This is what happened to my tahoe in May

[th3 shifty]

I had just finished all the mechanical things and had it running perfect, just swapped to the MPFI.. things were good. Let my 17yr old take it to school for 2 weeks, the. She runs into a car in front of her.. At first look, yeah it needs a hood, fenders core support, bumper, radiator, exct.

Tore it all to pieces only to see the passenger frame horn was bent. Let it sit for a few months trying to decide to fix or trash it. Well I decided to fix it, got on to LMC and ordered everything. Just this week I finally was able to find a shop that #1 was available in a decent time frame, #2 was willing to do it. So right now it’s at the collision ago on a frame machine getting pulled. More to come… this will be my build thread

 

[97YukonNZ]

Damn!!!!
What did the other guy look like?
Is part of the rebuild going to include a bullbar for when the daughter drives her again!

 

[OR VietVet]

I am sure the shop will but make sure you get a printout, if has the capabilities for it, of the frame readouts and see if it has a "diamond" in the frame and what the before and after readings are. It will never align correctly if it does. If the damage is all in front of the cross member, you got lucky.

 

[BlackBearPerf]

Ouch! Hopefully, she is okay.

 

[th3 shifty]

Other car was a 2019 Ford expedition, didn’t really damage that car as much as I thought it would have. According to insurance they paid out $3,200 to fix theirs. So far I have spent $1,100 at LMC, another $400 at Rockauto. Going to do the work myself as I do all my own stuff as much as I can(I can’t do a frame lol)

 

[B-train]

I had just finished all the mechanical things and had it running perfect, just swapped to the MPFI.. things were good. Let my 17yr old take it to school for 2 weeks, the. She runs into a car in front of her.. At first look, yeah it needs a hood, fenders core support, bumper, radiator, exct.

Tore it all to pieces only to see the passenger frame horn was bent. Let it sit for a few months trying to decide to fix or trash it. Well I decided to fix it, got on to LMC and ordered everything. Just this week I finally was able to find a shop that #1 was available in a decent time frame, #2 was willing to do it. So right now it’s at the collision ago on a frame machine getting pulled. More to come… this will be my build thread

My wife had the same truck years back and the front horn got bent on hers too from a low speed impact with a curb and pole from a broken tie rod. Thankfully it was less than 15 mph, but it did damage. Luckily I didn't have to put very many body parts on it. Straightened the frame and good to go.

 

[th3 shifty]

Good to hear, just waiting on the shop to give me a call

 

[Hoesgottaeat2]

Glad it sounds everyone is ok. And congratulations on your new project. Keep us updated.

 

[th3 shifty]

Yes she was totally
Fine, crazy thing, airbags never went off.. oh well didn’t need them I guess. Another funny thing, when she calls me from the scene, first thing she says is “Dad, I wasn’t on my phone, but I got in an accident “….. says the girl who’s phone is practically glued to her hand.. lol

 

[OR VietVet]

Yes she was totally
Fine, crazy thing, airbags never went off.. oh well didn’t need them I guess. Another funny thing, when she calls me from the scene, first thing she says is “Dad, I wasn’t on my phone, but I got in an accident “….. says the girl who’s phone is practically glued to her hand.. lol

I have come close to 2 different accidents because other people were on their phones. I could see the phones in their hands. I am sorry but your daughter was at fault for talking on the phone when she should have been PAYING ATTENTION.

 

[Fless]

I have come close to 2 different accidents because other people were on their phones. I could see the phones in their hands. I am sorry but your daughter was at fault for talking on the phone when she should have been PAYING ATTENTION.

She's innocent about the phone thing until proven guilty. We shouldn't jump to conclusions.

 

[OR VietVet]

Both times, ran red lights just as I started in to the intersection.

 

[th3 shifty]

Truck came back from the collision center today, only had enough time to get it off the tow truck and put on my RV PAD before I had to come to work. I’m on for the next 3 days so I will probably start the tear down Friday or Saturday.
1st item of business is to remove/cut out the old radiator support, remove the passenger fender. Then onto pressure washing the carriage so I can remove the steering box for a new one.

 

[shegarty]

Glad to hear your daughter is okay. If the airbags didn't deploy on a collision that caused that much damage you might want to go over the entire system and make sure all your impact sensors are functional. It's possible that the system was not functioning correctly but didn't throw any codes.

 

[GTRhino24]

I run a collision center. While our OBS are built like tanks, they don’t really stand up to today’s vehicles in a crash. Mild steel frames bend like butter compared to the ultra-high strength unibody structures of today. It takes a lot off of the felt impact, but typically does a LOT more damage to ours. Glad your daughter is safe and glad you found a shop to take that on. Luckily she squared it up which takes the diamond condition out of the equation usually. Good luck with the rest and let me know if you have any questions as this is literally all I do every day.

 

[th3 shifty]

Awesome info and thank you.

 

[th3 shifty]

So does anyone have a good source for a radiator core support that is NOT super thin metal? Or would I be better off going with a used factory piece?

 

[th3 shifty]

Found a local yard that had a good core support for $125… snapped that up. I got one from LKC which I deem. Good supplier, but was super thin metal..

 

[th3 shifty]

The radiator support I got from the bone yard, they pulled it for me

As the truck sits now

All the parts waiting to go on

And the powder coated items, front bumper and the tow hooks

You can see the satin black bumper in the pic above

 

[OR VietVet]

LMC and RA, great sources.