I need rehab...

APC9199 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:33 pm

I'm addicted to these darn CRD's!

My 2005 black CRD Sport was rear-ended back in February of this year. The body damage wasn't horrible, but the frame was obviously bent indicated by the tapered gaps between all the doors and body panels. I let the insurance company have it, they paid off the loan then some, so I was unhappy but satisfied. I waited 6 weeks for another one to pop up within reasonable driving distance and bought it that day, before they even had a chance to clean the darn thing. A 2006 limited. The previous owner was a ranch owner and used it as-such. The inside was covered in hay, dog hair, dirt, dust and all the things that come with owning a ranch. I didn't care, the vehicle was solid with no real damage other than dents and dings, and lets face it, I was planning on using the 4-wheel as much as the previous owner probably did! It served me well beside the typical air in fuel problems (solved with a lift pump) and a few minor mechanical issues until a month ago, when a driver on the highway swerved, not merged but SWERVED, into my lane smashing into me and forcing me off the road skimming the rear bumper of a parked car along the way. The guy took responsibility for the accident, but the insurance company wants to total my Jeep again :furious:

. Even now, as I type this, I have to bite my tongue to prevent from typing obscenities. I feel helpless, because there is no obvious frame or structural damage but they won't even discuss the estimate. They value the vehicle at ~$9800 and estimate the damage to be "well over $10,000 once the repairs begin and the full extent of the damage is seen". Both driver side doors are dented pretty good, drivers side fenders destroyed, front bumper skin destroyed, slight scuffs and dings to the passengers fender and front door. The power steering pump was blown when I hit the curb, but there didn't appear to be anything seriously wrong with the mechanical steering components or wheels. I'm not a mechanic, but does this sound like 10k worth of damage? (See Pics Below). I don't have a buyback estimate yet but my guess is it will be way higher than it should be and to make things worse, I can't find a reputable repair shop in my area that will touch a salvage vehicle. I don't have the know-how or time to repair all of this stuff myself.

What would you guys do in this situation? I feel helpless and lost and just want my Jeep back. I feel like the nice guy finishing last again.

[/vent] Thanks for reading. You guys are always a good place to get some good info, CRD related or not!

olypopper · **Posted:** Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:46 pm

Pricing depends highly upon where you live. As an example, here in Alaska you could expect to pay 10-20k for a paint job. Our body shops are what I consider a ripoff. Hell, I had a 4 door Ford pickup painted in Houston and it was 2400 out the door including some light body work.

I say fight the insurance company. In the end if they just offer a little more money for your rig to be totaled it's still worth the hassle.

turblediesel · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:58 am

Get your Jeep back and fix the mechanical stuff. Ps pump, tie rods, maybe steering rack. Get it aligned and see how it does. If it goes and stops straight then fix the pretty stuff. Or take the money and get another. The money looks like more than they're going for unsmashed.

Insurance companies and banks are one and the same sometimes these days. They profit on the loan and insurance so it's in their interest to cash you out so you can buy new debt.

Take the money and buy it back as junk. If you ever need an engine or transmission or ??? you've got it.

Good luck!

dirtmover · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2015 9:16 am

turblediesel wrote:

Get your Jeep back and fix the mechanical stuff. Ps pump, tie rods, maybe steering rack.

That's about $1500 just to find out if there are other issues. A knock hard enough to take out the PS pump has probably done other damage to the suspension. You've probably got another $4k-$6K of bodywork there. Multiply by 1.5 because it's an insurance job and there's your $10K+ number.

If I could get a payout of US$9800 for my Jeep I'd be all over it.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2015 3:15 pm

I'm in Arizona, but I'm not sure what repair costs are typically like around here. I do most of my own work when it is straight forward stuff like oil, transmission, timing belt, etc. Body work and electrical is a whole different game to me.

I should find out the buyout estimate in the next hour or two, so I'll have to decide what I want to do. I can replace the power steering pump and I can probably find all the body panels I need, but replacing them, especially the doors, is going to be out of my skill set and time allowance. As much as I hate to let a CRD go like this, I'm wondering if it would be wiser to let it go and move on. I would have driven it until it died so the salvage title doesn't really mean much to me, but its value would be cut in half or more after all this.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:56 pm

Well, $1200 buys the vehicle back (which is quite a bit lower than expected), minus the $8500 I owe the bank on it leaves me at $7300 to work with to get it working right again. That works out to exactly their valuation of the vehicle after taxes, etc. Surprise surprise. At the very least, I know I can get way more than $1200 for it from someone willing to put the time and effort into getting it looking and steering correctly. The engine and transmission are fine, I'm thinking the worst possible damage is steering components that I couldn't see in the dark on the side of the road.

I guess I'm going to buy it back and, at the very least, fix a few things and drive it for awhile. I'll decide if the rest of it is worth my time at that point.

olypopper · **Posted:** Tue Nov 17, 2015 6:11 pm

thermorex · **Posted:** Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:35 pm

Rehab is for quitters...

turblediesel · **Posted:** Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:42 am

Can't quit now... there are more colors.

dirtmover · **Posted:** Tue Nov 24, 2015 9:07 am

APC9199 wrote:

Well, $1200 buys the vehicle back (which is quite a bit lower than expected), minus the $8500 I owe the bank on it leaves me at $7300 to work with to get it working right again. That works out to exactly their valuation of the vehicle after taxes, etc. Surprise surprise. At the very least, I know I can get way more than $1200 for it from someone willing to put the time and effort into getting it looking and steering correctly. The engine and transmission are fine, I'm thinking the worst possible damage is steering components that I couldn't see in the dark on the side of the road.

I guess I'm going to buy it back and, at the very least, fix a few things and drive it for awhile. I'll decide if the rest of it is worth my time at that point.

$1200 sounds about right but I don't think that you can get way more than that for it from someone willing to put the time and effort into getting it looking and steering correctly. If you don't end up fixing it up for yourself your best bet would probably be to part it out. If it still runs you could probably get your money back from someone looking for a working engine.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 27, 2015 3:44 pm

Well,

I finally got it back in my possession, and it definitely needs some work. I still don't think it is anywhere near 10k in damages. The biggest problem is either the power steering pump blew, or the steering rack blew, or both. When looking at the wheels from the front of the vehicle, they are more like /---/ than like |---|. It isn't as exaggerated as in my incredibly detailed sketch there but it is noticeable right away. The steering rack isn't all that expensive, $150 for an ACDELCO from rockauto or $320 from MoparParts. What should I be inspecting aside from the rack assembly while I'm in there?

The frame appears fine from visual inspection. Most of the damage is in the body panels and doors. I can get the major ones replaced right away to get it street legal again, but the doors still function so they can wait. I'm just trying to get it driving again ASAP so I don't have to be carted around by my wife all the time. I'll post some pictures if I get the chance.

Thanks!

jws84_02 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 27, 2015 8:16 pm

Check everything suspension related. Lower, upper control arms, ball joints, struts, outer tie rods, stabilizer bar and link bars, cv axles

Fyi, I have doors and fenders of that color. I haven't payed attention, what is your location?

Srytrucker · **Posted:** Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:53 am

Engine and transmission is way more than 1200 alone, just wait for someone who is way past on timing belt change and you will be golden. I almost bought a CRD limited with broken belt for 1800 bucks.Almost eh....

APC9199 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:23 pm

jws84_02 wrote:

Check everything suspension related. Lower, upper control arms, ball joints, struts, outer tie rods, stabilizer bar and link bars, cv axles

Fyi, I have doors and fenders of that color. I haven't payed attention, what is your location?

I'm in Arizona. I don't know what you want for the parts, but getting them here would be pretty costly no matter how you look at it. I'm open to suggestions!

So I've been trying to get the old steering rack out so that I can install the new one when it arrives and I am banging my head against the wall trying to figure it out. I am following this writeup,

http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/f202/how-steering-rack-replacement-48537/

And it doesn't seem to jive with the CRD, or I'm just not reading it correctly. Has anyone here done this before on the CRD that can shine a little light on the situation? I'll be picking up a few more tools tonight to make some of the initial steps easier, but I cannot figure out why I am supposed to remove both fans (the electric fan isn't even in the same general area as the steering rack) unless the intention is to remove the entire radiator assembly to gain access from the top. Surely that is not easier than removing all of the lower end components. I'm confused...

APC9199 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:29 am

Welp, looks like I get to add a timing belt job to the list. Hopefully nothing more.

I got the rack and pinion replaced finally (I only get to work on it about an hour a night, once or twice a week) and started it up to test it out, and the engine sounds like it is idling extremely rough. It isn't clattering or skipping, it is just about twice as rough as the normal diesel idle should be. I let it run for about a minute that way, thinking it might have been an air in fuel issue from being jacked up in the air for so long and not running, but it didn't change at all. Sounds like the timing belt skipped a tooth during the crash yeah?

It didn't seem like it was running that bad, but you guys are the experts. Do I need to remove the heads to check for damage, or is it safe to assume that I probably haven't damaged anything, and just do a re-time using a new kit? I have the pins and a crank holder all ready to go but I've never done a timing belt job myself. The nice part is that I already have the front end off the vehicle. Is there anything else I should check first just to make sure something else isn't causing the rough idle?

If anyone wants a video or audio clip of it running I would be happy to take one, as much as I don't want to start it up again. It really doesn't run THAT bad. What do you all think?

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:54 am

hmm, if it has more than 80k miles, you might have some bad rockers. It will have no power if you drive it and it's the timing belt, but that's easy to check since you have the front off anyhow, just pop the cover and put the crank witness at precisely 3 o'clock and try to pin the cams. Their little machined out spots should face each other.

How long since a timing belt? If you pump the primer bulb while it's running can you get it to smooth out? I don't know if this always works, but it works on one of mine with a leaky fuel head.

It shouldn't make any difference that it has sat, because I've fired up a number of them that sat for 2 years and the diesel worked fine. I did add in 5 fresh gallons to the very low tanks, but this stuff was really old...

EDITED

APC9199 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2015 1:46 pm

Mountainman wrote:

hmm, if it has more than 80k miles, you might have some bad rockers. It will have no power if you drive it and it's the timing belt, but that's easy to check since you have the front off anyhow, just pop the cover and put the crank witness at precisely 3 o'clock and try to pin the cams. Their little machined out spots should face each other.

How long since a timing belt? If you pump the primer bulb while it's running can you get it to smooth out? I don't know if this always works, but it works on one of mine with a leaky fuel head.

It shouldn't make any difference that it has sat, because I've fired up a number of them that sat for 2 years and the diesel worked fine. I did add in 5 fresh gallons to the very low tanks, but this stuff was really old...

EDITED

I've got 135k miles, but it ran perfectly before the accident. The problem started after firing it up to test the power steering which I replaced. That's what leads me to believe it happened during the accident and I just didn't notice at the time.

Also, I have a lift pump so priming the head while running is a futile effort. I really don't think it is fuel related.

I'll check the cams this weekend and see what I can find. Again, I have all the stuff to do this so it shouldn't be hard. Thanks for the tip!

geordi · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2015 5:00 pm

definitely sounds like trashed rockers, and if the belt hasn't been changed, it is WAY BEYOND the age limit anyway. 6 years is the max.

Good luck with the repairs! FYI: changing a door isn't hard at all - just heavy. Unbolt the hinges from the B pillar, and the door just falls in your lap. The front doors are harder to get to the hinges, but if you pull the fenders, they should be right there.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2015 7:46 pm

geordi wrote:

definitely sounds like trashed rockers, and if the belt hasn't been changed, it is WAY BEYOND the age limit anyway. 6 years is the max.

Good luck with the repairs! FYI: changing a door isn't hard at all - just heavy. Unbolt the hinges from the B pillar, and the door just falls in your lap. The front doors are harder to get to the hinges, but if you pull the fenders, they should be right there.

Just ordered the timing belt kit to get it done. I'm sure I can return it if this turns into too much of a project. My guess is there is no way to check the rockers short of pulling the heads? Even with an inspection camera? Humbug.

I didn't suspect that changing the door itself was probably that hard, but wasn't sure about all the electrical connections and more importantly, the locks. We'll see how the timing job goes and maybe it'll spur my confidence to try the doors, then have a locksmith take care of the locks.

You fancy spending Christmas in Prescott, Arizona? haha!

jws84_02 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 18, 2015 10:27 pm

In order to fully inspect the rockers you will need to remove the valve cover. Once that is off it is right there. I also highly suggest if your going that far to arp stud it.

Also, if this doesn't workout for you I know a guy on here that would prolly buy it. Lol

I need rehab...

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