followed through with an incorrect frame like that. And trust me, it wasn't correct if the holes weren't there.
 
thatguy69 said:
Are you sure insurance is covering anything at the new shop you dropped it off at? Don't forget your diminished value which should be pretty hefty on a truck that new. With my dealings with insurance, I think you're at a dead end unless you get an attorney. Unfortunately their the only ones that seem to get the insurance company's attention. I've been told numerous bold face lies by insurance company's. It's a ****ty world now days.
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sounds like my kinda deals..good luck man....my trucks been in shop 3 mos now..mule for over 6
 
4x4dually said:
Who told you that? Body shop or insurance? Whomever said that is needs loaded in a bull's ass and schidt in the river. They obviously don't have the frame straightening equipment nor the knowledge of how to use it. I used to love sitting at the shop growing up and watching the guys work on frames. It's a little 'artistic' if you will. I remember when Chief's Easy Liner started getting popular. It was light years ahead of what we ever had. All the Vo-techs started getting them. That's been a few years for sure.

Frame Repair - Chief Technology

Cool back ground story: The Legend of Lavell Chisum, Creator of Chief EZ Liner
Click to expand...


body shop told me that
 
So truck is going to a body shop that i picked tomorrow. They are going to go through the whole truck and make a new quote to fix all the stuff. Then my insurance is sending the bill to the last body shop that messed it up. Sounds like old shop is footing it. I am telling him i dont care what you have to do i want it back to factory. No half a&%
 
Any updates from the new body shop?


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Sorry guys been on Vacation at West for two weeks so I took it to my body shop and they wanted an exact quote so the other old body shop could pay the bill and my guys start going through and said it was impossible to give a quote so he bailed out on me, so I just said the hell with it ordered all the bolts in the new wire connectors and crap. I’m just gonna try to fix it the best I can. Just tired of messing with these stupid places
 
Man. That’s disappointing. I was hoping someone would get your truck back to what it should have been in the first place.


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