So as I was driving to make some early season ski turns this morning, I was ambushed in the dark at about 5:30 am.

The culprit...a large elk

I was briefly looking in my rearview when i saw the beast out of the corner of my eye, he launched over the guard rail as I swerved to the left. His nose smeared against the passenger window as he rolled off...

He actually pushed the rear of the vehicle out slightly as i was swerving, I looked in my rearview again and saw a shadow dart across the otherside of the road. I think he made it out alive but can't be sure.

I never stopped, I didn't want to see the damage on my 10 month old 2000 sr5. When it was daylight I finally assessed the damage. To my delight, it look like I had gotten clean off, but...

upon further investigation I realized my passesnger rear fender flare was being held on by the molding. I was really lucky there was no body damge but can't figure out how to attach it properly again

i did a search but can't find anything on fender flare attachment. I see the drill holes for the pattern, but it won't snap back.

What should I do?

The flare actually LOOKS fine, I don't want to rip it off, it must still be held in one spot. Do I need a whole new flare or can i salvage the piece without having to go to the dealership. Anyone know exactly how these things attach?

-ElkRunner 2000 :pat:

 

It's held on by bolts and plastic rivets.

Crazy story, glad you're ok!

Lucky dog, gettin to go skiing and all!

 

The rear fender flares are held on by bolts/nuts and connect to the rear mudflaps with plastic grommets. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Take the fender flare off so it doesn't fall off or flop and damage the paint flapping back and forth while going down the road, count up how many bolts/nut you have, how many you need and take one to the stealer and have them match it and buy the amount you need.

 

Wow, that is crazy. I had a close encounter with an elk once driving to Jackson Hole about 4am. He was just standing in the road and we swerved to miss him and just got around him but he didn't like the looks of us and he dropped his rack in an appearent attack mode and mangled my ski rack. Skis were all across the road and we ended up in the ditch but no damage was done to my Honda accord except for the ski rack. It took awhile to dig the car out of the snow bank and we never saw the elk again.

Sounds like we both got off easy. Those things could easyly total a truck.

 

So ADMIN, hows about a smiley with a big ELK rack on it.

Anyway, I went and pulled the flare off.

That adhesive for the molding is strong, it was the only thing holding the flare on.

My flare is broken on the mounting points that go through the door. I called turner toyota, and for an UNPAINTED flare, they want $149.00 man toyota is really proud of these!!

Anyway, now i am thinking, that i might try and supperglue the plastic mounting joints back onto the flare and adhesive the #^@&$ out of the molding.

What do you guys think? What kind of adhesive do I use for the molding? Do you think the flare will be secure?

let me know

 

So as you can see there are three main mounting points for the fender flare.

In each point there is some grey plastic still attached to the car...these are part of the flare itself and have broken off.

Does anyone think if I glued them back onto the flare that it will hold in the long run while whelling and stuff or should I suck it up and by the new flare?

 

I doubt if glue is going to hold very long, especially with the cold and snow you have in Telluride.

 

If you're going to use glue, I wouldn't use superglue. It tends to be brittle. Do some testing with gorilla clue and JB weld. Apply them to similar types of materials, freeze it and see how strong it is.

Also see if you can figure out a way to drill holes and use normal nuts and bolts.

 

Man...really jealous here. I would give anything to be able to hit the slopes now. What are the conditions like there? Glad everythings ok with the rig. Make some nice turns for us Midwestern guys.


adam

 

I am glad you are ok. Don't use a superglue, it doesn't work very well. I did use the "Liquid Nail Clear Silicone" glue on the fender flare mounting on my rig's rear door similar to yours almost two years ago. It is very strong and stay flexible regardingless the temperature. You might want to test it by yourself with a dummy materials before you decide to use it on your rig. If you intend to use a silicone glue, you would need a mask tape to tape and hold down the hardware for a couple of hours or a day depending on the temperature.

$149 for fender flare??? Huh? :pat: It is a way overpriced. I did check this from a local dealer in Denver about two month ago, it was about $57.00 (unpainted).

 

Glad you didn't hit that fur brick square on. A co-worker hit a turkey on the interstate, crushed in the entire front top of the cab. A 15lb. object hit at 65mph did massive damage, totalled the Explorer. Imagine what a 1,200 elk whould have done?

 

i say hit that furry thing; you're made of steel, it's made of meat, blood, fecal mater, bones, and other misc. body parts. Why risk swerving off the road and falling down a cliff when you can just take your chances. I say step on the accelerator, and give it everything you've got. Make sure you have your seatbelt on...



P.S.

I love all animals and the only reason I would hurt an innocent elk would be to save my own dear life. It's survival of the fittest, and I'm not about to let an Elk win.

Furthermore, I acknowledge the possibility that it will be like hitting a brick wall, but when faced with driving off a cliff, i'd rather hit a wall.

 

If you have no deductible file an insurance claim, if not. fork over the dough and get a new flare as that one is toast! I would also document the elk attack somehow, keep those pictures, in case you discover something else fubared in a month or two more serious that is a result of your incident.

 

good to hear you and the truck survived. Lucky man.

ElkRunnerover!

 

nice avatar...

 

You've never seen what an 2000lb+ elk can do to a car, have you? They have long legs so their body is up high, right where the windshield is. If you smack an elk, you're dead.

 

The same goes for a moose. Those long legs get knocked out from under them and they lay out right on the front part of the windshield. I have seen it, it is not pretty to either the moose or the driver.

 

ChiliMan: Which Denver dealer, it may be worth just shipping the piece. I will try and fix it, but $57 isn't so bad to have a brand new one.


"Sweeeeet" My 69th post:beaver:

 

hmm. last weekend I had a elk up on top of my runner.........













It had 3 bullet holes in him from my 30-06 and had been gutted though.