ATTENTION: Inspect Your Front Axle Housing!!
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ATTENTION: Inspect Your Front Axle Housing!!
In spite of all that I have said in the past regarding factory front axle housings and that there is no need to sleeve them, I'm here to formerly state that I WAS WRONG and if you wheel your Jeep hard, I would highly recommend that you get a set installed. If you cannot afford to have a set of sleeves installed, be sure to check your front axle housing on a regular basis near to where your passenger side control arms are mounted as that is where ALL the breaks have been occuring. Please note that these breaks have been happening on both Dana 44 and Dana 30 housings and REGARDLESS of what tire size you run including stock. While there are tens of thousands of JK's out there and to the best of my knowledge, only about a dozen breaks that have been recorded, I can now say that I have personally witnessed 2 of them happen to the same guy over the last 3 years and have even seen 2 breaks happen on one run. Clearly, time and experience has proven that the factory JK front axle housings either have a design flaw or are made out of cheap brittle steel. Here are a couple of pics of what the axle housing breaks look like...
Again, please take the time to carefully inspect your front axle housing on a regular basis and, if you wheel your Jeep hard, do yourself a favor and have a set of sleeves like the kind that Off Road Evolution makes installed as soon as you can afford it. Heck, if you can afford it, I would recommend that you just upgrade to a ProRock 44. If you have a Rubicon, all you need is the housing as everything else from your factory axle can be swapped into it.
Again, please take the time to carefully inspect your front axle housing on a regular basis and, if you wheel your Jeep hard, do yourself a favor and have a set of sleeves like the kind that Off Road Evolution makes installed as soon as you can afford it. Heck, if you can afford it, I would recommend that you just upgrade to a ProRock 44. If you have a Rubicon, all you need is the housing as everything else from your factory axle can be swapped into it.
Last edited by wayoflife; 07-18-2010 at 02:46 PM.
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Damn, that is pretty violent. What exactly was he doing at the time? Or do you think it is cracking/fatiguing?
I'd like to get sleeves, but I am at the point to where IF my tube is bent, I'll be royally screwed after drilling a dozen holes in the axle for the plug welds, any advice on those that have wheeled hard before installing sleeves? Kinda why I was leaning toward an "exo" sleeve that I've seen.
I think of this brea kand think really hard throttle rock crawling, higher speed hitting a rut, etc.
I must say, I love my JK, but I am losing faith quickly in what they are producing...
I'd like to get sleeves, but I am at the point to where IF my tube is bent, I'll be royally screwed after drilling a dozen holes in the axle for the plug welds, any advice on those that have wheeled hard before installing sleeves? Kinda why I was leaning toward an "exo" sleeve that I've seen.
I think of this brea kand think really hard throttle rock crawling, higher speed hitting a rut, etc.
I must say, I love my JK, but I am losing faith quickly in what they are producing...
Last edited by wayoflife; 07-18-2010 at 02:41 PM.
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From what I have seen, the breaks are not catastrophic. As mentioned, in the case of blazer4949, his axle housing didn't break until his was almost 100 miles south of Tahoe and on the highway. Trail Bud was going down an easy section of trail and found that his steering was getting difficult. Eventually, he found that he couldn't steer at all. Based on this, I have to assume that the breaks occured slowly - maybe they were more of a tear and if that is the case, you should be able to see some kind of tell tale sign ahead of time. I would look for any signs of fatigue or cracks developing in the area pointed out.
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#8
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Damn. The passenger side axle/frame meeting point has got to be the most-stressed part of the JK. That's the point where death wobble originates when track bars aren't torqued or go bad. Now we learn it's where axle housing breaks occur. Honestly, it seems like Chrysler expects that sector of the chassis to do way too much work.
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Damn. The passenger side axle/frame meeting point has got to be the most-stressed part of the JK. That's the point where death wobble originates when track bars aren't torqued or go bad. Now we learn it's where axle housing breaks occur. Honestly, it seems like Chrysler expects that sector of the chassis to do way too much work.
#10
If I took a piece of pipe with the inner diameter the same as the outer diameter of the axle housing, could I cut in half lengthwise and weld the 2 halves to the axle in that spot to strengthen it? Or is there a better solution?
Last edited by Ario56; 07-18-2010 at 03:59 PM. Reason: My spelling is terrible