BEGINNER NEEDS HELP

[drummacompton]

Well, decided to go on some private property, and "Jump" my Bronco off of a six ft tall hill, it had a small bump to go up on. and i hit it going about 30 in 4wd. anyways. came down hard, front right is really low. and looks collapsed in. the right front panel is all ****** up, and hood is ****** up. looks as though the engine is crooked? Now the right front tire is turned inward somehwhat. the top is going inward. what could have happened? someone suggested upper ball joints. don't know much about cars. but anyone know how much i should expect to spend on fixing it. and what else is possibly wrong? probably will do the work with my father.

oh, and 93 bronco. edddie bauer. 351w. completely stock.

 

[Broncobill78]

Well, here's the short answer. You f*cked up your truck.

Without photos or an accurate description it's next to impossible to diagnose. If I had to take a wild a$$ guess I'd say there's a fairly good chance you bent the frame. Get out your tape measure & see if the frame is still square, that's where I'd start anyways. Does your Dad have a frame jig in his toolbox ? Last time I was in a body shop I seem to recall frame work going for around $160/hr but that was several yrs back.

Well, decided to go on some private property, and "Jump" my Bronco off of a six ft tall hill, it had a small bump to go up on. and i hit it going about 30 in 4wd. anyways. came down hard, front right is really low. and looks collapsed in. the right front panel is all ****** up, and hood is ****** up. looks as though the engine is crooked? Now the right front tire is turned inward somehwhat. the top is going inward. what could have happened? someone suggested upper ball joints. don't know much about cars. but anyone know how much i should expect to spend on fixing it. and what else is possibly wrong? probably will do the work with my father.oh, and 93 bronco. edddie bauer. 351w. completely stock.

 

[Seabronc]

I'm with Broncobill78, it's probably going to cost you a bundle. Front suspension parts are not cheap and I don't think Ford intended for it to jump off 6 ft. high hills. It sounds like the motor mounts may be broken as well a bunch of stuff in the suspension. When you get the front fender off take some pictures of the damage. Some of the parts you can get at a junkyard, but you will have to buy some of them new also. Try looking at http://www.lmctruck.com and http://www.broncograveyard.com.

Good luck,

>-

 

[bidibronco]

Moral of the story: Don't jump your Bronco off of a 6ft hill.

I concure with everything that's been said, snap some photo's and see if anyone can help you out a bit. Also, before you go jumping your Bronc' you may want to invest in a beefy solid axle up front and a beefy new axle out back and some nice coilover shocks with about 20" of travel and some other racing style stuff... oh yeah, Bronco's weren't ment to jump 6' in the air, did we mention that? Well, aside from the jokes it does sound like you're in for some major fixing so be ready for anything and everything. I would also invest in a nice air comressor and some nice air tools like an impact wrench and an air hammer/chisle. Hope you get it done and don't side step nothing, if it needs to be done, do it right or you'll end up doing it again, trust me. I let a friend do a "quick" change on something on my Bronco and I had to go back and fix it. keep us informed...

 

[drummacompton]

Yeah, I know I'm a *******. Mistakes happen. This was kinda like my thing that kicked in reality ya kno what I mean. Now, I actually care about my shit. Trust me, that was the scariest thing I've ever lived through. Anyways, I've been contemplating just finding another bronco. Because I'd like an earlier year, and a stick. And bronco's are fairly common around these parts in michigan, at least a few come up for sale each month. And if there's frame damage, I don't even want to mess with it. Maybe could part it out? So, if there's frame damage, would it be worth it to fix it? Because I paid about 2200 for the bronco. Is it ok to drive it like this, or am I really taking a big risk. I took insurance off and parked in the back alley.

 

[Broncobill78]

Ok, now pls understand that I'm not trying to be mean here, but I just have to repeat it. You f*ucked up your truck.

It's still not possible to really diagnose it from the pics (would be much better if you pulled off the hood & fender) but I think the photos show us enough. I'll tell you right now that fixing it is going to go *way* past any $2200 that you paid for it. If by some chance you haven't bent the frame (and if you did you're looking @ at least 10+ hrs of work to realign it) you certainly *have* trashed the suspension on that side and quite possibly bent that axle tube. I hate to harsh your buzz but I think the best thing you can do with it is to hang onto it & use it as a parts truck for the Bronco that you now need to go out & buy to replace this one. Maybe I'm wrong (but I'm probably not) so you should really have someone local look at it to be sure but from the damage I can see in the photos there's just no way you're going to repair that truck for anything even close to reasonable money. Don't get me wrong, it can surely be fixed but unless you have the shop-space, the time & the knowledge to do it yourself you're easily looking at $4K or something close to it. It's NEVER cost effective to pay other people to fix damage that extensive. If you have a sentimental attachment to it and can do most of the work yourself that's one thing but I'm not getting that sort of vibe from you.

On the other hand I'm happy to hear that you've learned something. I too have jumped my Bronco a good 6+ feet in the air, but I did it with a truck running 38" tires, 8" of lift & Dana 60 axles. The guy behind me thought it looked so cool he'd try it himself but unfortunately he was running a bone stock Blazer and landed so hard his front driveshaft came up & obliterated his starter and he tweaked his frame badly enough that the doors wouldn't open. These trucks can be a lot of fun (as you now know) but there really are limits to what you can & should do in a *stock* vehicle. These can be very hard & expensive lessons to learn and I think you'll find that a lot of us here have learned these lessons the same way, most of us can speak from experience.

Anyways, I think you should start looking for a new Bronco & in the meantime (since you don't have anything better to do) you might take off the hood & fender so someone can take a look at it for you and if you do post a few more pics for us.

Yeah, I know I'm a *******. Mistakes happen. This was kinda like my thing that kicked in reality ya kno what I mean. Now, I actually care about my shit. Trust me, that was the scariest thing I've ever lived through. Anyways, I've been contemplating just finding another bronco. Because I'd like an earlier year, and a stick. And bronco's are fairly common around these parts in michigan, at least a few come up for sale each month. And if there's frame damage, I don't even want to mess with it. Maybe could part it out? So, if there's frame damage, would it be worth it to fix it? Because I paid about 2200 for the bronco. Is it ok to drive it like this, or am I really taking a big risk. I took insurance off and parked in the back alley.

 

[bidibronco]

From the third picture it "looks" like you may have hurt the accordian part of the frame. From the other two it looks like you blew the shocks, traction beam and radius arm but I can't be sure without pictures of those items. You may even destroyed your front cross member or something of the sort. It's all up to how much work you feel like doing and how much this Bronco actually means to you. If something like this happend to my Bronco I would be more than happy to fix it up but my Bronco has never let me down when I needed it and it carried my wife to the doctor when she was having my son and it was what brought my son home from the hospital for the first time and my son loves it so I'll hopefully keep it up and in good enough condition for the next 14 years and hopefully it wont be outlawed so my son can have it. It's all up to you though.... If you get the fender off take some more pictures and if you can get under it take pictures of anything you can.

 

[Broncobill78]

You're asking if it's safe to drive in it's current condition ??? Do me a favor & go out and take another look at it ok ?

No, you don't want to drive it. You'll be pushing & dragging that tire everywhere and I guarantee that you'll make what's already been done worse. Your suspension & steering are thouroughly trashed and completely unsafe. On top of that you've taken the insurance off it so when (please note I didn't say *if*) something else snaps & you lose control and push that brand new Mercedes into the back of the brand new BMW in front of it then you're going to be *personally* liable for the damages. Perhaps I'm wrong but I don't get the feeling from your posts that you're old enough to absorb a $150K shot to the nuts and I absolutely promise that you're not young enough to avoid the heart attack you'll have when that realization hits you.

. Is it ok to drive it like this, or am I really taking a big risk.

 

[drummacompton]

You're asking if it's safe to drive in it's current condition ??? Do me a favor & go out and take another look at it ok ?
No, you don't want to drive it. You'll be pushing & dragging that tire everywhere and I guarantee that you'll make what's already been done worse. Your suspension & steering are thouroughly trashed and completely unsafe. On top of that you've taken the insurance off it so when (please note I didn't say *if*) something else snaps & you lose control and push that brand new Mercedes into the back of the brand new BMW in front of it then you're going to be *personally* liable for the damages. Perhaps I'm wrong but I don't get the feeling from your posts that you're old enough to absorb a $150K shot to the nuts and I absolutely promise that you're not young enough to avoid the heart attack you'll have when that realization hits you.

. Is it ok to drive it like this, or am I really taking a big risk.

I don't think anyone could take that kinda hit. I start a new job making 13 an hour, at 60 hours a week. so i think i'll just find a temporary vehicle. but

I meant driving it once I put insurance back on it. I drove it home from almost a half hour away from the accident, and it drove completely fine besides a bit of rubbing on the front right tire, took off the trim, and it doesn't rub. It still steers and everything, i've looked and I'm no mechanic, but it doesn't seem like anything got really damaged. but i'm not a mechanic. so don't even bother putting insurance on it? I think I'll take it to my dads work and have him check it out to be sure.

 

[BLADE262US]

Hmmmm all I can say would be what the F@@K were you thinking /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I guess we all learn somehow . But the good news is I am in MI as well and I have a 92 ****** ( unjumped ) frame Ill sell you if you want to put it back together .

 

[Seabronc]

I don't think anyone could take that kinda hit. I start a new job making 13 an hour, at 60 hours a week. so i think i'll just find a temporary vehicle. butI meant driving it once I put insurance back on it. I drove it home from almost a half hour away from the accident, and it drove completely fine besides a bit of rubbing on the front right tire, took off the trim, and it doesn't rub. It still steers and everything, i've looked and I'm no mechanic, but it doesn't seem like anything got really damaged. but i'm not a mechanic. so don't even bother putting insurance on it? I think I'll take it to my dads work and have him check it out to be sure.

The only way you will be able to tell for sure is to take off the fender and take a real good look at it. From the pictures it looks like the wheel is further back than it should be, but that may only be your camera angle. We are not there to look at it and can only offer an opinion based on the pictures and what you told us.

Good luck,

>-

 

[bluesman17]

I recommend an alignment :-"