Fordyce 9/5

What's the story with the axle problem?

All others are home safe and showered. The boy's had a great time and both drove well on and off road. Dillon drove a jeep for the first time this weekend and had road duties. Cole and Dillon make a good team. It is nice to see young kids get off to a good start.

"FAM" wrote: What's the story with the axle problem?

All I know is he tore the ears off of both shafts on winch hill two.



I hear that Richard's truck looks a little different than when he started the day 😂



Now he'll know I wasn't kidding that the trail gets significantly harder after the river crossing 😁

My cell phone will on if anyone hears from Rob's group and they need help to get Kevin home.

"JohnDF" wrote: I hear that Richard's truck looks a little different than when he started the day 😂

Like he laid it over?

I'm home. That was one abusive and fun day. I suffered body damage and got winched up one and two. The Toyo made some funny noises on the way home so there might be some more damage. Kevin broke the right front u-joint on Winch Hill 2. Rob got a minor scrape and I think Chuck survived intact.

I heard Chuck tore off a fender flare on Winch 1.

Fun day! Everybody's rig did well and I think I only screamed like a girl twice. 😳 😂

We actually kept to John's time plans and I made by the time I was supposed to. 😎

"JohnDF" wrote:
All I know is he tore the ears off of both shafts on winch hill two.

I see 60's in his future. 😏

I made it home okay. I still had my stock YJ disconnect axle so I pulled the fork out of the vacuum disconnect and was able to drive home. To be honest, I don't know when it actually broke. In hindsight I did notice a noise every now and then but just assumed it was from bouncing around. It must have been hanging by a thread on winch hill 2 and then it seemed much harder all of a sudden and spit out the u-joint. No big boom though. 18 1/2 years on stock axle isn't bad though! What a huge difference between having a front locked axle and then not!



Overall, it was a fun run! Especially the last river crossing when the water came over my hood for a split second! You know it's deep when you can't see Rob's tires! 😀



Now, what to do? 😁



Oh, I'm out for the Barrett run on the 13th. 🙁

D'oh!





Attached files

That doesn't even look like an axle shaft any more 😂



I'm glad you guys made it out under your own power. Like Rob always says..."Some days you can drive right through Fordyce without a problem. Other days it will jump up and bite you in the butt." 😲

Here's some pics...



There's a good one of Don taking on water. There's also a good one of Chuck on winch hill 1. Who can spot the missing piece on Chuck's Jeep? 😀

Kevin,



If you go to a junk yard or call up some of the 4wd shops, they probably have some really cheap TJ axle sets sitting around. It wont take very long to fix your Jeep. You will need to pull your carrier now and replace the seal on the side with the broken shaft. It is more than likely toast after having that shaft wobbling around in there.

"kevheb" wrote: D'oh!

I may have 2 stock TJ front axles that are some what complete still hanging around if the buzzards haven't picked them over too bad. All I know of for sure is that Lee used the carrier and the unit bearings from mine that was removed when it had 30k on it and Sue's were from a 05 LJ with about the same. Do you want me to ck on them?

"SLM" wrote: I may have 2 stock TJ front axles that are some what complete still hanging around if the buzzards haven't picked them over too bad. All I know of for sure is that Lee used the carrier and the unit bearings from mine that was removed when it had 30k on it and Sue's were from a 05 LJ with about the same. Do you want me to ck on them?

That would be great! I just need the shafts. Then I can pick up some new seals and be back on the trail! 😀



Or I could just have Rob tow me through each run. 😂



That worked great. Thanks for getting me out! 😁

I will try to get to the shipping container on tues. or weds. and then let you know.

So what was the damage total for all the groups. The ones that went to the committee and the ones who went back to Eagle lake?



Our group



Rob = Small finger tip scrape in the paint on the driver rear tube fender

Kevin = Busted front passenger axle (Inner and outer shaft)

Chuck = Ripped the rear driver fender flare off his Jeep

Richard = 5 or 6 new good size dents, moved his front bumper up about 6 inches on the driver side, bent his tie rod worse than any tie rod I've see in awhile.





How about the other group?



Kevin's description of the committee crossing didn't do it justice. When I looked back at Kevin, I couldn't see his hood. I saw water lapping up to his windshield. Chuck had water in his lap. I had water about 4 inches below my driver side door window frame. My elbow got wet. Richard had water going over his hood too..Very doable, but very deep!!!

As far as I know, the first group out had no damage except Don's sidewall and floor board (bath tub).

My steering wheel is straight now. 😛

My stereo doesn't work anymore. :x



😂 😂

Looks like my front differential is toast. It was a LSD so its no surprise that it died on WH2. I've got a detroit locker laying here but need to find a Toyo 8" open carrier.

"RockinCrawler" wrote: Looks like my front differential is toast. It was a LSD so its no surprise that it died on WH2. I've got a detroit locker laying here but need to find a Toyo 8" open carrier.

My buddy has a complete dropout out of a 4cyl Toyota he wants $40 bucks for, or you can strip the carrier for free and give him back what you don't use.

"RockinCrawler" wrote: Looks like my front differential is toast. It was a LSD so its no surprise that it died on WH2. I've got a detroit locker laying here but need to find a Toyo 8" open carrier.

You sure you want a detroit in the front? I hate my full locker in the front.

They really suck in the snow 😲 😲 😲

"Bender" wrote: [quote="RockinCrawler"]Looks like my front differential is toast. It was a LSD so its no surprise that it died on WH2. I've got a detroit locker laying here but need to find a Toyo 8" open carrier.

You sure you want a detroit in the front? I hate my full locker in the front.