Front Frame Replacement being recommended by insurance

[67powerstroke]

The Jeep in front of me hit a loose manhole cover, which spun off and smoked the LCA brackets, pushing them back. There's no repairing it, so insurance is recommending front frame replacement. Just wondering if anyone has had this done?

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[Oxford_Powerboost]

My Powerboost - which I since sold - had the front section replaced after an accident. I had a shop well known to me to do quality work do it - they do a lot of them on f150s. When I had it appraised for diminished value - the inspector commented on how good of a job they did. Frame wise, it was repaired good as new. I had other issues that were unrelated though.

My shop tells me the key is having a high quality frame alignment machine even when replacing instead of pulling the frame. See if you can find a shop with that or one that often sees fleet f150s

 

[Pedaldude]

Damn! That could have been way worse. How far away from the Jeep were you? I’ve seen loose manholes on dashcam videos and it’s scary. Will your insurance company be going after the town?

Thankfully, not first hand but I’ve known a few bodymen that have had plenty of experience with this repair. Back in the day they were able to repair a frame better than new because of the variances from the factory but these days; you’ll have to settle with good as new because of all of the robots and better frame jigs.

The collision frame pulling machine becomes a fixture table in this application and the repair book walks through placing the fixtures on the table like a game of Battleship; so even if they are doing it for the first time, it’s pretty foolproof. The frame halves are indexed with each other and then welded together with a similar process as the factory and done well it’s pretty much one of the few repairs that is indistinguishable from the factory. They might even paint the welded parts of the frame better than the factory!

As above; find a dealership that has an on site collision center that has high volume and does fleet work. The real test won’t be so much the actual repair as all of the preparation and parts assembly/disassembly leading up to it and you want experience for that.

Luckily Ford still offers replacement frames and frame parts. Other makes like Toyota don’t and instead of waiting for parts, you would be waiting on a whole new truck!

Good luck!

 

[Calson]

The insurance company cannot force you to take this approach which is meant to save them money. I would check with two independent frame shops and get their opinion for your truck.

 

[Buyer2021]

The insurance company cannot force you to take this approach which is meant to save them money.

Just FYI, attached is the Workshop Manual procedure for replacement of various lengths of the front frame section on a Gen 14 non-powerboost. The Manual provides no procedure for repair or replacement of only the LCA mounts.

Based on that and the OP's pics IMO the insurance company is not looking for an "approach which is meant to save them money", they're looking at the Ford recommended repair procedure for the damage at hand (and far from inexpensive by the time all is said and done).

Personally, I'd be thankful for that rather than have the insurance push for 'cost-saving' attempts to 'straighten or repair' the LCA mounts in-situ.

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