911 On trail - trac bar mount repair

[bmxking5]

Long story that I don't have time to explain, but the truck is broken down on a trail right now in the middle of no where. No tow truck is able to get there, but the trail isn't tough at all. The trac bar mount ripped clean off my mount plate (took parts of the plate with it) and I need to rig up some trac bar to get it to the street to be towed to my house. As of now, I'm going to attempt using a hi-lift on my stock bumper (i know it'll probably bend the hell out of it) and try to use tie down straps to center it as best I can so it'll be movable again. We're going back out there first thing in the morning to try and get this figured out. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Blee1099]

Think you could weld it back on the truck? If you have two or 3 batteries at your disposal plus some 6011 or 6013 welding rods, you could probably temporarily weld the mount back on so you can get it out of the trails.

 

[bmxking5]

I have no experience welding and especially none trying to weld like that. If I X-ed some tie down straps you think it would be able to be driving (basically through grass) to the street?

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

you dont have tow hooks?....
Edit NVM: I missread

 

[Blee1099]

I have no experience welding and especially none trying to weld like that. If I X-ed some tie down straps you think it would be able to be driving (basically through grass) to the street?

Didn't someone have a similar failure and use ratchet straps. I believe someone did or maybe it was a jeeper I saw. I think the straps might work. stick welding isn't that hard. With 3 batteries you'll get plenty of arc & penetration. Here's a little run down on how to do it.. http://www.safari4x4.com.au/80scool/tech/batweld/batweld.html

 

[section525]

Tow hooks won't help if the axle won't stay under the truck.

Can you use some bailing wire or something to wrap the track bar back to it's location? It's on the axle side of the bar?

 

[410Fortune]

anyone local you know who can/has arc welded? I see this as your best option and bring some plate/angle iron scraps, be prepared to clean the surfaces to if possible.

any pics?

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

doesnt your neighbor weld?....give him a ring

 

[bmxking5]

Ben - So far, that's the only possible thing I can think of. I don't know of anyone who can stick weld and be out there to help me tomorrow. James (JS91X) said he's done it before, but I'm not sure if he can get out there to help. Also, I have nothing to drive now, so I'm relying on friend's to help me out.

skanlax - I don't have his number, and the last thing I want to do is ring the door bell when his 2.5 month old baby is asleep. He will be leaving at about 5:30am for work and won't get back til it's close to dark again.

The only pic is on my friend's camera phone. He has a picture of how far over the axle is (coil bucket is touching the coil, and then the coil is actually touching the tire too. It was about 10pm when it all happened so even that is a crappy pic.

 

[bmxking5]

Can you use some bailing wire or something to wrap the track bar back to it's location? It's on the axle side of the bar?

No the trac bar is fine from what I can tell. I had a piece of 1/4" steel plate welded to the trac bar mount and that plate was bolted to the steering box (well, using those three bolts). The trac bar mount broke from the plate because of the EXTREMELY hard impact it had. That's why the thing snapped off.

 

[JS91X]

well just call me in the morning just be sure to bring jumper cables and ill get some welding rods somewhere tomorrow and ill get it together

 

[bmxking5]

I'm gonna see if that tie down strap idea will work. I know I don't have quick access to 3 batteries for the welding so that'll be last chance scenario. Actually, I could probably borrow 3 from that dealership I was telling you about. Just depends on how many extras they have. I'll call you tomorrow morning

 

[Blee1099]

You could try with 2 batteries but a 3rd will definately help acheive an arc. All you need is another battery or two since you have one in your rig.

 

[bmxking5]

Newbie ? - won't the batteries drain down from using them for welding?

 

[bmxking5]

Well, I'm gonna try to lift up the front end w/ the hi lift and try what I was originally talking about. If that doesn't work (may be too tall to lift up with the weak stock bumper), I'm gonna try to see if I can use the hi-lift and some straps to strap up to a tree to either move the body back over, or the axle back into place, so I can get the straps where they need to be to keep it as even as possible. Any other thoughts/comments will help. I'm going to bed now and will check back in the morning before we leave.

 

[Hotweels]

yes you should be able to cross strap the diff but you will want to suck down the suspension pretty good and make sure the strap's are nice and beefy.... drive slow.... watch for bump's...

and when you rebuild the trac-bar mount think overkill.... then weld some more....

 

[FROADER]

Tie down will work to drive on grass. We used tie downs on FAKRWEE's Stupidlift radius arm to finish the 2nd half of the Rubicon! Then he drove it 6 hours home.

 

[Dannyboy]

ok, this isn't a big deal, I've been in this position before, I didn't rip my mount off the frame but my track bar broke in two when the hardened steel that I used to make it adjustable snapped while jumping the truck. I was off the trail with no less than 20 minutes of down time.

Here's what I did.

First, get two people and have one behind the steering wheel. Turn the truck on and steer it back and forth. This will alaign the steering back over center (or at least close enough) and your coils will line up and get the truck centered back over your axle, get two tiedown straps as you are thinking, I used the ones with a hook and crossed them from the frame back across towards the knuckles. I believe I wrapped the strap around the ball joint making sure it didn't bind up on anything and hooked it around itself. In my case one of the straps really sucked and the truck continues to pull really bad to the right and wouldn't let me make left turns. I still went down the trail (nothing technical but like what you were talking about) and when I needed to turn to the left I would have to turn hard to the right and back up about 10 feet. I essentially could have gotten out with only one strap, but you would only be able to turn one way. That is probably way easier than to learn how to weld! Good Luck.

 

[bmxking5]

Thanks a lot guys. We're heading out there right now.

 

[bmxking5]

Thanks again Dannyboy. I didn't realize it would be so simple to the axle axle re-centered under there. Took off the trac bar and hooked one of the tie down around that bolt. Took forever to turn the truck all the way around to get out, but we made it work. We got it back through the creek, up the hill, and to the street. I'm going back there right now to meet up with the guy bringing the tow truck and he's towing it to my house. If I'm lucky, I can get my neighbor to reweld it the way it was before so I can still DD it (after all, it wouldn't have broken if I didn't run into a big cement man-hole thingy that was buried under the grass while I was doing 8-10 mph)

After that I'm gonna cut up some scrap steel and put gussetts on each side, and then weld a tube to the bottom of the engine crossmember for pulling it in. (saw it done this way on FSB forum) Anyways, thanks again for the help guys.