Bent A-Pillar - Salvagable?

2002 Toyota Tundra.

is this salvageable? The passenger side A-pillar is bent.

I’m a carpenter, so when this stay at home order is lifted, despite public transit not being an attractive prospect, it isn’t practical, and I can’t afford a new vehicle.

I lost control of it on a turn on a wet road, not going very fast - don’t know if I did something dumb like hit the brakes or turn to make it worse, but it did a 180 and then barrel rolled all the way around and back to its wheels.

It’s my first vehicle, I didn’t understand how sparse myinsurance is, and nothing of this damage is covered.

 

Sorry buddy, that's toast. Sounds like you weren't hurt so that's the best news.

 

Well, shoot.
So what do I do with a heap of trash like this?

 

Rough timing. Normally I would say sell it to an auction house for a small amount of money, as those kinds of trucks get snapped up and sent overseas. But with cross border issues going on, your best bet is to either sell it to a scrapper or try to Craigslist it.

 

Might as well part out what you can at this point. Airbags are always sought after, assuming they didn't blow in this crash.

 

I'm guessing you only had liability on the truck, given its age and your financial situation?

 

I hope not. Especially if the OP was carrying around tools and such.

 

She said her insurance doesn't cover the type of accident she was in...? I have full coverage on my Taco; Hitting a deer is considered an act of god by my insurance company so I would have no deductible and my rates would not go up!

 

ugh, when the roof and pillars are damaged like this, it makes it very very complicated to attempt a repair. A reputable bodyshop can tell you if they can do anything about this, but there is a limit to what they can do

If you want to keep the truck, the best option is to find a new cab (that is, if the body damage on the rest of the truck does not bother you), or if not, sell it for the parts

But it is very bad timing indeed. Now is not the time to go shopping for parts or receive people interested in what you have for sale

 

Sorry man that’s toast. It’s going to total out the truck trying to fix that.

@Empty_Lord

 

Donor truck and swap the whole cab, or have a body shop replace the whole top with a donor.. no fixing that without it looking horrible not to mention structural integrity would be ruined if it were pull out and “fixed”. Only proper fix is replace from pilars up or swap whole cab

 

Man, that is a sad sight. Ist gen Tundras are really fine trucks. I always loved that color too. And it looks to be a Limited.

I agree with donor truck approach. But, even before you try to find one, I would haul it to a decent body shop that does frame straightening and see if its twisted. It might cost you $1000 just to start with a straight frame. That cost plus a donor might just be too much.

Sorry for the bad luck.

 

You guys are all tripping, it’s really not that bad!! The roof is not very hard to replace on the first gen tundra and a porta power will fix the a pillar no problem. If you are just trying to get it going again it’s very feasible... if you want it to be a show truck that’s a different story.

 

the only reason straightening the a pillar would be ill advised is the structural integrity would be compromised. without reinforcing it, if it were to roll the outcome could be much worse.

a cab honestly shouldnt be too hard or expensive to find.. theres plenty of rotted out tundras with clean cabs out there. I paid 250 bucks (around that) for the complete bed on my 05 Tundra

 

car-part theres a few listed. a clean looking gold cab shell (no accessories) for $700
wouldnt be a small task, but its also not a hard task to swap everything over.

or just buy a cheap Cab and swap the roof over with the pillars... its all spot welds.

 

Sad really when you need to pay labor out of pocket to have the work done

It would be a easy job for someone skilled to replace the top of the cab hard to say if the complete cab might be cheaper till it was said and done .

Gotta agree about pulling the A pillar out like flexing metal each time it gets weaker .

If she can live with interior reinforcement it might be an option then it comes down to liability if any shop would even touch a job like this.

Quite different when working on your own vehicle .

Best of Luck

 

Swapping the cab is going to be the cheapest and safest option The donor cab should have all the doors, windshield and moldings that you would need. It wouldn't be fast for a novice person to do that swap but it is possible.
Or, you can part it out and then scrap the rest. I'm sure someone out there needs a motor/trans, rear end ect.
* edit * I just checked car-part.com for a cab and they are around $1000 complete with doors and everything else. $1k + shipping + the time to do the swap I think it's just better to part it out and spend $2-3k on a beater just to get around in for a while.

 

Ok guys, let’s not encourage any insurance fraud of any type here.