DIY Accident Damage Repair

[technovative]

I thought it may be of interest to visitors of this forum to see some before and after photo's of my 2003 Windstar repair project.



The van was traveling at aproximately 35 MPH and another car in a turn lane turned in front of the van and was T-Boned.

[This is a breif overview of the more challenging elements]

*The imact bent both frame rail ends about 4" to the right, and the right frame rail end down about 1 1/2".
*The crumple zone on the right frame rail end was pushed in about 1 1/2".
*The radiator was racked into a parallelagram, and I was able to straighten it out.
*The bumper cover, and the right headlight housing were cracked and broken and I was able to repair them with a plastic welding tool which only cost $30.

I spent $550.00 on tools and parts and it took me about 60-80 hours of labor working at a very relaxed pace.

[jkeaton224]

what about the air bags?????

[technovative]

Originally Posted by jkeaton224

what about the air bags?????

The air bags didn't deploy.

[garync1]

WOW with the grill and head lights out it almost could pass for an Auston-Martin from that photo. and 100,000 bucks cheaper to... Good job!!!

[svt28]

What did you do to straighten the frame?

[lapin_windstar]

you have the patience of a saint, sir!

just out of interest, did you get an estimate from a mechanic to see how much it would have costed for a "professional" repair job?

[technovative]

Re: (Frame Straightening) I used a 4 ton portable hydraulic kit, 10 ton pullback ram, & heavy tow chain. For those who aren't familiar with hydraulic tools the kit consists of a hand operated hydraulic pump, a small hydraulic push-ram, & an assortment of accessories like ram extensions, & pushing/jacking heads. The pullback ram is used for pulling operations and has forged hooks threaded onto each end which work well when using chain to wrap around frame components as an attachment point.

The 4 ton portable hydraulic kit cost $70.
The pullback ram cost $50.
The tow chain cost $35.

For pushing operations I either pushed against other frame components of the van, or other parked vehicles frames, and for vertical pushing/jacking operations I was working on a concrete driveway. This also allowed me to wrap a chain over the frame rail and bolt it to the concrete with heavy duty masonry anchors to facsilitate bending the frame rail end up as the weight of the vehicle was not enough to keep the entire vehicle from lifting during this process.

For pulling operations I attached the chain to a strong tree as an anchor point.

Re: (Repair Estimate) A collision repair shop approved by the insurance company quoted a price of over $7000.00 to repair the damage. After negotiating with the insurance company they agreed to total the van and cut a check for $7000.00 and they didn't want the van so the owner got to keep it.

This is a better after photo.

[lapin_windstar]

Nice!