BakerFJ
Benny Bodangus
Got in my first accident ever the other night... Figured I'd post the story and my progress on repairs here as I'd kinda like to talk about it and seek some advice on repairs.
So the other night it was raining pretty hard, no biggie. I've always been a good driver. I was driving down a curvy hill behind this newer Ford F150, and he came around a blind turn and basically parked his truck on the road for a deer he saw, which I don't know if I believe because I think the oncoming traffic would have either slowed or hit it. But I'm biased because I'm salty. Anyways, I come around the blind turn at about 30 to find the dude parked on the street. Couldnt go around him due to oncoming traffic, and didnt know what awaited me if I took the grass, theres a ravine that road winds around so wasn't gonna take my chances. I was immediately on my ABS and turned right so i would just hit the corner of my FZJ80 with the corner of hit bumper to minimize damage. Unfortunately for me, even after reading the warnings about those crappy bull bars causing more damage than not, I left mine on because I'm young and "It would never happen to me." Psh, little did I know. The bull bar ended up pushing back into my grille, denting the metal under headlight piece, putting a nice big dent in the front of my hood, and my driver fender along with putting a big ol hole at the base of my radiator. Followed the dude for about a mile waiting for him to pull over, and then he finally did. Exchanged info etc, dude got the cops involved. Kinda glad cause I had no idea what to do other than give him my basic info haha.
Afterwards, I looked the front end over to ensure it was safe to drive. I didn't see anything puntured in my radiator so I assumed it was safe to drive the 40 minutes home. Not. Somehow the impact caused the base of the water channels at the engine side to rip up, noticed it was steaming so I pulled over and took a look. Saw my pretty red coolant everywhere, sweet, gonna have me a long night. Tried the drive until hot, pull over to cool down, etc. until I was able to exit and park in it an open area while I called Triple A... Got home hours later.
Assessed the damage-damage today, feel so gutted that my undamaged Land Cruiser is now the contrary. RIP. I'm currently a low-paid intern so I will have to find a way to fix the cosmetic damge to the best of my abilities until I drive back home to Texas in November. Currently gonna focus on the important stuff; radiator, new transmission cooler lines and oil cooler lines while I'm in there, that's the stuff that will make or break my trip home from Pennsylvania.
Needless to say, never putting that bull bar back on. I'll accept the naked front end.
Here's some pics of the damage, if anyone has parts they'd be willing to help me out with for a good deal let me know, figured it can't hurt to ask.
I'll be getting a new radiator and lines. As far as body damage goes, I'm hoping when I get home my dad can help me repair the dents and such. I'll have to do something about the hood though. Any advice is appreciated!!
So the other night it was raining pretty hard, no biggie. I've always been a good driver. I was driving down a curvy hill behind this newer Ford F150, and he came around a blind turn and basically parked his truck on the road for a deer he saw, which I don't know if I believe because I think the oncoming traffic would have either slowed or hit it. But I'm biased because I'm salty. Anyways, I come around the blind turn at about 30 to find the dude parked on the street. Couldnt go around him due to oncoming traffic, and didnt know what awaited me if I took the grass, theres a ravine that road winds around so wasn't gonna take my chances. I was immediately on my ABS and turned right so i would just hit the corner of my FZJ80 with the corner of hit bumper to minimize damage. Unfortunately for me, even after reading the warnings about those crappy bull bars causing more damage than not, I left mine on because I'm young and "It would never happen to me." Psh, little did I know. The bull bar ended up pushing back into my grille, denting the metal under headlight piece, putting a nice big dent in the front of my hood, and my driver fender along with putting a big ol hole at the base of my radiator. Followed the dude for about a mile waiting for him to pull over, and then he finally did. Exchanged info etc, dude got the cops involved. Kinda glad cause I had no idea what to do other than give him my basic info haha.
Afterwards, I looked the front end over to ensure it was safe to drive. I didn't see anything puntured in my radiator so I assumed it was safe to drive the 40 minutes home. Not. Somehow the impact caused the base of the water channels at the engine side to rip up, noticed it was steaming so I pulled over and took a look. Saw my pretty red coolant everywhere, sweet, gonna have me a long night. Tried the drive until hot, pull over to cool down, etc. until I was able to exit and park in it an open area while I called Triple A... Got home hours later.
Assessed the damage-damage today, feel so gutted that my undamaged Land Cruiser is now the contrary. RIP. I'm currently a low-paid intern so I will have to find a way to fix the cosmetic damge to the best of my abilities until I drive back home to Texas in November. Currently gonna focus on the important stuff; radiator, new transmission cooler lines and oil cooler lines while I'm in there, that's the stuff that will make or break my trip home from Pennsylvania.
Needless to say, never putting that bull bar back on. I'll accept the naked front end.
Here's some pics of the damage, if anyone has parts they'd be willing to help me out with for a good deal let me know, figured it can't hurt to ask.
I'll be getting a new radiator and lines. As far as body damage goes, I'm hoping when I get home my dad can help me repair the dents and such. I'll have to do something about the hood though. Any advice is appreciated!!