Just before lunch at the overlook I noticed my steering was a bit tight. I thought my airlocker hadn't fully disengaged which is quite common for the first few feet after an obstacle. I parked the truck at the lunch spot and didn't think about it again.... until after lunch when I got in the truck and the steering was still tight. As soon as I felt the tightness my stomach dropped and I knew exactly what was wrong before I even looked. It felt the same way the first time I wheeled with it after my solid axle conversion. That was the feeling of the track bar mount being torn loose from the frame. The reason the steering felt tight is because I was pushing the entire axle side to side everytime I turned the wheel!
Now, this is where being prepared for a hard core trail is EXTREMELY important. We were 10 miles in to a 20 mile long trail with no easy way out. Either way would be filled with obstacles and towing a rig with a "floating" front axle would be nearly impossible in these conditions.
I have been carrying an onboard welder,the Ready Welder, with me for the past couple years. It's the best birthday present Char ever bought me! After looking at the bracket which was torn away from the frame, I knew I needed the help of David Meisner. David has done some excellent fab work for himself and others in the Denver area. I knew that David's welding skills were better than mine as I had just started welding with the purchase of this welder. This was no time to test my fabrication skills! In my bag of goodies I had thrown in a couple strips of steel that I had cut for use as shackles, David used those to brace the broken mount. The welder worked great. We only used flux core wire, so the weld was a bit on the ugly side in places, but the trail repair held up for the rest of the trip without any problems! Thanks David!