# Food Truck Collision, Panel and Kitchen Repair

> A food truck repair at OCRV Center covers the chassis, the serving window framing, the kitchen build and the seals that let the unit pass inspection again. Work is performed in shop in Yorba Linda for Tustin operators, with interior build out and conversion running $2,500 to $50,000 across 20 to 250 hours.

Source: https://ocrv.biz/vehicles/mobile-business/food-truck-repair/
Business: OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. Serving Tustin, California.
Ballpark range: $2,500 to $50,000. Posted rates at https://ocrv.biz/prices/

## Where the weight actually sits in a loaded truck

Roll a working truck onto the scales with full water, full LP, cold product and a fryer at operating level and the rear axle carries the majority of the load. That is by design. The galley runs down one side, the hood and range sit at the back, the generator lives in a bay behind the rear wheels and the fresh and waste tanks hang under the floor near the same station.

What that means for a repair is simple. A parking lot bump into the rear corner of an empty cargo van is a bumper job. The same bump into a loaded truck loads the rear body mounts, the outriggers and the floor crossmembers, because the mass behind the axle keeps moving after the sheet metal has stopped. On intake we lift the unit and look at the mount brackets, the rear cross sill and the underside of the floor before writing anything about the panel.

The same logic applies to the rebuild. Equipment goes back on the same footprint, with the same anchorage, in the same place. A range shifted a foot forward changes tongue behavior on a trailer and steering feel on a truck, and neither is your driver's problem to discover on the way to a lunch service.

## The serving window is a hole in a structural wall

A serving aperture is typically four to six feet wide in a wall that was designed as a continuous stressed skin. Cutting that opening removes the load path, so the builder replaces it with a header above the aperture, jamb posts either side and a sill below. Everything that wall used to carry now runs around the hole through those four members.

That geometry is why the window is the first thing to fail in a side impact, and why cracks show up at the aperture corners long before anything else. Common findings on intake:

**Diagonal cracking at the upper aperture corners**: The header is flexing. Almost always means a jamb post has separated from the floor or the header connection has loosened.

**The window will not latch or sits proud on one side**: The opening is out of square. That is a structure problem, not a hardware problem, and swapping the latch will not fix it.

**Water staining down the interior jamb**: The sealant joint between the frame and the skin has opened, usually because the wall has moved.

**Sill deflection under the counter shelf**: A folding shelf loaded with trays puts a cantilever load on a member that was sized for the window alone.

Repair means the header and jambs come back to correct dimension before any skin goes on. We square the opening, verify the frame diagonal, then re skin and reseal.

## Hood, exhaust and every other hole in the roof

The roof of a food truck is not a roof, it is a roof with a commercial exhaust hood through it, plus a make up air vent, usually an air conditioner and often a satellite or antenna base. Each of those is a penetration with a curb, a flange and a sealant joint, and each one is a leak waiting for the sealant to age out.

After a collision, or after any repair that involved jacking or twisting the body, every roof penetration gets re inspected. A body that moved a quarter inch has broken the sealant bead at each curb whether or not you can see it. Roof vent and fan replacement runs $250 to $1,200 across 1 to 5 hours, and ventilation system repair and upgrade runs $300 to $3,500.

The exhaust hood itself is the heaviest single item on the roof line, and its curb is normally welded or through bolted into the roof framing. If the framing has been repaired, the hood comes off, the framing is restored, and the hood is re bedded on fresh sealant rather than re seated onto a compromised joint.

## LP locker, generator bay and the compartments that must stay sealed

The LP locker is a sealed compartment for a reason: it is vented to the outside at floor level and isolated from the interior so a leaking cylinder cannot fill the galley. If a collision opens that compartment to the cabin, or if a repair leaves a wiring pass through unsealed, the truck is not safe to operate no matter how good the paint looks.

So the locker gets treated as a pressure boundary. Panels are replaced, the low vent is cleared and re proven, every pass through gets a proper grommet and sealant, and the door gasket is renewed. LP gas system service and leak repair runs $285 to $2,500 across 1 to 10 hours and is performed by a certified technician in shop.

The generator bay is the other compartment with rules of its own. It needs an air inlet, an exhaust path clear of the LP vent and of any window or door, and enough clearance around the set for cooling. Bay repairs that quietly reduce the inlet area cook the set. Generator service and repair runs $400 to $8,500 across 2 to 35 hours.

## Putting the interior back so it passes inspection

Interior finish in a food truck is not decoration, it is a regulatory surface. Walls and ceilings are normally stainless or a coated aluminum panel, the floor is diamond plate or a coved vinyl, and the requirement in every case is the same: smooth, non absorbent and cleanable, with no open seam for grease or water to sit in.

A panel repair from the outside always reaches the inside. Once the outer skin is off, the insulation behind it is usually saturated or crushed and comes out. The interior panel almost never survives removal in reusable condition. The rebuild goes back in order: framing, wiring and plumbing, insulation, interior panel, then sealant at every joint and every fastener head.

The three compartment sink is the fixture that catches people out. It carries three drains plus a separate hand wash basin, each with its own trap, running to a grey tank sized larger than the fresh tank. If the wall behind it was opened, the drain runs get re supported and re sloped, not just reconnected. Fresh water plumbing service runs $285 to $4,500 across 1 to 18 hours.

## Wrap, graphics and what a food truck job runs

The last step on almost every one of these jobs is the wrap. A repaired panel takes vinyl differently than the original did, so the substrate is prepped, sealed and refinished before the print goes on. Partial and full vinyl wrap runs **$1,500 to $9,500** across 10 to 45 hours, and decal and graphics replacement runs $500 to $5,500. Bring the original artwork files; a reprint from source beats a colour match to a sun faded panel every time.

Interior build out and conversion runs **$2,500 to $50,000** across 20 to 250 hours, and the full posted bands are on the [prices page](/prices/). Body and paint labor is $210 an hour, mechanical and electrical $260. There is no charge for insurance walk ins, and the systems evaluation is $150, applied as a credit against an authorized repair.

Tell us the date you need to be serving again and we will schedule backward from it. [Request a quote](/contact/) and bring photos of the damage plus your build drawings if you have them.

## How this job runs

1. **Intake and load survey**: The unit is weighed or corner checked as it arrives, the build is photographed against the damage, and the equipment layout is recorded so it can be put back on the same footprint.
2. **Teardown to structure**: Skin, insulation and interior panel come off in that order until the framing, the aperture members and the floor crossmembers are visible and can be measured.
3. **Structure, then systems**: Header, jamb posts, sill and floor members are restored to dimension first. Wiring, LP lines and plumbing are run and pressure proven inside the open cavity before anything closes up.
4. **Close up, seal and refinish**: Insulation, interior panel, sealant at every seam and fastener, then outer skin, paint and wrap. Roof penetrations are re bedded and the unit is water tested before pickup.

## Questions

### How long does a serving window repair take?

A straightforward reseal and re square is a few days. If the header or a jamb post is damaged the aperture has to be rebuilt, the skin replaced and the graphics reprinted, which typically puts the job into the one to three week range depending on parts.

### Can you repair the truck without pulling the kitchen equipment out?

Sometimes. If the damage is confined to a panel away from the galley run we can work around fixed equipment. Damage that reaches the wall behind the line means the range, hood or sink come out, because the interior panel behind them has to be replaced.

### My generator bay overheats since the last body repair. Why?

Almost always because the cooling air inlet was reduced when the bay was re skinned. The set needs a defined inlet area and a clear exhaust path. We measure both against the manufacturer requirement and open the bay back up rather than adding a fan to mask it.

### Do you take food trucks on a trailer chassis as well as truck bodies?

Yes. Trailer mounted kitchens go through the same bays, with the addition of axle, brake and coupler work. Axle service and replacement runs $500 to $5,500 across 3 to 22 hours if the trailer took the impact on a wheel.

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- [Prices and Posted Rates](https://ocrv.biz/prices/)