Help with Axles

[RedRocker]

Metal Masher got me.

I blew apart my driver side front axle on Metal Masher trail Moab. It happened climbing the ledge immediately after the exit of Mirror Gulch.

Short story: U-joint broke and wedged into knuckle and tore out the bottom ball joint hole in the knuckle. ProSteer ball joints were toast. Brake caliper slider pins bent too.

I felt totally confident in wheeling with 3 buddies that had my back. They all went back to town - one retrieving a steering knuckle from an axle he brought to Moab to try and sell (how lucky was I), another bought a used short side shaft, another bought ball joints. 4 and a half hours later I was fixed and back on the trail just as it was getting dark. We got back into town around 8pm where I treated the group to dinner at the only choke and puke open for dinner (Denny's). My dinner order was lost and I had a lovely meal of 6 Cokes, but that's a whole funny story in itself.

Overall one of the best and most memorable days I've had in Moab, but I wouldn't recommend trying it.

Here are a few pics:







Back on the trail again:

 

[WJCO]

I blew apart my driver side front axle on Metal Masher trail Moab. It happened climbing the ledge immediately after the exit of Mirror Gulch.

Short story: U-joint broke and wedged into knuckle and tore out the bottom ball joint hole in the knuckle. ProSteer ball joints were toast. Brake caliper slider pins bent too.

I felt totally confident in wheeling with 3 buddies that had my back. They all went back to town - one retrieving a steering knuckle from an axle he brought to Moab to try and sell (how lucky was I), another bought a used short side shaft, another bought ball joints. 4 and a half hours later I was fixed and back on the trail just as it was getting dark. We got back into town around 8pm where I treated the group to dinner at the only choke and puke open for dinner (Denny's). My dinner order was lost and I had a lovely meal of 6 Cokes, but that's a whole funny story in itself.

Overall one of the best and most memorable days I've had in Moab, but I wouldn't recommend trying it.

Here are a few pics:

Crazy shit. Glad you had good friends to help. I'm assuming that was a factory shaft that came apart?

 

[RedRocker]

Crazy shit. Glad you had good friends to help. I'm assuming that was a factory shaft that came apart?

Yes. The next year the other side u-joint broke on Cliffhanger ovaling out the ears in the shaft.

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[fiend]

Oh man. Exhibit A for why one shouldn’t wheel alone. It’s great you had buddies there to help.

 

[Basscat]

I do lots of highway driving and occasional moderate to hard trails with Jeep groups. The main reason I went with the AEV setup was the dual sport suspension which is great on and off road. Now I understand that I won't necessarily be able to tackle extreme stuff like guys with 40's and coilovers and rock crawling bumpers but I should be able to stay pretty close. I just don't want anything to brake if because of the torque of the V8 or if i step on the pedal a little more than I should.

Now if I am going to spend a crazy amount of money on axles, I would much rather have it right the first time. but spending 1.5x more needs to be warranted. I also haven't driven a PR 60/60 V8 and I worry that the added weight might make it feel heavy and sluggish.

60/60 L86 won’t feel sluggish.


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