Bender - 2010 JKUR

[Jdofmemi]

That looks better

 

 

[AJK]

I like it!

[fiend]

Yesterday I sold my PR44 and OE Rubicon Dana 44.  Both had some nice upgrades and I spent a fair amount of time prepping them for re-sale. Among other things, the upper control arm brackets of the rear axle had some cracks at the welds where they connected to the axle tubes.  I ground those down and redid the welds.  I also replaced the wheel bearings and seals.  Up front, the trackbar bracket had some cracks, likely due to the stress from the PSC ram. I cut the bracket off and welded on a new one with  much better reinforcement.  I also rebuilt the front calipers, did a general cleanup of both axles, and threw on a fresh coat of paint.  It was a lot of work, but it paid off when I sold the axles and some related components yesterday for $6500 on FB marketplace.  I was prepared to drop the price a bit, but a guy came by last night and handed me an envelope full of cash without even trying to bargain. That's a nice dent in the $12,000 or so that I spend building the new axles.  So, I ended up with a set of tons for $5500 out of pocket (plus a lot of sweat equity). Not bad, considering a comparable set of axles now costs $18-20k.  

[KevinG]

congrats on selling them that fast!

[Jdofmemi]

Congratulations on the sale. 

 

All the hard work getting them ready has paid off. 

[fiend]

57 minutes ago, Jdofmemi said:

Congratulations on the sale. 

 

All the hard work getting them ready has paid off. 

Thanks. I figure I got $1500-2000 more with the cleanup work, as compared to selling them as is.

 

5 hours ago, KevinG said:

congrats on selling them that fast!

Thanks! Feels good!

[fiend]

Hit the Rubicon trail last week with a bunch of great folks from this forum. Not far in to the Rubicon Trail Foundation loop, I jammed my driver’s side front tire in a big granite crack.  I managed to back out when I realized something bad would happen if I pushed it, but apparently I was too late. The stud on the driver side tie rod broke.  I was patting myself on the back as I pulled out a spare tie rod end that I purchased back in April. As I was carefully installing it with a torque wrench, I had a sinking feeling as I felt the resistance give way.  Stripped threads. Even so, it was tight enough to make the Jeep drivable.  WCJ was gracious enough to give up his run on the RTF loop to follow me back to camp. A true friend. The next day we made it off the rubicon and I hightailed it to a phone to order a replacement part, hoping I’d get it in time for the Fordyce run a couple of days later. Unfortunately it was not to be. Next year I’ll get back to both the RTF loop and Fordyce. In the meantime I’m working with SteerSmarts about getting at least one new tie rod end under warranty.  

[Gruff]

52 minutes ago, fiend said:

Hit the Rubicon trail last week with a bunch of great folks from this forum. Not far in to the Rubicon Trail Foundation loop, I jammed my driver’s side front tire in a big granite crack.  I managed to back out when I realized something bad would happen if I pushed it, but apparently I was too late. The stud on the driver side tie rod broke.  I was patting myself on the back as I pulled out a spare tie rod end that I purchased back in April. As I was carefully installing it with a torque wrench, I had a sinking feeling as I felt the resistance give way.  Stripped threads. Even so, it was tight enough to make the Jeep drivable.  WCJ was gracious enough to give up his run on the RTF loop to follow me back to camp. A true friend. The next day we made it off the rubicon and I hightailed it to a phone to order a replacement part, hoping I’d get it in time for the Fordyce run a couple of days later. Unfortunately it was not to be. Next year I’ll get back to both the RTF loop and Fordyce. In the meantime I’m working with SteerSmarts about getting at least one new tie rod end under warranty.  

 

 

That sucks. Was the spare new? 

[fiend]

11 minutes ago, Gruff said:

 

 

That sucks. Was the spare new? 

Sure was. Brand new. I considered switching to the new Fusion ends but they are a lot shorter so I’d need to get an entire tie rod. May do that if I have another failure with the steersmarts ends, which is what Artec uses for its kits. 

[Weebz]

Damn.  Sorry to hear that. 

[AJK]

That just sucks man.

[fiend]

1 hour ago, Weebz said:

Damn.  Sorry to hear that. 

 

1 hour ago, AJK said:

That just sucks man.

Thanks gents. It was lame to have two part failures.  It definitely sucked to miss Fordyce, which is always epic but was epic plus (I hear) this year.  But at least I was able to drive off the rubicon.  I’d definitely recommend that everyone carry spare tie rod ends. 

[fiend]

Oh forgot to mention. This also happened last week, driving home from Tahoe/Rubicon. Took 13 years but I finally got there. 

[Jdofmemi]

5 hours ago, fiend said:

Hit the Rubicon trail last week with a bunch of great folks from this forum. Not far in to the Rubicon Trail Foundation loop, I jammed my driver’s side front tire in a big granite crack.  I managed to back out when I realized something bad would happen if I pushed it, but apparently I was too late. The stud on the driver side tie rod broke.  I was patting myself on the back as I pulled out a spare tie rod end that I purchased back in April. As I was carefully installing it with a torque wrench, I had a sinking feeling as I felt the resistance give way.  Stripped threads. Even so, it was tight enough to make the Jeep drivable.  WCJ was gracious enough to give up his run on the RTF loop to follow me back to camp. A true friend. The next day we made it off the rubicon and I hightailed it to a phone to order a replacement part, hoping I’d get it in time for the Fordyce run a couple of days later. Unfortunately it was not to be. Next year I’ll get back to both the RTF loop and Fordyce. In the meantime I’m working with SteerSmarts about getting at least one new tie rod end under warranty.  

Greer

 

I hated for you to miss the rest of the trip, and I know you would have done the same for me, as you proved leaving the group to go to town with (or behind) me to chase parts. 

 

The stripped threads look more like a bad nut to me. .

Are they grade 8?

 

Maybe some better hardware is in order, or they had a bad batch. 

 

I was shocked it stripped when you were using the torque wrench. 

 

I would have really killed it with my impact. 

 

Thanks again for the loaner welder. 

If I didn't break Friday, I would have been there to weld Jim's lower control arm brackets back on with it. 

 

I will drop it off at your place soon. 

[fiend]

14 hours ago, Jdofmemi said:

Greer

 

I hated for you to miss the rest of the trip, and I know you would have done the same for me, as you proved leaving the group to go to town with (or behind) me to chase parts. 

 

The stripped threads look more like a bad nut to me. .

Are they grade 8?

 

Maybe some better hardware is in order, or they had a bad batch. 

 

I was shocked it stripped when you were using the torque wrench. 

 

I would have really killed it with my impact. 

 

Thanks again for the loaner welder. 

If I didn't break Friday, I would have been there to weld Jim's lower control arm brackets back on with it. 

 

I will drop it off at your place soon. 

Haha, yeah, there was no way I could keep up with you heeding up Cadillac and back to staging.  But I tried!

 

I don't know what the problem was.  Obviously it should not have stripped like that.  Not exactly confidence inspiring.

 

Did Jim have a break?  I didn't hear about that one.  

 

I'll grab the welder back at some point when convenient. No hurry.

[Nice Little Jeep]

On 8/14/2023 at 5:01 PM, fiend said:

Sure was. Brand new. I considered switching to the new Fusion ends but they are a lot shorter so I’d need to get an entire tie rod. May do that if I have another failure with the steersmarts ends, which is what Artec uses for its kits. 

I’m not to happy with the new F-ton that Fusion has designed. I like the original design that I’m running. replace the tie rod ends with a socket.  TMR is running this same design, I’m not sure who else is. 
 

https://www.tmrcustoms.com/collections/jeep/products/tmr-customs-2-5-ton-jeep-jk-steering-kit-7075-aluminum

[Jdofmemi]

22 hours ago, fiend said:

Haha, yeah, there was no way I could keep up with you heeding up Cadillac and back to staging.  But I tried!

 

I don't know what the problem was.  Obviously it should not have stripped like that.  Not exactly confidence inspiring.

 

Did Jim have a break?  I didn't hear about that one.  

 

I'll grab the welder back at some point when convenient. No hurry.

I will get in touch on the way back this weekend once I figure out the time and I can swing by to drop it off. 

 

Shame I wasn't with Jim when he broke, I could have fixed him up without waiting for the welder the trail committee sent from camp. 

 

His front lower control arm brackets broke. 

They were both missing a bolt through the transmission cross member, probably missed by AMW when they put the transmission in. 

[fiend]

4 hours ago, Nice Little Jeep said:

I’m not to happy with the new F-ton that Fusion has designed. I like the original design that I’m running. replace the tie rod ends with a socket.  TMR is running this same design, I’m not sure who else is. 
 

https://www.tmrcustoms.com/collections/jeep/products/tmr-customs-2-5-ton-jeep-jk-steering-kit-7075-aluminum

Those are the Rare Parts ends.  A few companies use them. I used to have those on my Currie tie rod with my ProRock 44. Not sure why Fusion changed.  

[fiend]

Well I got a note from Steersmarts saying they will send me a new end to replace the stripped one.  The broken one was out of warranty.  At first they said this would not matter, but ultimately they decided to send me only one end rather than two, so I guess it does matter after all.  They are sending me a free hat, though, so there's that.

[AJK]

On 8/16/2023 at 3:36 PM, fiend said:

Well I got a note from Steersmarts saying they will send me a new end to replace the stripped one.  The broken one was out of warranty.  At first they said this would not matter, but ultimately they decided to send me only one end rather than two, so I guess it does matter after all.  They are sending me a free hat, though, so there's that.

LOL a hat WTF.... Well at least you got the one replaced for free.

[fiend]

18 hours ago, AJK said:

LOL a hat WTF.... Well at least you got the one replaced for free.

Yeah, a hat.  

[Nice Little Jeep]

On 8/22/2023 at 12:50 PM, fiend said:

Yeah, a hat.  

That be a great hat to wear the next time you are changing out a tie rod end on the trail.

[Savage90]

Nice job Greer! I didnt realize you did all the work on your 1ton axles swap. very impressive!!

[fiend]

7 hours ago, Savage90 said:

Nice job Greer! I didnt realize you did all the work on your 1ton axles swap. very impressive!!

Thanks!  It was a good learning experience but a lot of work.  

[AJK]

What oil skid pan system do you have?