Hello all,

I'm new to this forum, I found it while searching for an autobody forums and decided to join since it looks like an active knowledgeable forum. This is my first venture into this type of project and I'm looking for some help, tips and advice along the way. I've done some minor autobody repairs over the years on my Chrysler LH cars but nothing on this scale. I've done a fair amount of mechanical repairs on various pieces of equipment and toys though and did a lot of welding between high school and college. I'll post some progress updates and pictures as I go along.

The time has come to replace my trusty 2008 F150 that I purchased back in 2013 from a family member. With over 340k KM's ( 215k miles) I was planning on putting some money into it this year to fix up the rusty body as well as take care of some mechanicals. However, after looking over the body a bit closer last weekend it appears as though last winter has really taken a toll on the cab. The rocker panels are in very rough shape and would require a large amount of repairs (which means big $$). This coupled with the mechanical repairs and the rest of the body work required has convinced me to go down a different path.

I'm going to be trying something that has tempted me for some time now and that's purchasing a vehicle from a COPART auction. COPART specializes in auctioning off vehicles that were involved in accidents for insurance companies. If you've had a vehicle written off by your insurance company, there's a chance it went on the block at a COPART Auction.

Anyways, I've been looking around at the listings available here in Canada and it appears as though Alberta is ground zero for trucks (not really surprising considering it's the oil patch). Last week I bid on, and won a Blue 2012 Ford F150 that was up for bid in Edmonton. The truck was involved in a front end collision however the airbags didn't deploy and the rest of the truck looks to be in good shape. I've got a shipper picking up the truck in the next few days and it should be at my place by the end of this weekend.

Quick Features:
- SuperCrew with a 6.5' box
- 5.0l Coyote V8
- 6 Speed Auto
- 4x4
- XLT Trim with the XTR Package
- 18" Chrome Wheels
- Towing Package















Some close-up's of the damage.







The plan is to fix this truck up to as good as new (if not better). It will probably be making a trip to the frame rack to ensure everything is still strait. If it isn't, I'll get the shop to bring it back to factory specs. I'm also looking at maybe picking up another truck from COPART to donate parts to this project. I'm hoping to find a higher trim level truck that I could swap a leather interior and centre console shift with. I'll be updating the thread as I go along!

Nice truck and welcome aboard. I would definitely take it to a reputable shop and have it measured for square and diamond and height. Good luck with the build and keep us informed.

Mike95Dodge wrote:Nice truck and welcome aboard. I would definitely take it to a reputable shop and have it measured for square and diamond and height. Good luck with the build and keep us informed.

Thanks Mike. I think having a strait frame to start with is going to make this project go a lot smoother. I have talked to a shop that's not too far from me and he seemed friendly. I asked him if he's be willing to take on the project and he said he would. However, he did caution that they can't always bring them back strait. On the plus side, he said that he's a an approved salvage inspection shop by the ministry of transportation. If I get work done there, he will be more inclined to give it a clean bill of health if he knows the work was done well.

The truck is on it's way, it should be showing up here sometime today. The shippers sent me some pictures of the truck after he picked it up, luckily it's still looking the same as in the auction pictures including the tonneau cover!

No it can be a real pain to straighten them but a rule of thumb is a 5 mm difference from the 0 point on a full frame truck. Also there is a sectioning procedure from ford so that you can replace the front section of the frame rails if deemed unrepairable and still is safe and certified. So you do have options.

Good to know about the rule of thumb. I saw the procedure for the 2004-2008 trucks, I'm just waiting on my Factory Service Manual to come in so I can take a look at the procedure for my generation of truck. The frame horns are fairly cheap ($125 in the aftermarket, $250-$300 at the dealer here in Canada) so fingers crossed that's all I would have to replace. The other part that concerns me though is the inner fender supports (I might be mixing up the terminology here), the parts that extend from the cab to the front radiator support and that the fenders bolt onto. Those look to be off too, can they be straitened or easily replaced? Thankks

We call them aprons. They are fairly easy depending on how bad they are hit. Usually when you pull the radiator support forward they walk out as well but with a little hammer and dolly work you should be able to get them back to 95% original shape.

Mike95Dodge wrote:We call them aprons. They are fairly easy depending on how bad they are hit. Usually when you pull the radiator support forward they walk out as well but with a little hammer and dolly work you should be able to get them back to 95% original shape.

Good to know, it appears they are bent a bit.

Well the truck showed up in last night! I was a bit late getting home but the guys that delivered it had already pulled the truck off the trailer and parked it when I got there. It was a father-son duo which were very nice and professional, I'll be using their services again if I'm grabbing another truck from that area. Here's a picture they sent me when they entered Ontario with it.



I haven't gotten a lot of time to take a thorough look at it, but I did run it for 10 minutes or so and it sounded good. One of the coolant hoses have been compromised though since it was pushed into the engine. It's leaking coolant so that will have to be replaced fairly quickly. Cosmetically, it's pretty much what I expected. The interior is pretty dirty but overall in good shape from what I was able to see. I believe the truck belonged to a contractor since the interior had some deck screws in one of the door pockets and the bed had a few building materials in it. One pleasant surprise is that the bed has a spray-in bed liner. I also found the fog lights and one good headlight that was left in the bed under the tonneau cover along with what remains of the front bumper. The tires and wheels look to be in good shape too with the body having very little to no rust!

There is damage to the passenger front door that I wasn't really expecting, it was hard to see in the photos but the door is creased and closes funny. I believe that the accident pushed both aprons towards the passenger side and this pushed the passenger fender into the door. It looks like somebody then forced the door open and in doing so bent the front part of the door and the fender. The door also seems like it has some worn pins or something since it doesn't close right, this might mean the door hinge area of the cab has moved some, I'll have to look into it to see for sure. The rest of the body (apart from the apparent front end damage and door) is in good shape. The only other damage that I could see is a dent in the rear bumper and a scratch just above it, not a big deal.

The frame doesn't look too bad though from the little bit of time I had to look at it. The drivers side frame horn is definitely bent, but the passenger side looks okay. It will need some new radiator cross members/supports for sure though, those are toast. I probably won't have time to take a closer look at it until Monday evening now since I'm out of town. In the meantime, here are a few pictures I took quickly this morning.















Bent passenger frame horn.

Not bad at all definitely fixed worse

I'll see once I get it apart for bad it really is. However, I believe I can save the hood and drivers fender from needing paint. The passenger fender and door will definitely need to be done. One small worry of mine is the passenger door closing funny, hopefully that doesn't take much to fix.

As far as paint matching goes, how close do you think they could get the new fender and door to the rest of the truck without blending it in?

After work I met with the owner of a local shop that specializes in Ford trucks. He's mostly a repair shop be he also has a bunch of parts trucks. He has pretty much everything I'll need to fix up my truck up minus a fender and possibly a door (if required). He even has a set of fender aprons/rails that are in the same color as my truck and ready to be removed as well as lower radiator cross member.

When I got home I measured the trucks wheelbase very quickly. I went from the centre of the front wheel to the centre of the rear one on both sides. I know this isn't a very scientific way of doing it, but I ended up getting a measurement of 157.5" on the left side, 157" on the right. This would make sense with the front of the frame being pushed towards the right hand side. Hope this doesn't mean the whole front section of the frame is twisted over, who know's though.

I also took a closer look at the passenger side doors to see what was happening. It appears as though the front door has been pushed back by some distorting of the cab where the hinges mount, I believe the upper mount is to blame. I'm going to have to spend some more time looking into this to see what's going on, hopefully it isn't too bad.

On a good note, it appears as though the passenger side headlight is still in good shape as well as both fog lights, one mounting bracket and both tow hooks. Anyways, here are a few more pictures of the truck.















Damage to the hood's striker mounting location, I believe this is easily repaired vs. replacing the whole hood.



The only real damage to the rear of the truck, it's a fairly easy fix (aka new bumper)