Crunched/Bent Frame - Advice

[Skott]

Bought a used 2024 Maverick Hybrid, knowing it was in an accident.

From the looks of it, the truck was rear-ended on the passenger side. The accident looks to have dented the tailgate, took a bit of paint off the tailgate, crunched my frame (behind the rear wheels, underneath the truck bed), and snapped a plastic clip on the passenger side plastic bumper.

My plan is to knock off the flaking paint on the crunched section of frame, and hit it with a rattle can of rustoleum primer, and then seeing if a body shop can get my plastic bumper to clip back in.

Should I consider having the frame straightened/pulled back?
Is there a better way to go rather than hitting the bent section with rustoleum and keeping an eye on it? Perhaps hitting this section with Fluid Film each Fall going forward?

What would you prioritize in this situation?

Thanks.

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[Master Blaster]

While any body shop with a frame straightener can easily fix and strengthen that, the moron insurance companies will not insure it. Its another parts truck.

 

[Skott]

While any body shop with a frame straightener can easily fix and strengthen that, the moron insurance companies will not insure it. Its another parts truck.

Got it. Just wondering if this is worth straightening, or leaving it.

The truck has a clean title, so insurance shouldn't be an issue. I haven't insured it yet, since I'm still waiting on the title from the state. I will call today to confirm being able to insure it.

Thanks.

 

[710-oil-614]

Have you driven it yet? How does it drive? Getting rear-ended again it might be prone to more significant damage (or injury) since it has already absorbed an impact.

However even with having it straightened it is still "compromised".

Not sure I would have made the decision you did but now that you have - I'd probably hit it with the Rustoleom and fluid film as you'd said and (hopefully) enjoy the discounted Maverick you bought for years to come.

 

[Skott]

Have you driven it yet? How does it drive? Getting rear-ended again it might be prone to more significant damage (or injury) since it has already absorbed an impact.

However even with having it straightened it is still "compromised".

Not sure I would have made the decision you did but now that you have - I'd probably hit it with the Rustoleom and fluid film as you'd said and (hopefully) enjoy the discounted Maverick you bought for years to come.

I've driven it for ~2 miles so far. Not enough time in the seat to tell if it drives different. Still waiting on title to get it registered.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[colinl]

Should I consider having the frame straightened/pulled back?

the answer to this question depends entirely on the availability of repair facilities near you able to properly perform this kind of repair. if you're in/near a metro area I would find and join a Facebook group (or maybe Discord group? IDK) for car/truck enthusiasts and see what body and frame shops are recommended. shops that repair heavy trucks often can do this, but they *don't* because unibody vehicles with this kind of damage are either totaled or left as-is. infrequently repaired.

as others mentioned, even after it's pulled back it won't have the strength it originally did before being deformed. that's probably fine. on paper, it's a concern, but honestly I would be confident it is still going to be safer than a vehicle 25+ years old and there are many such vehicles on the road today.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Got it. Just wondering if this is worth straightening, or leaving it.

The truck has a clean title, so insurance shouldn't be an issue. I haven't insured it yet, since I'm still waiting on the title from the state. I will call today to confirm being able to insure it.

Thanks.

Did an insurance pay a claim on it? If wasn't totaled should be insurable.

 

[Skott]

the answer to this question depends entirely on the availability of repair facilities near you able to properly perform this kind of repair. if you're in/near a metro area I would find and join a Facebook group (or maybe Discord group? IDK) for car/truck enthusiasts and see what body and frame shops are recommended. shops that repair heavy trucks often can do this, but they *don't* because unibody vehicles with this kind of damage are either totaled or left as-is. infrequently repaired.

as others mentioned, even after it's pulled back it won't have the strength it originally did before being deformed. that's probably fine. on paper, it's a concern, but honestly I would be confident it is still going to be safer than a vehicle 25+ years old and there are many such vehicles on the road today.

Thank you.

I think along the same lines. Even with the frame issues I've shown, I believe it's still safer than my current daily driver (19 year old, rust bucket).

 

[Skott]

Did an insurance pay a claim on it? If wasn't totaled should be insurable.

I'm not clear on what happened with the previous owner, the accident, or their insurance. I got this vehicle from Copart, so it only told me there was an accident. I was able to see the frame damage once the vehicle was delivered.

The vehicle title is clean, and is not totaled. I just called and got the Maverick added to my insurance. So insurance seems to be good to go.

 

[Maverickman74]

Since you are already outside the legal realm with your clean title all the comments about insurance this and safety that are irrelevant.

To do this the proper redneck way, you need a big tree, several straps and either a truck with a big winch or a big truck or tractor. You could try using the vehicle own force but I don't know if it's mass is sufficient. Basically you need to pick your angles right and attach straps to a tree then gently and and possibly not so gently yank against the tree. To pull the metal back straight ish. You can also heat up the a metal with a torch but that that or may not be too risky, your fire safety is your responsibility. You can also hammer on it while in tension with he pulling vehicle. It takes lots of work. Many small pulls is better than a couple huge ones.

After you have it lined up better and things are starting to square up. I would reinforce it, either with welding or bolting through a couple pieces of thick but not more that 3 times the thickness of the metal that was crunched. That way it's still at a similar strength to its original design and it won't run something else the next time it gets hit. Some trucks are just magnets like that.

Paint and many dried layers of it are your friend aswell.

I suppose if you are big money you can go to a frame shop that is willing to do it for cash and not be on their books for legal reasons. They have a big "tree" type machine that can door the work in basically the same way. Lots of small strong pulls at the right angles to get it straight, then maybe a bit of patch and a lot of paint.

 

[Mabcim]

I believe that is part of the crumple zone for a rear collision. If you do not replace the frame rail, you do not have that protection anymore. Even if they just straighten it, the metal is already fatigued. So the only proper solution is to take out the bent rails and re-weld in new ones.
If you do not plan to do that, and don’t care about the rear end risk, then only you can decide whether to leave it as is or not. At a minimum you could take it to a frame shop and get their opinion.

 

[White Thunder]

SO YOU BOUGHT IT LIKE THIS ( sorry, trying to sound sarcastic).

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