Wheeling thanksgiving weekend

[Jefe]

I'm good for a new years run, anywere from Dec 26-Jan 1

 

[Brother_of_Jefe]

I'm good for a new years run, anywere from Dec 26-Jan 1

"ditto"

(whew!, barely made it before someone took my line!)

 

[tdavis]

Don't look at me.. I'm tearing it all apart, hopefully get it back together by Feb.

 

[Brother_of_Jefe]

So . . . . . . survey says?

So . . . maybe just a day trip up to Hungry Valley? or Last Chance Canyon?

or at least a "Midnight Run" up Rowher?

 

[Jefe]

John and I are going to run Miller Jeep Trail Saturday. Should be leaving valencia around 8am. If anyone is interested call me.

 

[Jefe]

Managed to snap a few pics today:
http://www.jefethegreat.com/truck/pics_05/11-26-05_Miller/

I also managed to snap a few other things.
I was dragging the rear diff and sliders across the rocks when the front end made a loud pop. With the Superior axles and CTM's I figured it had to be the hub. Pulled the hub, which was busted, and put in a new one. It wasn't till the end of the trail that John told me that that tire still wasn't pulling.

 

[Brother_of_Jefe]

Awesome pics! The other point of carnage - wind caught the Jeep hood during airing up in the parking lot. Put some nice creases in it where it meets the top of the windwhield.

 

[RangerX]

Pulled the hub, which was busted, and put in a new one. It wasn't till the end of the trail that John told me that that tire still wasn't pulling.

What else do you figure broke?

 

[Stic-o]

Sorry I didn't join you guys, I was fixing my very loose spare tire carrier again

Anyway looks like you had fun, sorry to here about the hood John, Do they make those in Fiberglass?

 

[FROADER]

Whoa whoa John... where are the camo pants?!?!

Sucks to hear about the broken parts Jefe, looks like a fun area to wheel.

 

[Stic-o]

Whoa whoa John... where are the camo pants?!?!

LMAO! I thought it, but was holding my breath

 

[Jefe]

What else do you figure broke?

I have yet to pull it apart, but it looks like the inner shaft broke. However that doesn't explain why I'm getting power to the other front wheel with the locker unlocked. Of course the locker wasn't turned on at the time I snaped everything so it could be that it got stuck locked previous to this event.

I thought the solid axle was sopposed to reduce the amount of time & money I put into fixing my truck.

 

[Rick]

Doesn't that setup have a limited slip to go along with the electric locker?

 

[Jefe]

Doesn't that setup have a limited slip to go along with the electric locker?

Yes, but I can put full power to the one front wheel, zero power to the other tire. If I put the Atlas in 2wd low -front I can drive around in 1WD. Wicked torque steer though.

 

[Jefe]

Carnage

Note that the superior shaft does not neck down there.

It appears that once it broke, the shape of the break forced the remaining axle further into the carrier, causing the two to bind and weld together. I pulled apart the other side and tried to push the axle out with a rod with no luck, even with a 5 lb sledge . Tried using a piece of conduit to hammer with and ended up flaring the ends which got it stuck in the carrier. Came up with this fab job to get the conduit back out, originally trying manual labor:

Once that was successful we tried a similar setup on the axle. I welded a 1/2" steel rod to the axle and after a few tries got it setup right:

We maxed out the stock Ford jack (2 ton?). We continued with the Jeep jack and bent the 1.5" tube, and were stretching the 1/2" rod. The welds held though Tried a few more with all the force on it with no luck. Gave up and put it all back together broken.

Any ideas short of dicing up the carrier and/or axle tube?

 

[RangerX]

That's some quality breakage!

 

[RockRanger]

Does the unbroken axle have the marks in the axle like this one? Or did that happen from driving on it with it broken? Some deffently some quality breakage forsure.

 

[Rick]

Yikes sorry to see that Jefe. I wish I had some advice on removing the busted axle, but it looks like you've tried everything that I would have... You're treading on uncharted ground

 

[tdavis]

Pull the housing, chop the tube with a chop saw but rotate the tube as you cut, and don't cut the bad axle shaft, pull the broken shaft (hopefully get more "grip"), drill holes, sleeve and put tube back on with plug welds.

Or just send it an axle shop, they can pull the axle tube, and pull the busted axle, and then re-tube it.

Whatever you do, it isn't going to be a cheap fix..

I just thought of this - can you see any of the axle shaft inside the carrier? Is there enough room to shove a carbide bit on a die grinder in there, and cut the shaft, so you can pull the carrier?

 

[Jefe]

Does the unbroken axle have the marks in the axle like this one? Or did that happen from driving on it with it broken? Some deffently some quality breakage forsure.

Yup, I'm pretty sure the break was cause by the u-joint binding. That would also account for the axle and hub breaking together. Need to add a second set of steering stops.

I just thought of this - can you see any of the axle shaft inside the carrier? Is there enough room to shove a carbide bit on a die grinder in there, and cut the shaft, so you can pull the carrier?

I never pulled the cover since I was running out of time, but I dont think there is enough room to get to the shaft w/o cutting at the carrier also.