Had a wreck - is this fixable?!?

[wesjtx]

No, not a dealer, at least not IME, a body expert is what you should search out.
Good luck with whatever you do, sucks to have your ride on the operating table

I only went to dealer as the body experts I know with independent shops sent me there as they don’t have frame machines and they had incredible things to say about this particular dealer. Asked on our local Jeep FB group and got tons of opinions and info before making my decision. It’s not an easy one when it’s your baby!

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[wesjtx]

Looks like you have an opportunity to upgrade!

https://genright.com/products/jl-exs-suspension-system-complete-frame.html

Haha, if only the payout was enough to pay for that. Love the GenRight stuff. Shop I used to work at did a few of the Elite JK setups and they were pretty damn awesome.

 

[JEEP4U]

Well if you have the skill. The cost of a new frame plus labor cost to R&R. Have the insurance cut you a check and perform the upgrade yourself.

 

[jjvincent]

If it gets totaled, I bet it will show up here within 6 months as someones new cheap dream ride because they bought it at auction.

 

[MikeFL]

My two cents, and I'm sure that's all its worth, while I know you don't want o be buying a new vehicle, don't buy all the we can fix the frame talk, once they monkey with that, it can be continued issue to keep front end aligned, and you won't know till tires wearing funny, you may develop front end shake but only at certain speeds and it may not ride or steer like it should. Ask a lot of questions of the body shop, when I asked adjuster about a wrecked car of ours recently, I said would you want this after it was repaired, his response was hell no.

 

[AZJeepGuy]

If you drove it after and it was fine then buy it back from the insurance company. Take it to a body shop and have the horns cut off and replaced. Depends on the insurance company but I would ask them how they handle things like that.

 

[blnewt]

I only went to dealer as the body experts I know with independent shops sent me there as they don’t have frame machines and they had incredible things to say about this particular dealer. Asked on our local Jeep FB group and got tons of opinions and info before making my decision. It’s not an easy one when it’s your baby!

Sounds like an exceptional dealer, good on you! Interested to see how this turns out, keep us posted if you can

 

[smokeythecat]

Fairly slow at 25-30 mph

That may sound fairly slow, but I will say I witnessed a freeway accident where a van hit another car and then came skidding across all four lanes to smash into the sound wall on the side and then bounce back from that. All this happened in "slow" traffic at around 40-45 m.p.h. I don't think people really give much thought to how serious the business of driving is.

 

[Murphydog]

Curious, did the sway bar disconnect get damaged?

 

[The Last Cowboy]

If the frame isn’t kinked they may be able to straighten it. Looks like the airbags did not deploy. The fully boxed frames of today are incredibly stiff, but difficult to fix do to the use of thinner gauge high strength steel. Right now I’d say that it’s 50/50. The rental car cost may be the deciding factor if it need the frame replaced. Many body shops are incredibly backlogged and parts are hard to come by.

 

[wesjtx]

If the frame isn’t kinked they may be able to straighten it. Looks like the airbags did not deploy. The fully boxed frames of today are incredibly stiff, but difficult to fix do to the use of thinner gauge high strength steel. Right now I’d say that it’s 50/50. The rental car cost may be the deciding factor if it need the frame replaced. Many body shops are incredibly backlogged and parts are hard to come by.

Driver airbag did deploy, which made it where I could drive it for a short time to move it from the scene but that’s it.

Wes

 

[The Last Cowboy]

That adds to the expense then.

 

[Ratbert]

My frame was bent when JLUR was hit in October. The shop told me that they no longer straighten frames and "simply" replace them.

The idea of taking everything off of the frame, sliding in a new one, then reattaching everything again and getting everything torqued exactly as required on a vehicle that sees a lot of off road trails / stresses was a bit much for me.

Fortunately they totaled it and gave me $8k more than I paid for it 16 months earlier. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on its replacement.

 

[sstuner]

Frames are available for the JL at a reasonable cost of $2K and some change. For the cost of frame replacement/labor vs. total is up to you and the insurance adjuster. Also, I don't see airbag deployment on the Jeep which means the structure (frame/body) wasn't significant. Look at all door gaps including the tailgate and see if anything is off. Check the inside roll bar for any cracked paint which would indicate bent body issues at which it should be totaled. Good luck and glad all parties are OK.

 

[wesjtx]

Apparently Jeep has planned for this and actually built a way to fix it at a reasonable cost. The end of the framerail is 100% replaceable - this is a part straight from their catalog - PN 68383650AA - found this morning and realized its pretty cool how they do that! Will know more when it gets transported to shop, but this is looking better for it to be fixable.

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