Deer T Boned

[ATC King]

I totally understand. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I was genuinely concerned and am glad you are soldiering through.

If those meds become too much of a crutch, please seek help. It's extremely exhausting when someone can't get sleep because of pain, but the meds can be very dangerous if someone has an addictive personality or doesn't have the proper moral support during their healing.

[sweetip2000]

I totally understand. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I was genuinely concerned and am glad you are soldiering through.

If those meds become too much of a crutch, please seek help. It's extremely exhausting when someone can't get sleep because of pain, but the meds can be very dangerous if someone has an addictive personality or doesn't have the proper moral support during their healing.

Hi the meds are not a crutch and very necessary. The pain is pretty bad. I have about 31 years sober. I used to be addicted to alcohol weed and cocaine so I am know what can happen. I really appreciate the concern and thank you for that.

[ATC King]

You're no stranger to those things then. That's good, in the way that you got a handle on it.

[sweetip2000]

Hey guys I need your help. I gotta replace some parts on the front end of this 2008 Harley Sportster 1200. I will take pictures and post them tomorrow. I can tell by looking at some of the damage that it needs to be replaced but want to make sure I do not have to buy more than what I need. One of the questions I have already is how do I know if the axle of the front wheel is bent ? The front end hit the side of a huge deer at 50 MPH. I was ejected from the bike and flew through a really nice memphis shades windshield. The handle bars slammed to the right at super high impact and my shin (tibia) got wedged between the gas tank and right side of handle bars which snapped the bone in my leg like a toothpick into multiple pieces. because my leg was no longer rigid i was catapulted from what the NY State Police said about 25 feet in the air and landed on my head on the highway. I did not know what happened. I woke up in a helicopter on my way to trauma center at hospital. I broke 3 ribs and a clavicle that never healed correctly. I will post the pics of the bike tomorrow and your feedback on what needs to be replaced will be helpful. I am not getting very good customer relations with my local harley dealer and need help. I will be converting this into a trike using the frankenstein trike kit.

[sweetip2000]

So here are some pictures of the damage. If you stand in front of the bike it is the right lower that took a hit and it bent the fork back toward the tank. IDK if the other one is straight but it looks ok. Should I replace both lower and upper on one side or do the entire front end ? Also the lower tree both stops broke off on impact. It rolls and stops ok but I cant ride it like this. I will be converting this into a trike. I will continue with further damage pics. I did all the body work and painting and replaced the from turn signal and rear turn signals and re wired them into the harness. The gas tank I just put back on yesterday and reconnected the fuel line fuel overflow line and harness for fuel injection. The original tail light and rear brake pedal saved the entire side of the bike from being shredded. Looks like I will have to reduce file size in pictures.

[sweetip2000]

pics of damage should I replace both forks if only one is bent ?

[sweetip2000]

i dont see all the pics i had 18 of them



The tins were painted black then mid coated with flake then mid coated with pearls then cleared. I do not have the patience for candy finishes even though they look awesome. PITA to work with and $$ expensive.

[El Camexican]

The axle is easy. Put it on a flat surface and roll it. Anything other than perfect and it’s junk.

The triple tree is probably bent. I test them by putting them vertical on a flat surface and trying to rock them. Providing the surfaces that make contact are machine there should be no rock at all. Even .020”
And you’ll feel it in the bars. Even if they are good you need steering stops, so not sure what your plan is there.

You check your fork tube like the axle, roll it on a flat surface. If you get lucky enough that you only need to change one of them you need to be sure that the one you replaced has the same spring, valving and oil weight and level as the one that you’re keeping.

Take a really good look around the frame where the steering head bearings are seated. If you see any cracking in the paint or something even more obvious, that frame it’s probably junk.

That brings up the really big question here, are you sure your frame isn’t bent? Would hate to see you go through all this work only to find out you’ve got a tweaked the frame.

Good to see you getting back on the horse that threw you

[sweetip2000]

I will take another really close look around the area where the steering head bearings are and look for any signs of cracking. I think the deer took most of the impact. It was like hitting a wall of meat at 50 MPH. There was a loud thud and It smelled just like a horse. That's all I remember before I blacked out. The State trooper told me they shot the deer as it was struggling. Like you said both the stops busted off the tree on impact. I will take another close look later today. Thanks for the reply and I will take some more pics and upload what I see.

BTW when I turn the bars they feel good. Nice and smooth.

[El Camexican]

I will take another really close look around the area where the steering head bearings are and look for any signs of cracking. I think the deer took most of the impact. It was like hitting a wall of meat at 50 MPH. There was a loud thud and It smelled just like a horse. That's all I remember before I blacked out. The State trooper told me they shot the deer as it was struggling. Like you said both the stops busted off the tree on impact. I will take another close look later today. Thanks for the reply and I will take some more pics and upload what I see.

BTW when I turn the bars they feel good. Nice and smooth.

Off the topic of your bike, that smell part is wild.

In 2014 I pulled in front of a fully loaded sand truck that was going 75 mph and realized what was happening about .05 of a second before the impact. My windows were closed and aside from bending the truck up the cab wasn’t breached, yet somehow one of my memories is the smell of the coolant that came out of his rad upon impact.

Most people will attest to having a heightened sense of awareness in a crash, but smell isn’t usually one of the senses you hear them mention.

I buddy once said to me that if there was someway to simulate the sensation that occurs as adrenaline shoots into you body at the moment of impact without causing you any damage it would probably be the most addictive thing on Earth. I’ve never skydived, but I’ll bet the first time is as close one could get to that sensation.

[sweetip2000]

75 MPH T Bone into your pick up. Amazing your alive and not a vegetable hooked up to a life support machine. What is the most terrifying moment is knowing what will happen in less than one second and what races through your mind. You smelled the antifreeze and still remember that. I still smell that deer and remember the smell of the deer like it was burnt into my head. What i experienced may be similar to others. When your body shuts down upon impact you do not know or feel the damage so I guess what I am getting at is when you die you don't know that you are dead upon heavy impact. You would think you can feel your body being crushed but you don't. I have some experiences that happened in Trauma 1 in the hospital that were completely crazy. Anyway I went out to the garage with a powerful LED flashlight my glasses and a magnifying glass. I wiped away surface dust and looked around the areas you mention 3 or 4 times very slowly and felt the area with my hands. I even looked underneath the fork tree and saw no cracks at all. So I guess I got lucky with the frame ? The frame that goes down in the front of the frame looks even and all welds solid. Cant wait to get the trike kit on this as I really love the sportster and have been riding them since 1998.

BTW that truck you were in was that a Toyota Tacoma ?

[El Camexican]

Good news on the frame

I posted about my wreck when it happened, but left a lot of details out because the insurance companies were still doing what they do and I wasn’t looking to post something that would be used against me. It was 100% my fault, something I’ve never denied, but it was a struggle to get the truck paid out through my Mexican insurance as it happened in TX.

After cartwheeling through the air and having parts from the truck scattered as much as 50 yards in any direction I ended up with a small bruise the size of a nickel in my left bicep.

Once again riding a bike saved my azz. With that split second warning I managed to accelerate enough to avoing contact with the cab by an inch and hold the steering wheel so tight that it bent. Seat ended up twisted as well as it bent the floor panel. Seatbelt was another thing. Never wore them in Mexico, but I slapped it on a few minutes before the crash because I didn’t want a ticket.

I had a Ford ashtray from my wife’s old car that I kept to store change as it fit perfectly in the console cup holder of my Avalanche. The impact was so hard that it cracked the ashtray and unseated all the tires off the rims.

The wreck still has me waking up in a sweat once in a while and destroyed my self confidence behind the wheel completely. I couldn’t even park a car properly for a month afterwards. I’m maybe up to 80% of what I was before, but I don’t thing it will ever improve beyond that. .

[sweetip2000]

I cant believe you walked away from that kind of damage. What a mess. The impact was intense and all you got was a small bruise. I was lucky no drivers were behind me. From what the Trooper told me it is usually a very busy road with traffic. It was a time last spring when the c0vid scare was really bad and most people were locked down or lost their jobs or worked remotely from home. I was on my way to do a painting job inside a summer home in Woodstock NY. Anyway here is a link to my cloud. It is the gas tank refinished. I felt really bad going over that stock red candy finish on it but had to fix the damage and did not want to do another candy finish. You can watch the video from the cloud or download to your hard drive.

https://mega.nz/file/6WxUGZjJ#h-l38f...sC9r9EoMOjIgBI


https://mega.nz/file/WKwSjTiL#WgfFGg...hCpE3IKyHBEy7c

https://mega.nz/file/LChSHZDa#6YWEBh...CUno_cikl0V3aE

https://mega.nz/file/3Whg0JYK#DRu6Gj...eNO05Lih59-1O4

https://mega.nz/file/qbxAkBbA#2AZ8-V...-OhD195KiWOBNM

https://mega.nz/file/qCpSRRKD#lcgCMp...uUx0QWMa-pda2c

[sweetip2000]

Shot into the air 20 feet and landed on my head. The crash helmet took a wicked blow. If I was not wearing the helmet my brains would have spilled out on the highway. IDK what happened when I landed. The State police said the hog skid about 150 feet on its side and the rear brake pedal on the forward control and the turn signal on the rear fender prevented the rest of the bike from being shredded. Harley's are not the best motorcycles but they sure are built like a tank. I give em credit for that.

2 more parts refinished. The oil tank cover and the crash helmet from 1998 which EMT cut off my head. The numbers under the clear were done freehand with a permanent magic marker.

https://mega.nz/file/LOhWmazL#aWas2X...w9_gaZgYFyYMwk

https://mega.nz/file/vPxwRQYJ#fnRz5X...avDIttOXiKv46s

[ATC King]

I'm glad to see you're getting the bike sorted back out. That first ride after it's ready is going to be memorable.