Moab

[waynehartwig]

Today was a pretty good day... There was no carnage in our group on Pritchett. Herzog busted his alternator up going down the waterfall on the rock pile (after literally walking up it not even spinning a tire!). He turned around and drive back down it. Since it's so steep, his rear started going over, so he gave it some gas causing him to bounce his upper control arm into the alternator and bust it off the motor. Since it's one belt for everything, he had to coast out of the canyon and limp it back to his trailer. His parents were with him, they decided to stay at Rocker Knocker and wait for Herzog to come out.

The Nag and I didn't have any problems or breakage, that I know of!! The Nag had troubles on Rocker Knocker with no rear locker, and all but gave up. So I gave it the old college try, and after a little finesse, I made it up. So I was just going to strap Nate up. Well, while we were getting him into position for the strap, he had the perfect line, so we told him to go for it. Wouldnt' you know it, he made it up Rocker Knocker on his own!

Then we got up to the rock pile, and I wasn't going to do the rock pile with my short wheelbase, unless I was hooked onto Herzog or something, Nate had the same opinion. So we took the bypass. I made it up no problem, but Nate had difficulty - again no rear locker did him in and rather than beat it up and waste time (rain was coming and we still had yellow hill to contend with!) so we strapped him up and bid a farewell to Herzog and Barbie.

Up at Yellow Hill we waited for a 15 year old with a busted driveline? get up! Dad was riding shot gun!! So Nate and I made it up without any problems at all, and just in time for the rain to come!

There were probably 50 other rigs in and around the trail while we were on it. Out of them, there was a YJ on rocker knocker (bypass) that almost rolled. Don't ask how he got so far off the trail, but it's a bad sign when you hear your spotter YELL STOP and DON'T MOVE! I've gotta get a strap!! Herzog went up and helped, but with his group and all nothing was working. They ended up sending him down the canyon backwards.

Out of everyone, I think there were 2 busted drivelines, busted alternator, busted tie rod, and several u joints...

I'll get some pictures posted up after I download them and get them resized...

Stay tuned...Tomorrow is Rusty Nail. Hopefully Herzog can get a new alternator and play!

 

[I Lean]

Stay tuned...Tomorrow is Rusty Nail. Hopefully Herzog can get a new alternator and play!

....and maybe a bumpstop or two.

Sounds fun!

 

[Meat_]

Bumpstops are for p***** :greg:

 

[I Lean]

Bumpstops are for p***** :greg:

And those who have their alternators mounted underneath the engine.

 

[Meat_]

And those who have their alternators mounted underneath the engine.

 

[waynehartwig]

....and maybe a bumpstop or two.

Sounds fun!

Actually he had some rather large ones, but they didn't help this time!

He got it fixed though, and ran Rusty Nail today

 

[chadschoon]

pics???

 

[Herzog]

....and maybe a bumpstop or two.

Sounds fun!

I do have it bump stopped... it hit that hard.

After further inspection of my rig today after Rusty Nail, I noticed that the steering arm (stock casted arm) is bent too. Only reason I noticed was because my tires were pointing in the opposite directoin.

 

[waynehartwig]

Today we (the jeep, the nag, a friend of mine Chris and I) ran Golden Spike and then The Jeep and I ran over and ran Rusty Nail. The Nag busted a rear yoke on his 10.25, so that put him out. He couldn't get out in front wheel drive, so I had to pull him out. We got him out to some hairy obstacle and got him REAL stuck! I couldn't pull him anymore, so I turned around to use the winch, but that didn't work - I couldn't stay put. So there was an innocent bystander standing by watching the 'fun' and strapped onto me. Still no go, now my winch was pulling both of us. By this time there were 20 or so rigs behind us, as we were blocking the trail. One guy had a new 60" hi lift so The Nag jacked up his rig and we stacked a bunch of rocks under his tires. Then, we got him out and down the hill.

Then the jeep and I cruised over and ran Rusty Nail. RN has really changed a lot since turkey weekend last year. Lots of rocks winched out, moved, etc. This trail use to be really difficult. No longer! I was very dissapointed!! After we got done there, we hit double whammy. After some trial and error I made it up. The Jeep took two shots at it and walked up the second time. But then I noticed he had a busted upper control arm mount on his front axle. After removing the control arm, we were on our way.... On the way down I started hearing a loud screetching sound and banging noise. After getting back down to the trailer area, I looked and found that I had busted my rear upper control arm mount on the axle!

All in all good day, but very long!!! Tomorrow we'll probably do something easy, like fins and things....

 

[I Lean]

I do have it bump stopped... it hit that hard.

After further inspection of my rig today after Rusty Nail, I noticed that the steering arm (stock casted arm) is bent too. Only reason I noticed was because my tires were pointing in the opposite directoin.

Does that mean a new knuckle? (or two?)

But then I noticed he had a busted upper control arm mount on his front axle. After removing the control arm, we were on our way.... On the way down I started hearing a loud screetching sound and banging noise. After getting back down to the trailer area, I looked and found that I had busted my rear upper control arm mount on the axle!

Lemme guess....passenger side front, driver's side rear, right? It's a TJ thing.

 

[Herzog]

Does that mean a new knuckle? (or two?)

Need a new drivers side knuckle.

 

[waynehartwig]

Does that mean a new knuckle? (or two?)



Lemme guess....passenger side front, driver's side rear, right? It's a TJ thing.

Nope... Drivers side front. The guy that installed his axles didn't know how to weld and made real cold welds and they pulled. He's gonna fix it up after het gets home.
Mine was passenger rear. It had cracked in the competition up in Price a few weeks ago. I welded it up and it broke again. I'm not sure if it was my weld or the metal tore again. I haven't looked at it that close to tell......

 

[waynehartwig]

Need a new drivers side knuckle.

I knew you hit hard, but I didn't think you hit that hard!!! Almost would have been worth just going ass over kettle and then having the three of us upright it!

 

[waynehartwig]

Well, looked at the control arm mount and half of the bracket ripped again, and the other half the weld broke. What can be done to make welds stronger? Penetration was there, as half of the weld was left on both sides and I can see a heat ring out past the edge of the weld. Do I just make the weld thicker to be stronger?

 

[I Lean]

Well, looked at the control arm mount and half of the bracket ripped again, and the other half the weld broke. What can be done to make welds stronger? Penetration was there, as half of the weld was left on both sides and I can see a heat ring out past the edge of the weld. Do I just make the weld thicker to be stronger?

Weld it again, then gusset the bracket. The factory didn't make that one very strong.

 

[waynehartwig]

Weld it again, then gusset the bracket. The factory didn't make that one very strong.

I think the problem is that you have a semi triangulated suspension and a track bar. I personally think those two items fight each other and obviously the track bar will win. But when it does, I think it puts undue stress on the control arm brackets. And not necessarily that the factory didn't do a good job welding it on. IMO

I think rather than fix it, I'm going to do a tri-link setup instead. Then I can get rid of the track bar, not have to repair the broken control arm bracket, and not have to worry about it happening again. I've been wanting to do it for a while now, but since my Rubicon is a lease, I have been putting it off. I think it's time to just DO IT!

 

[waynehartwig]

Today we ran Fins and Things. Since this a moderate trail, there was no carnage. We ran into a group of people with rented Jeeps that did not know anything about off roading, so Chris and I took them under our wings and helped them through. There were some things we talked them through that I'm sure they wouldn't have ever tried!! Not so much because of fear, but not knowing it was possible! They had a SHEER BLAST!!!!!! Of course I talked to them about trail etiquette, Utah Four Wheel Drive Association, Treading Lightly, etc. They were from Farmington and Clearfield. They had to have their Jeeps back at 1, and I think they BARELY made it!

Then on the way home, there was a HUGE accident on HWY 6 that had the road closed for about 2 hours. Head on - Neon versus Dodge Ram pulling a boat. They lost their lives... I heard on the radio (truckers and others talking) that they were going to life flight, but they canceled it due to deaths. I also heard there were children laying on the freeway. Not sure if they were pulled or thrown from the wreck, or if they even survived. My thoughts and prayers go out to their families tonight.

Be careful out there when you are driving around and especially passing people on two lane roads. There is NO reason that you need to put yourself and others in harms way - especially to shave a few seconds off of your arrival time. :-\

 

[I Lean]

I think the problem is that you have a semi triangulated suspension and a track bar. I personally think those two items fight each other and obviously the track bar will win. But when it does, I think it puts undue stress on the control arm brackets. And not necessarily that the factory didn't do a good job welding it on. IMO

I think rather than fix it, I'm going to do a tri-link setup instead. Then I can get rid of the track bar, not have to repair the broken control arm bracket, and not have to worry about it happening again. I've been wanting to do it for a while now, but since my Rubicon is a lease, I have been putting it off. I think it's time to just DO IT!

That's exactly the problem...they designed bind into the system, and the cheesy stock bracket can't stand the additional force.

Be careful what you do with the rear suspension....if you choose one of the ones that triangulate the uppers using the stock frame mounts, you'll rip those mounts off the frame. If they don't use the stock mounts, you're prolly fine.

 

[waynehartwig]

That's exactly the problem...they designed bind into the system, and the cheesy stock bracket can't stand the additional force.

Be careful what you do with the rear suspension....if you choose one of the ones that triangulate the uppers using the stock frame mounts, you'll rip those mounts off the frame. If they don't use the stock mounts, you're prolly fine.

Why would you design bind into the system?

If I do, I'll use the same location at the crossmember that my RE kit currently uses. Which is also the same point that the lowers attach.

 

[I Lean]

Why would you design bind into the system?

Maybe they're just lazy, I don't know. It's easy enough to build a system that doesn't bind if you want to. Sometimes you want a little bit of bind to act like a swaybar. (think radius arms) I'd rather have a non-binding system though, it'll last longer and be easier to tune. (and won't tend to rip itself apart)