fj45 destroyed while being delivered in Central Valley

[matzell]

I imagine you have the old title and bill of sale? That should work. Do not hand it over yet, settle first with insurance. Have you spoken with either yours or their insurance? What have they said?

 

[workingdog]

I've spoken with his insurance - Progressive - and filed a claim. I've spoken with my insurance - AAA and they will let me file a claim even though it wasn't on my insurance, which is great. AAA was ready to go. An apparently, if progressive refuses coverage, they will cover it out of comprehensive - so it won't ding my rate.

I also talked to the tow yard. It's sitting in their yard accumulating $200 a day in storage fees and it is still in the trailer. If I go down there, I either have to pay them to extract it, or I have to do it myself. They are working up a quote, but I assume it will be expensive. And I'm hoping they are going to send me more pictures. The driver said everything - all three rigs and the trailer are 'toast'.

 

[whitey45]

You need a trailer with a winch, back up to the trailer, hook up and drag it out, I have extracted rigs in crazy locations and my 8274 has never let me down! Trucks sitting in weeds with flat tires and locked up brakes. I think the truck survived the fire, I have seen a 45 fire victim and the roof looked like it was melted plastic! This did not get that hot..

 

[Racer65]

Very unfortunate. What did the truck look like before the fire? Was it a restored vehicle or original?

 

[LS1FJ40]

@Lil'John - great list, I will take all that. I'm going to see if anyone in PMC has a set of 'road' wheels and tires I can borrow.

@LS1FJ40 - I'm pretty sure they are going to have to pay the $15k. The trick will be not to have it 'salvaged'. I guess they could try to say they are going to pay me market value and try to offer me less, but that would be pretty hard having just done an arms length transaction.

I wouldn't take anything for granted. If you purchase a new vehicle and get in an accident 3 months down the road the insurance company is going to try to give you "market value" which is not what you would have paid for it.

Stick to your guns. Make sure you are made whole.

 

[workingdog]

Okay, tow yard sent pictures. I think it looks pretty good - thoughts?

 

[workingdog]

@Racer65 - here a before pic

 

[seth]

@workingdog I have a set of 4 wheels that I recently pulled off my 1967 FJ45 project and replaced with new factory ones. You'd still need to throw tires on them, but I'm willing to donate them to the cause if you find yourself driving south down the 5 into LA.

-Seth

 

[thecrazygreek]

Sand blasting should be cheaper...

Looks to be just fine. You can tell when a fire gets really hot... This one seemed to have burned "around" the rig...

 

[workingdog]

@seth - how far down into LA are you?

@thecrazygreek - yes, I'm thinking sandblasting the entire thing.

It got hot enough to shatter all the glass and plastic and flatten the tires. But not hot enough to burn or melt the tires and the top looks to be in decent shape.

 

[seth]

They are in my garage in Sylmar, which is the north end of the San Fernando valley... Exit 159 off the 5.

 

[workingdog]

Okay, I got the story.

The driver was driving a dodge diesel pickup on the 10 freeway over the pass near Palmdale by the wind farm. He had the hammer down and heard a pop then saw white smoke, he opened the hood and it was already on fire. It was very windy and the truck was fully engulfed very quickly.

So, pop and then white smoke indicates to me a fuel leak on a very hot exhaust - or maybe the exhaust got too hot and just caught the rig on fire (so many of the idiots add power and don't keep an eye on exhaust temps) - either way, the diesel started to burn and it was all over. He's blaming the little gas can in the back of the 45 for making it worse, but he's lucky there wasn't a 20 gallon tank in the back, or even the original tank under the passenger seat - either would have been worse.

So, at least from a 'fault' perspective, it all looks good - so far.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

So, pop and then white smoke indicates to me a fuel leak on a very hot exhaust

Funny, the fuel and exhaust are on opposite sides of the engine on the 5.9 Cummins.

 

[4Cruisers]

2. Rent a trailer from Uhaul, and get some help at the yard to drag the rig onto the trailer. Can't figure out how else to do it. And strap it down

A cheap come-a-long and a strap will get it loaded onto the trailer w/o a winch.

 

[brian]

i think you got "lucky"...doesnt look terrible.

 

[1969FJ]

Funny, the fuel and exhaust are on opposite sides of the engine on the 5.9 Cummins.

You are correct. The newer models have the high pressure fuel rail so maybe that blew and fuel was all over the place.

 

[whitey45]

Truck looks great, totally restorable, he has the nerve to blame the fire on anything else than his negligence not maintaining his rig or pushing the egt”s through the roof and blowing his Cummins, which probably has 500k miles on it!!!

 

[workingdog]

So, now to actually get it. Have to talk to Progressive today or tomorrow. Have to wait for the title to arrive snail mail. And then I'm going down.

I'm going to need to put tires on it - rather than dragging it on and off the trailer (assuming I can get the brakes to release).
What's an original, stockish looking tire that's not $275 apiece like the Toyo Open Country?

 

[63cruiser]

Power Kings Super Traction if your looking for stocksih tires and not running the truck as a daily driver.

 

[workingdog]

Why not as a daily driver?