Cadillac Owners Forum banner

Are you freakin kidding me??!?!

2K views 39 replies 14 participants last post by  97EldETC 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Was in the semi, driving down the interstate, and low and behold I hit ANOTHER coyote! I figured, I'm in the semi this time. What damage could have really been done. Pulled over, and find my front bumper to be destroyed. Really Kenworth?? You let a 70 pound mutt get the better of you?? It's been less than two months since it's brother rendered our Saturn nearly totaled....2 MONTHS!! I've never hit anything in my life b4 the coyote 2 months ago, and now I just hit my second. I even heard the thing yelp as it was thrown off to the side, and I can't say it didn't please me a little bit. I'm tired of these things costing me money bc of there stupidity!


Yea I'm a little upset if you can't tell..
 
#4 ·
Back in the late 50s I was driving the AlCan Highway when I hit a coyote near Whitehorse, YT. and killed it. I threw it in the back of my pickup, took it over the border on into Fairbanks, went over to the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, and collected a $35 bounty. I guess a Chevy pickup has a tougher bumper than a Kenworth.
 
#5 ·
dkozloski said:
Back in the late 50s I was driving the AlCan Highway when I hit a coyote near Whitehorse, YT. and killed it. I threw it in the back of my pickup, took it over the border on into Fairbanks, went over to the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, and collected a $35 bounty. I guess a Chevy pickup has a tougher bumper than a Kenworth.
Everything from the 50s had a tougher bumper than my KW. Lol. I'm just sorely disappointed in the integrity of this semi if a coyote could pretty much destroy the front bumper. I mean it's still good for the most part, but if it gets fixed they will have to but a whole new bumper to fix it.
 
#7 ·
The reason I ask is because I am curious of which bumper style it had. As with my own truck and all motor vehicles in general, I don't trust anything without a large metal bumper.

Never hit a Coyote myself (knocked a Corgi into oblivion once with a Jeep), but I know the damage an animal that small can actually have on the right vehicle if it hits it just right.

The running joke amongst people I know about my truck or semis of any make from that generation in general is that the bumpers actually look like they were designed specifically to kill animals. Never hit anything with mine, but given the shape of the bumper it had on it when it arrived in FL in my hands, I feel the previous owner may have taken out a few cattle for fun once or twice.
 
#8 ·
The front bumper on later model Kenworths, like most big trucks, is for aerodynamics rather than shunting animals and people to the side. They are trying to keep the air out from under the rig like a racecar with a front airdam. Most I see are aluminum for weight saving as well. If you think hitting a coyote does damage you should see what happens when you hit a moose. You'll be extremely lucky to be able to drive away from the collision.
 
#13 ·
Oh I know why they changed the design. Same with most modernized vehicles. Also, trust me, I've seen what that looks like. It's a true shame to imagine a coyote got the truck even so. Especially since this just happened to him a few weeks back.

----------

There is a pretty good aftermarket here for reinforced pipe front bumpers for big trucks.
Or we can all just get older trucks like me.

Better yet, let's weld on some cow catchers. And use them on Ricers.
 
#12 ·
Passenger cars have always been disposable. Back in the fifties and sixties if a car was damaged after it was two or three years old it wasn't fixed because depreciation had reduced its' value so low that most didn't think the damage was worth fixing.
 
#16 ·
I think cars depreciated a lot faster then. I currenly drive a 17-year-old car that is still shiny and rust-free. The engine starts reliably and all accessories work.
This was unheard of in the '60's. A 10-year old car with 90,000 miles was considered used up and not worth much.
Plus, the constantly changing styles rendered a car "old" much soon than today.

As to the damage - Yes, a minor collision didn't do much to those cars, but a major hit actually did more damage than now. Now a car crumples to absorb the impact. Damage can be limited to only the front end. On an older car, the shock from the collision can cause damage all the way back.
 
#20 ·
Yeah, cars have changed, and so have trucks. NASCAR-like aerodynamics get better fuel conomy, not to mention lighter weight with the bumpers of yore, which leads to more fuel economy. That said, nobody ever said they would hold up better in an impact.

Sorry about those damn coyotes truckinman, hopefully the bill is somewhat manaeable.
 
#21 ·
I would think truckers would have more problems with deer than coyotes. Around here you could probably keep the homeless fed with all the road kill deer that show up each morning. I really do wish the coyotes would do a better job at keeping the deer population down, but the coyotes seem to be more interested in easier prey. Coyotes don't seem very interested in Canada Geese either .... another place they could make themselves useful!
 
#22 ·
The-Dullahan said:
Ow. What year is your Kenworth again?
It's a 2008. First year for the T-660. Nice truck for the most part.

----------

dkozloski said:
The front bumper on later model Kenworths, like most big trucks, is for aerodynamics rather than shunting animals and people to the side. They are trying to keep the air out from under the rig like a racecar with a front airdam. Most I see are aluminum for weight saving as well. If you think hitting a coyote does damage you should see what happens when you hit a moose. You'll be extremely lucky to be able to drive away from the collision.
Yes sir exactly right. Just a big car bumper really. Shaped nice n round for a stream lined effect...worthless if you ask me. It gets worse MPG than the long nose Pete with a flat as a barn wall front end and bumper that I had before....

----------

orconn said:
I would think truckers would have more problems with deer than coyotes. Around here you could probably keep the homeless fed with all the road kill deer that show up each morning. I really do wish the coyotes would do a better job at keeping the deer population down, but the coyotes seem to be more interested in easier prey. Coyotes don't seem very interested in Canada Geese either .... another place they could make themselves useful!
Deer usually are the problem. Especially here in Ohio. I can't drive 5 miles with out seeing a fresh deer kill. But a coyote....I've never even seen one up close until I nailed one with the Saturn 2 months ago. Now I've hit 2. Until 2 months ago, I had a spot free record when it came to killing animals with anything on wheels...EVER. lol. Annoying as hell. I've gotta feeling work won't even fix it tho. Its still perfectly legal to drive. No lights were broken. And my truck is one of the oldest ones they've still got with 640k miles.
 
#28 ·




And my truck is one of the oldest ones they've still got with 640k miles.
In the early 60s I serviced a 1947 Kenworth that had 3.5 million miles on it and had averaged over 600 miles per day on it since the day it was made and most of that was over the Alaska Highway.

Not too long ago I saw a magazine article about that truck and it's now in a company museum.
 
#24 ·
Wow, even newer than I would have guessed. For the most part, I do not think I would ever consider owning a vehicle that new. Bumpers by then (and earlier) were little more than protection against weather and gravel/debris. They (on any motor vehicle, commercial or private, regardless of make or size) are not really made to withstand the impact of anything. Not even yippy little corgis.

I hope the company takes it upon themselves to fix it, as unlikely as it sounds. Been there, done that and regardless of the cause or damage, it's never less than a headache.

That being said, it's nice to see someone else around here has gotten over 600k miles on the odometer though.
 
#33 ·
Glad it was only a coyote... a co-worker of my wife hit a horse a couple years ago in a Saturn actually, she is on perm disability now and lucky she lived. I knocked the neighbor dog across the ditch(yes he lived and was fine) at 40+ a few years ago, hard enough to leave a dirt stain outline of the dog on the PA, luckily only scratched the paint.
 
#37 ·
CadillacLuke24 said:
Me too. Rabbits and birds.
Lmao. That reminds me. Once I was driving thru PA at night and heard a REAL load thud on my drivers door. Keep in mind I'm going 75 mph on the interstate so not like I hit a branch. Lol. Looked in my mirror to see a huge wholes owl spiraling to the ground. Lol. He prob had a head ache after that one! Lol
 
#38 ·
Yeah, I've never hit a horse with my car or a car with my horse. I try to keep the two separate.

My Father once smacked a couple vultures in The Little Car (Our name for the family's smallest car in history, the Grand Marquis) so hard once that it broke the headlamp housing. There was no visible damage, but it was leaking and water was getting in. That's what they get for not just giving up on the roadkill they were eating for two seconds.

That same road that happened on has a little of everything. I've seen roadkill wild boar (Which is what the vultures were eating) and even a cow/bull that got hit by a Cement truck once. Me personally, I once hit an armadillo at around 95 mph on that road (In the SEL Fusion) and on two separate occasions over the last few years, I have run over 7+ foot alligators on that road.

The real trouble in Florida, especially rural areas like this is hitting gopher tortoises. Heavy, Slow, Solid. They will **** up your day for certain...may even walk away thereafter.
 
#39 ·
Driving along in Yukon Territory in Canada I came around a corner in my '58 Chevy pickup and there was a horse standing on the shoulder of the road parallel to traffic. There were cars coming the other way so I couldn't swing out to give him extra room. As I passed by he turned his head toward the traffic and I smacked him with the corner post of the windshield right in the gourd. As I looked in the rear view mirror he was still standing but he was staggering around. I'm betting his owner was wondering what the hell happened to him.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top