A couple of us from Ocean State Jeepsters ran a trail in Western MA with New England Jeepz yesterday. Lots of carnage. Of the 16 rigs on the trail I think only one escaped without any damage. My drivers side front axle yoke grenaded taking the ball joints out with it. Also caved in the rear passenger door, peeled the drivers side front fender, cleaned out drivers side marker lamps and header panel, dented the hood, and cracked the windshield. My friend Bill snapped his rear driveshaft and cracked his windshield. I still can't believe we were able to pound the ball joints back in and get out of the woods in 2WD.
Nice work there Eric. If you need a hand fixing your heep let me know. Looking forward to get mine done before the next trail ride. wish i had a locker of some sort for the rear at least
Nice! Thanks for the video.My kind of wheeling.
That Red YJ . it looked like , It was pretty BA Too. I wonder what was under the hood. almost sounds like a super charged v-8 .
You had quiet a bit of trail carnage lately. I cringe at the fender carnage. that one would have set me back an extra 450.$
And forgive me for not going back and reading everything, mainly because I have not got my beer yet. j/k But if I remember correct you had the L.s up front and not locked. it is almost hard to tell you are not locked up front. Nice Jeep !
Tru-Trac in the front axle. They have a high bias ratio and work almost as good as a locker under most conditions (except when one of the axles is broken!) The main reason I have the Tru-Trac is because I still drive the vehicle on the road when it snows. ARB will be going in once I get a 4wd tow rig.
And now the fix. But first a few more pics of the damage. Here's a good shot of the stub shaft clearly showing where the yoke yielded:
The broken windshield. Fender bent back into the corner:
And the rear door. This was the first damage of the day:
Lower ball joint partially pressed back in on the trail. I drove out with it like this:
And now to the repairs. Here's the replacement Moog ball joints. I did both sides:
Alloy axle shafts and Spicer 5-760x u-joints. These u-joints are about the strongest you can get for a D30 without going stupid expensive (and just plain stupid):
Thanks to club member Jeff for owning a real ball joint press. I can't imagine doing this job without it:
A good shot of where the knuckle got peened when the yoke snapped. This is why we could not get the ball joint all the way back in on the trail:
One of my favorite tools of all time comes to the rescue again:
Going back together:
Torquing the "spindle" nuts. Interestingly, the nuts were barely finger tight when when I took them off despite torquing them to 180 ft-lbs when I installed them last summer. Strange! Need to check them this time. Snapped my expensive torque wrench but the back-up came through:
Drank alot of these along the way:
All back together and shiny:
Next step is the body work. Here's the parts vehicle (thanks to John!):
What's the deal with those 760 U joints...Are they for the dshaft or the axle shafts?
Can you get them at any parts store? Sounds like a good upgrade for sure.
What's the deal with those 760 U joints...Are they for the dshaft or the axle shafts?
Can you get them at any parts store? Sounds like a good upgrade for sure.
Forgive me if I missed it, although I did read the Thread back in the day , never received my Beer.:rofl:
question is, where did you get that Red axle seal with the zerk fitting?? I have never seen that on ZJ D30. If I remember correct, that is what you have up front. I think it is a great Idea and I would love to add it on during my next axle/hub pull. I have replaced my u-joints with the Auto zone brand :dunno:. something tells me with the locker /gear set up in my front, I am going to need to try the Spicer's Joints next.
I too have done the ball joint job and I could not imagine trying it without the correct press.
Your Jeep Is turning out to be a pretty nice trail rig. Looks like the long arms are working well for you.:cheers2:
41 - 60 of 189 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
A forum community dedicated to all jeep owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, engine swaps, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!