Crazy accident.

[rubi2022sc]

So the other morning on my way to work my gate hit the front passenger tire of gladiator (gate randomly shut as a result of reset of operator by flicker of power). I got out of the car and saw no visible damage to the tire, fender or bumper but the steering wheel was upside down. Took the vehicle in and was told the front transfer case was twisted along with the trailing arm on the passenger side. Overall damage was 6,000.00. Luckily insurance is covering the damage but I am perplexed at how much the cost of the damage is from the front tire being hit at 3-5 miles per hour. My thought was the front end would take more hits on trail compared to this.

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[rharr]

i would get a second opinion.

Transfer case is a separate system from steering and can't picture how it can be damaged on a side impact to a tire.

 

[RustySeatbelt]

Well that's some BS. There's only one transfer case, and it can't twist from that. What trailing arm? One of the front or rear control arms? Not a chance it twisted from that. They're defrauding your insurance. You just need to loosen the pinch nut on your steering link and twist either clock, or counter clockwise. See if that doesn't fix the steering wheel.

Skip to 30 minutes to see how:

 

[Summitsearcher]

Yeah, something not right with this explanation.

 

[Rubiwoo]

SOunds like BS to me too

 

[Pescado]

No way that happened....

 

[j.o.y.ride]

They will keep your truck 2 weeks, do zero work, and charge the ins. co. $6k

 

[rharr]

You can readjust the steering, but if the steering wheel was straight and now no longer straight while driving straight something has bent. Adjusting with be a bandaid. My guess is your aluminum knuckle is bent, or the tie rod or tie rod end is messed up. To many variables to armchair diagnose. Need to take it to place then understands how things work.

 

[pm4045]

I agree the explanation listed about sounds ridiculous, but I also don't think that based on the OPs description an accurate assessment of the damage is possible, a second opinion seems warranted

 

[OngsterA]

Sorry to hear but that's a blind estimate, I'd stay away from that shop. Get a couple of second opinions. The steering wheel out of position tells a steering and/or suspension part is affected, needs to be checked out, even if the truck still drove straight with that wheel off.

And I thought those gates have a self-retracting feature for safety. Seems way too much damage caused, that's a valid question.

 

[Phred]

Define twist…

How does a transfer case “twist”.

makes no sense…

 

[Redruby]

I have to agree, sounds like a big snow job. Take it to an alignment shop for a 2nd opinion they usually don’t charge to look at it

 

[booneja]

I would say the shop pers are crazy, not the accident

 

[Terry]

So the other morning on my way to work my gate hit the front passenger tire of gladiator (gate randomly shut as a result of reset of operator by flicker of power). I got out of the car and saw no visible damage to the tire, fender or bumper but the steering wheel was upside down. Took the vehicle in and was told the front transfer case was twisted along with the trailing arm on the passenger side. Overall damage was 6,000.00. Luckily insurance is covering the damage but I am perplexed at how much the cost of the damage is from the front tire being hit at 3-5 miles per hour. My thought was the front end would take more hits on trail compared to this.

Get another opinion. This makes no sense.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

I did not see the upside down steering wheel comment before... but I also don't get how the vehicle would drive like that. Usually throws a code if it's mildly out of alignment let alone 180*.

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