Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Back in March while driving through Missouri to Bob Letterman's funeral, a deer decided to play chicken and lost. Startled the crap out of me and caused a bit of damage. Lucky for me it was not catastrophic. Main thing I lost was the AC, but at that time of year the temps were pleasant so not a problem. Also, the left fender was pushed back enough so that the drivers door could not be opened.
After finishing my trip, all the while having to climb out one of the other doors, I came home and took a good hard look at the damage. The plastic grill was shattered. Lots of little pieces of plastic that I tossed the day after the hit. Cable ties were used to secure the radiator as the 2 pins in the top had sheared off. No frame damage and only basic cosmetic and bolt on stuff. Upon pulling the broken headlight out and looking at the fender, I figured out that I could straighten it enough to be able to open the drivers door. Wha-Lah! Was quite easy and made a world of difference.
After getting the insurance check, I went online looking for OEM parts. Had pretty much figured out what it was going to need. Found a place called Olathe Toyota that sells new OEM Toyota parts. Did some research as there were options and such, and ordered the parts.
Finally the parts came in and just after July 4th I was able to get the radiator and AC condenser replaced. It took a couple of days an I decided to have the dealership rip me off and do that to spec. Saved a little as everything was removed and out of the way, but still. Glad I went that route though as I knew that there were some little incidental parts that were going to be needed.
I tied some string to the inner wheel well liners to keep them from pressing back to the tires from wind resistance. Might not have been needed, but better save than sorry.
With that done, I could now drive the van in the heat, but needed to patch the old bumper cover back in place to prevent rock damage to the new parts.
I needed to make a trip to Tulsa, partly to get stuff from storage and to get the OEM bumper cover that I had located there.
Next thing on the list was to find someone to paint the bumper cover and fender. Matching paint and mixing in the additives for the flexible paint on the bumper were just a bit beyond me. Found a small local body shop that was ok with doing the work. Gave him the two parts and a small section from the damaged bumper to use for a color reference and had the parts back this last week.
The bumper cover removal and such I knew to be fairly easy as I had dealt with the damaged original. The fender was going to be a whole other bag of worms. While I knew where all the fasteners were located from the new fender, it was still a bit of a challenge working out what to do. I wasn't too worried about getting the new part lined up, but getting the old one off became a pain. There is one screw in the center of the door seam that has to be accessed from the wheel well.
At that point I discovered the wheel had to be removed so the liner could be moved out of the way. Also there were 4 plastic connections with screws that are basically supposed to be cut off in order to remove the liner. I figured a way out to work around that and only need one now. I also found a bucket full of dead leaves and grass up above the liner and between the fender and the frame. Wasn't nasty, just messy.
In assembling the new fender in place, I discovered why the screw from the wheel well. It allows you to adjust that area of the fender to the door with the door closed. Going back together was fairly easy after that.
Installed the new horns and bumper pad, and final assembly commenced.
While it took a bit longer, I was able to be sure OEM parts were used, and was also able to save some $$ with my own labor. There was one part that I was able to straighten back up. It wasn't badly bent and was still straight and functional, but that was a $100 dollar part that only took a couple of hours to remove straighten and reinstall. Anyone would be hard pressed to tell it was bent even comparing it to a new part.
In looking at the van in daylight I wasn't able to see any difference in color with my eyes, though the camera seems to see that the new parts are a smidge lighter in color. All back together and looking like it should again. At some point I am going to clean out the other airspace behind the passenger side fender as I am sure it has as much debris in it as the drivers side.
Hope you found this interesting. I am content with the results and ended up with a couple hundred still in my pocket instead of a couple hundred out with the deductible.
After finishing my trip, all the while having to climb out one of the other doors, I came home and took a good hard look at the damage. The plastic grill was shattered. Lots of little pieces of plastic that I tossed the day after the hit. Cable ties were used to secure the radiator as the 2 pins in the top had sheared off. No frame damage and only basic cosmetic and bolt on stuff. Upon pulling the broken headlight out and looking at the fender, I figured out that I could straighten it enough to be able to open the drivers door. Wha-Lah! Was quite easy and made a world of difference.
After getting the insurance check, I went online looking for OEM parts. Had pretty much figured out what it was going to need. Found a place called Olathe Toyota that sells new OEM Toyota parts. Did some research as there were options and such, and ordered the parts.
Finally the parts came in and just after July 4th I was able to get the radiator and AC condenser replaced. It took a couple of days an I decided to have the dealership rip me off and do that to spec. Saved a little as everything was removed and out of the way, but still. Glad I went that route though as I knew that there were some little incidental parts that were going to be needed.
I tied some string to the inner wheel well liners to keep them from pressing back to the tires from wind resistance. Might not have been needed, but better save than sorry.
With that done, I could now drive the van in the heat, but needed to patch the old bumper cover back in place to prevent rock damage to the new parts.
I needed to make a trip to Tulsa, partly to get stuff from storage and to get the OEM bumper cover that I had located there.
Next thing on the list was to find someone to paint the bumper cover and fender. Matching paint and mixing in the additives for the flexible paint on the bumper were just a bit beyond me. Found a small local body shop that was ok with doing the work. Gave him the two parts and a small section from the damaged bumper to use for a color reference and had the parts back this last week.
The bumper cover removal and such I knew to be fairly easy as I had dealt with the damaged original. The fender was going to be a whole other bag of worms. While I knew where all the fasteners were located from the new fender, it was still a bit of a challenge working out what to do. I wasn't too worried about getting the new part lined up, but getting the old one off became a pain. There is one screw in the center of the door seam that has to be accessed from the wheel well.
At that point I discovered the wheel had to be removed so the liner could be moved out of the way. Also there were 4 plastic connections with screws that are basically supposed to be cut off in order to remove the liner. I figured a way out to work around that and only need one now. I also found a bucket full of dead leaves and grass up above the liner and between the fender and the frame. Wasn't nasty, just messy.In assembling the new fender in place, I discovered why the screw from the wheel well. It allows you to adjust that area of the fender to the door with the door closed. Going back together was fairly easy after that.
Installed the new horns and bumper pad, and final assembly commenced.
While it took a bit longer, I was able to be sure OEM parts were used, and was also able to save some $$ with my own labor. There was one part that I was able to straighten back up. It wasn't badly bent and was still straight and functional, but that was a $100 dollar part that only took a couple of hours to remove straighten and reinstall. Anyone would be hard pressed to tell it was bent even comparing it to a new part.
In looking at the van in daylight I wasn't able to see any difference in color with my eyes, though the camera seems to see that the new parts are a smidge lighter in color. All back together and looking like it should again. At some point I am going to clean out the other airspace behind the passenger side fender as I am sure it has as much debris in it as the drivers side.
Hope you found this interesting. I am content with the results and ended up with a couple hundred still in my pocket instead of a couple hundred out with the deductible.
