Based on the damage you see... how fast do you think this truck was going?

[Dr. Zaius]

My guess is tree-fiddy.

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[Skeezix]

I'll leaf the jokes to someone else.

 

[OrangeStreak]

This truck to trunk issue is driving me up a tree!

 

[Frio]

I believe he was doing at least tree hundred miles per hour.

I'll go out on a limb here and agree with you.

But still, speed was the root of the problem.

Dunno, this one's got me stumped.

 

[OrangeStreak]

I’m probably barking up the wrong tree here but it seems to me that a standard issue tailgate dampener would’ve helped the driver avoid that accident. The military grade galvanized unobtainum steel would’ve reflected that tree off like nothing.

Just saying.

The tree’s bark was worse than it’s bite.

 

[Anthony]

Guys, let's not branch off into off-topic discussion.

 

[SICKQK]

Guys, let's not branch off into off-topic discussion.

Yes please........reading all these posts has sapped all the energy out of me.

 

[Hot Pepper Red Zeppelin]

Will require twigonometry to solve.

 

[GTGallop]

I was in a similar accident. In a Ford Ranger.

Back in Texas, around about the summer of 1989, I was working as a Maintenance Hand at Sky Ranch in a little town called Mineola. One of the work trucks was a Ford Ranger. Probably a 1983 to 1986 model.

We had 4x4 posts in the back that laid out side by side from wheel well to wheel well and two deep. They stuck out past the tail gate by about three or four feet.

I was riding shotgun when the driver backed up briskly and didn't see a tree behind us.

The 4x4 posts contacted the tree and transferred the energy into the front wall of the bed and then into the cab. The front bench seat folded like a taco with the posts on the inside and the driver and I on the outside squeezing us up against the dash and door.

Aside from the catastrophic damage to the truck, no one was injured.

Now I say we backed up "briskly" but this was by reverse standards. It probably wasn't less than 5 MPH or more than 10 MPH. There just wasn't anything other than thin sheet metal and unforgiving posts transferring the energy from the tree into areas not built to receive that level of impact.

Looking at this accident I'm going to guess 10 to 15 MPH, no bumper and no spare.

 

[Trigganometry]

Will require twigonometry to solve.

I resemble that remark!

 

[OrangeStreak]

I resemble that remark!

Remarkable

 

[gfitzge2]

Guys, let's not branch off into off-topic discussion.

Maybe it is time for a bud. Maybe that was the problem in the first place.

 

[Jms81661]

That's a "wrap!" Great work everybody, there's coffee and donuts on the way out.

 

[Dollar]

That is the new Chevy "Multi-Flex" tailgate.

 

[MinuteMan]

The skid marks are in the dirt and not visible but they are there. This all began many yards from where it ended. Rotation and inertia are the cause. Speed, braking at the wrong time, over correcting. It’s all right there. The impact was so significant that the entire bed folded until the frame anchor points held it in place and the weakest link (tailgate) ripped in half. The rear axle appears bent and the rear tires/wheels are shoeing toe out. It looks like this happens all the time in this spot but the tree in front usually takes the hit. The drive shafts, transmission or motor mounts are broken as well, is my guess. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

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