The story behind my bent frame and broken coilovers

fuck man.... this is why im not a big fan of higher speed shit in the truck unless its a good n flat road or i can see farther out / have traveled the road very recently ill cruise.

Always makes me chuckle when peeps think they can take a 4000lb + vehicle n mob it with all of 8-9in of suspenion through the desert.... when it takes 11-12in on a 250lb dirtbike to do the same. Shit goes straight to bumpstop plain n simple.

This is why i have a dirtbike!

 

Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but it seems like your heavily loaded rear bumper may have contributed to the frame buckling over the bump stops. Weight plus leverage. I never would have thought of that until I saw your pictures.

 

Mind if I ask how much preload you have dialed into these coilovers?

 

Buffer will be done tomorrow. If the axle is bent that should fix it

Dam....

 

Thats the first question Icon asked when I called for replacement top plates. The passenger side has none at all and the driver has about an inch to compensate for taco lean. The lift all comes from the spindles which is 4". I think the bumps just werent enough. The UCAs went up into the wheel well and took a nice chunk out of it. I think bettee bumps and higher spring rate to compensate for the weight up front could have prevented those from breaking

 

Thanks for that. I wound up having to go to 14"-700lb springs on mine when I hit the maximum allowable preload (2.13" exposed threads per Icon) with standard springs. I like to play in the desert and pay attention when I see threads like this. Hate to see all that damage.

 

When rex told me about this yesterday I didn't think it was super crazy bad


I retract my statement....shit god damn

 

hold shit that....and I thought some messed up alignment and bent sway arm links were bad. I enjoy myself a good run in the dessert as well. Hopefully it all works out. I guess slowing down on some of those desert road will be in store for me until I can get a high speed friendly LT setup many years from now.

Good luck and hopefully you dont have to deal with a totaled truck and getting all your shit off. Had to do that with a car a few years ago. Luckily the adjuster was cool and gave me a few days before they picked it up.

 

Damn, good luck with the repairs. Pretty sure I'll end up borderline destroying my truck some day like this.

 

You should see it in person... the front end squats so low and so does the rear, but the center of the truck sticks up high haha it looks so dumb the pics dont do justice. I cant wait till next weekend to have it all straightened. Finally have all my bumpers and panels fit right again and plus boxing it all up will give me good peace of mind.

Just got the coilovers fixed tonight so itll be back on the road tomorrow. Just gonna put as few miles as possible on it till i can determine if the axle is bent or not

 

Box the frame before its too late. The money now will save you lots down the road if something like this ever happens. These C channel frames are terrible for taking a beating

 

Note to self, stop driving quick over railroad tracks.

 

indeed, noted.

 

Just box it with 1/4 plate or is there a good kit that has all the pieces preferably something dimple died for strength and weight or the like?

 

DMZ fab will send you pre cut dimple died frame plates and they're not too pricey just have to weld them in, or jeffzorz can cut some up too.

 

Dude, awesome. Maybe not awesome for your wallet but shit you put work in! I'm impressed, hopefully we are planning for LT after this gets fixed

 

Looks like it's time to throw a full-floating axle in the rear...

 

It's easy to check the rear axle housing yourself. (With the help of a friend) Jack up the axle. Make a single mark on the tread of both tires. Turn the tires so the marks are at the front and measure between them. Turn the tires so the marks are at the rear and remeasure. Then measure with marks at the bottom. All distances should be the same.

 

well no better time to clean up that pesky rear panel then right?