ahhh man!! Feel sorry for you.. curious, do you have ABS brakes? I had to
make use of my brakes yesterday morning.. Was coming up on a merge lane,
but I wasn't exiting. I was maybe 100 ft from the merge lane when a small
Ferd or chebby pulled on the on-ramp (his bed loaded down). There's
somebody immediately to my left, so I can't pull to next lane, and I'm
literally on top of him, so I figure I'll give it some gas and let him pul
in behind me. Well, he puts on his turn signal, and pulls right in front of
me doing about 25mph, and I'm doing 60mph with maybe 30ft or so between us.
Needless to say, I hit brakes as hard as I can. Well, she skidded about
20-30 ft, stopping maybe 10 ft away from the other truck, and he just goes
on like nothing happend. I look behind me, and just see this hugh cloud of
smoke from where I laid tread down. Some a$$holes just don't understand
merge do they?? Drove by there this morning on my way to work, and oh
yeah, lots of tire marks from me.. (pst, mike d. take a ride up to Busch.
On 199, where you take the exit for Busch onto 60, take a look in the right
lane, those are my marks...) But, anyway, truck was fine, and she stopped
DAMN fast. Just dug right into the pavement.
Ken Allgood
97 cc slt 5.2L
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Schwall" <mschwall@flash.net>
To: <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 10:51 PM
Subject: DML: One of them days
> Well folks, as I sit here drinkin' beer, going over the days events, and
> trying to relax, I wanted to let ya'll know about my day. After work
today
> I went to the dealer to pick up my truck after having new carpet
> installed. Windshield leaked and got the carpet soaked. After being on
> order for over a month, the carpet finally came in and had it installed.
>
> On the way home from the dealer, I got stuck in typical Oklahoma
> traffic. Two lanes, 65 in a 70, both lanes going same speed. I'm
> following a late eighties/early nineties Chebby Silverado. I come over a
> hill behind the Chebby, following close to 1 1/2 car lengths behind, and I
> see white tire smoke coming from the Chebby. I slam the brakes and try to
> steer to the left to go into the median, but the front wheels were locked
> and I couldn't turn and slammed into the back of the Chebby. Air bag went
> off, instrument cluster lit up like a Christmas tree. After the impact I
> could finally turn off the road to prevent an ass end collision on top of
> the a frontal. It happened too quick and I was too close with no advance
> warning since I couldn't see over or around the Chebby in front of me, all
> I could do was mash the brakes. Fronts locked, rears didn't, but can't
> steer with locked front wheels.
>
> Cab filled with air bag propellant smoke and talcum powder. Had to roll
> down both windows to breath. Opened the driver door and it made a
> unhealthy creaking sound. Took a look at the front and saw a pretty
> FUBARed truck. Condenser and radiator were both punctured, front grill
was
> where the radiator normally sits, hood was buckled up, and pushed in a
good
> foot. Bumper was pushed down, about five inches from where it's supposed
> to be. Both turn signals were completely destroyed, headlights were
intact
> but cracked. Both fenders were buckled in the middle, and the paint came
> off like potato chips, solid curved pieces. Very weird paint on it.
About
> .040" thick and silver on one side and forest green on the other. Body
> shop guy was going to take a DA to it tomorrow and see how many coats are
> on. He says it might have been repainted due to assembly line damage,
> shipping damage, or dealer lot damage.
>
> I have stock 215 tires on it and the fenders were rubbing the tires on the
> front side. It did a number on it. Brand new truck, bought it on
December
> 18th of last year. It was built in January of '99.
>
> Not a good day for me folks. I'm ok. My nose and chest bother me from
the
> air bag impact, and my knees bother me from hitting the dash. I was
> wearing my seat belt, but still slid up enough to wack the dash with my
> knees. I'm 6'5" so I have about 4-5 inch gap between my knees and dash
> normally. I'm glad I had the passenger airbag off.
>
> My advice is to practice hard braking folks. Even though your equipped
> with rear anti-locks, it does no good when the front locks. If the fronts
> lock, you can't steer, you can turn the wheel, but you'll still go
> straight, as I found out.
>
> What a day. Time for another beer
>
> I had the truck towed to Bob Howard Dodge, a five star dealer, only to
find
> out they don't have a body shop there, so I had to go to their recommended
> shop that they have all their body work done at. From the outside it
looks
> like a San Antonio West side shop. Real old crappy exterior, nothing
> fancy. Onc inside I see a $50,000 frame machine, and a very expensive
> forced downdraft heated paint booth. After talking to the owner, find out
> the body and paint work is guaranteed for seven years, and he will use all
> Dodge parts since it's so new, no aftermarket parts. Paint will be PPG
> urethane base coat clear coat, with 165 degree F baking. So it looks like
> the Dak is in good hands. I will have pictures. The shop owner wants to
> document the repair process. It's one of those type wrecks :)
>
> Well folks, have a good one, if you don't drink one for me, I'll cover
ya'hh :)
>
> Mike
>
> PS For those that want to know about the Chebby, looking from the side,
the
> truck body was V shaped. Rear window was blown out, not broke, blown out
> into the bed. Briefcase behind the driver seat was crushed. Bed pushed
> into the cab putting a good 1 inch dent where it hit. Guy had one of
those
> fiberglass sport bumpers and it did no good. Frame protruded through it
> and it's what did the damage to by front end. Tail gate was bent, but
> still intact. He could drive away. Frame didn't look bent, looks like the
> bed was bent on the body mounts. It looked weird, front and rear end were
> higher than the center.
>
> __________________________
> mschwall@flash.net
>
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