Following the failure of our old hitch in the accident, we decided to upgrade. $3000 later, we had one of the most sophisticated 5th wheel hitches on the market installed in Big Red. “Why so much?” you ask? Because it is capable of hauling 20K pounds of trailer, (the gross weight of our RV is 15K), has both hydraulic and air bag shock absorbers, and weighs about 300 lbs. This bad boy will be the last part of our rig to fail.
SONNY’S HOMECOMING
About mid-June we received a phone call from the Sunnybrook factory that Sonny was all better. We made plans to depart Crownsville for a three-day road trip to Indiana to pick him up. Within three months after the accident it was a joy to see our Sonny good as new. Not only did they repair the accident damage, but remember that tree Jay ran into in January? They fixed that too!! The previous owners had a tire blow out which had torn up some of the underbody insulation which was also repaired. Jay did most of the driving since Chris was a little gun shy having been at the wheel during the accident. The cushioning of the trailer’s reaction to bumps and dips in the road by the hitch air bags was worth every penny we paid for it.
JAY WAS DRIVING THIS TIME
Our ecstasy of having Sonny home was short-lived. Two-days after we arrived home, Jay ran some errands. While pulling out of a parking lot Big Red was broadsided by a young woman who was driving a very small car too fast. Her driving inexperience resulted in panic and she steered right into him. Words cannot describe our devastation. Although Big Red was drivable, the left front wheel was canted and we had to get him to a repair facility ASAP. The repair projection was two weeks and we figured we could handle driving a rental car for that long.
About mid-July the shop called us and said that all the originally appraised repairs were done but during their extensive test drive they found another problem. The frame was bent. The majority of the impact was on the left front wheel with very little body damage. The area on the frame, where the suspension components attach, was bent. It was also the location where a frame machine would connect in order to bend it back into shape. Our hearts sank as we knew when a frame is bent the vehicle is totaled. Our beloved Big Red, which had taken over a month to locate and a trip to Florida to retrieve, was going to be scrapped?!?!?!?!
Not so fast!!! We were told that they now have the capability to replace frames!!! Yippeeeeee!!!!! The projection time for the repair was an additional two to three weeks. The frame had to be ordered from a supplier in Detroit and shipped to the repair shop which took at least a week. Then they had to unbolt the entire body, engine, suspension and anything else that was attached to the frame, slide out the old one, slide in the new one and reattach the truck: A truly labor-intensive task. See photos, which the shop staff took, of the process at this link. www.imagesbychristine.com/gallery/Big_Red_new_frame
The repair shop begins the disassembly.
Three weeks turned into more than a month and Murphy reared his ugly head again. The truck repairs were completed but the shop could not install the hitch. The RV repair shop they hired to do the task kept the truck in their cue an additional two weeks before completing the installation. A final test drive revealed the need to replace bearings on the right front wheel and finally Big Red was ready to come home.
Meanwhile we’d been driving an iridescent blue PT Cruiser rental car – which Jay hated. He did not look forward to extending his association with it not only once but twice, but had no choice. We had possession of Big Red on August 31st - almost 8 weeks after the accident. Chris was so excited, she actually gave Big Red a hug. With a sigh of relief, we could now complete the final stages of our Odyssey departure.
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