What now? Need advice please.

I know my beloved 4 banger Prerunner was not much compared to most of the amazing builds that I enjoy reading about here on our forum. But I spent a great deal of time and care to make sure it was done right.

That is until three weeks ago when a deer took the front end out of it. It bent something in the steering on the driver side, which will be diagnosed this coming week. It put two small dents in the drivers door and just below. But from the best I can tell there’s nothing there other than those two small dents that is not a bolt on fix.

What I am asking from you guys his suggestions. I’ll post a photo of the damage and would love to hear what you have to say as far as putting it back.

 

First and foremost, figure out why the wheel is crooked. Frame damage isn't likely, but still possible.. I guess..

 

Post some more pics showing the frame, upper /lower a-arms, steering rack, etc

 

First of all if it's undesireable specifications such as:
-prerunner
-2.7
-5spd
-auto
you may be better off pushing it down a cliff

second, if you decide to perform repairs, or diagnosis
realize this.
Normally, car suspensions are sacrificial. Aluminum, as a weak point, to protect the vehicle. They bend, and get replaced. Hopefully shock not big enough to transmit deeper into the vehicle. Like subframe. Bolts that hold it on. The position it's in. Or tweaking unibody, frame rails

the truck is different. It has
-frame, no subframes or unibody
-can't use weak aluminum suspension, it has to be steel. It can transmit more force unfortunately, but it's still weak stamped steel design
-suspension attaches to frame mounting points; any of those can go bad whether crash or not
-shocks can bend
-wheel bearings are generally sensitive to a hit
-parts like control arms, spindle, etc that can bend, can be hard to diagnose. Alignment rack may say specs are out. There's multiple ways to do this. Comparing left to right side, whether part is on or off the truck. Held by hand, look by eye. Or measurements.
Or holding next to new.
Or measuring in relation to other components. Like "oh wow, my other control arm is much closer to the tire than the opposite side, therefore it is bent"

you can also make a square from jackstands around the truck to measure at center hub points, to see if anything is deviated

that is similar what body shops do, when they are determining if a vehicle needs chain pulling, or checking if it's bent vs. straight
they will measure the hell out of things, comparing sides, etc. almost like drawing a map of the truck
if it does need pulling, they put it on a frame jig and pull. $200-300+
in-house do it all body shops usually have all that stuff

sway bar, those are meant to be thrown away

I see maybe a bent fender. Cheap. Clips broke on the flare. They do that on their own anyway.
tie rod *might* be bent. Probably worn out anyway. I know my inner, outer (TRE) and rack are.
Spindle, you can get gusseted ones. On a worthy truck.
LCA, probably worn out by now anyway. Same for bearings.

panel gaps at the headlight, grill, hood, fender, don't look crazy in the pic

bumper cover broke but who cares. They're $50

foglight probably broke

you could potentially get the advice of a body shop person, could be free or small price consultation
Insurance tracks how much they pay on a vehicle. After enough collisions they may try to total it.

Dents, PDR guys can usually fix.

I'd be concerned about checking frame, and frame attachment points. So that nothing is bent. Given those are big ticket items that are costly and harder to replace. A frame is generally stronger than a control arm, and a control arm will generally fail first.
But it doesn't always happen that way, if a hit is hard enough, where and what angle the hit is. And if the force gets transmitted through deep, which is a small possibility given that despite being stamped, the control arms are still iron or steel and not soft aluminum.

if you are around deer, a full headlight hoops steel bumper should help with that
which if the truck is 2.7L, it won't like that weight

 

Hey all, I’m not ignoring everyone just covered up right now. I’ll sit down and read through all of this as soon as I stop at a few fires. I do have an appointment to drop the truck off to a trusted mechanic nearby who has alignment and frame capabilities. He’s going to do an assessment and put together a cost estimate. I’ll be posting more soon as I get a chance. As well as the dash cam footage.