This is going to be long, but please read.

My buddy and I bought our Jeeps at same time and did the exact same mods to them. So I have two complete Jeeps worth of data. Both Jeeps have 6" Teraflex Long Arm Lifts with 39" tires. Both Jeeps have UNDER 7K miles on them.

NEITHER Jeep has been wheeled, both have what I would call average around town driving.

One jeep is fully broken, the other is starting to break. First the broken one.

Right Side on Broken Jeep



Left Side on Broken Jeep




Is what appears to have happen is the frame where the TeraFlex long arm mounts to essentially tore right off the frame. The weld is still in place with the chassis steel still attached to it.

 

Now to the other Jeep that is not broken but starting to break in the exact same spots.

Right Side

Left Side


Now this is just my opinion for what its worth.

I kind of put this on TeraFlex. The side closest to the rear wheels where the attachment piece is welded to the frame should really have more surface area to weld to. On the front part of this piece you get a lot of surface area to weld to, where as on the back part, there just is not that much area. TeraFlex should have had a tab where you could get more area to weld to thereby transferring the stress to a wider area.

At this point, I am not even really sure how to fix this. This piece is welded like a mother on the front half, and since the piece broke in half, I have not clue how to get it off without a ton of cutting/grinding, but am worried that will weaken the chassis more.

Not sure if this has ever happen to anyone else, but I would love input.

 

Wow that's scary!!!! looks like the welds broke and ripped the frame.. Hope no body got hurt. That definitely needs to be fixed with a plate or something.

 

Dirtman, I did not do the welding, the shop who installed did, however, good welding or bad, you spoke before I got the second part loaded up.

Look at the picture of the second Jeep that is starting to break. Its literally tearing the frame. So while we could say its not the best weld in the world, the weld is certainly good enough to hold whereas the frame is failing.

I am really concerned about the attachment point, if the stress at this point is starting to tear the frame, it almost seems that something has to be changed so that this does not happen again in the future?

 

I've read before that poor welding can damage and weaken the frame. I'm not saying that is what happened here because I'm not a welder, but it is definitely something to consider.

 

I am going to contact TeraFlex tomorrow, this happen sometime on my way home. One side got dragged for a while, so its been grinded down. Did not discover until I got home, kind of heard a grinding sound while driving, but with no top and radio going, kind of hard to hear much-I am sure all can relate

I have no idea with regards to if the welding was to hot or to cold or to much or to little. The frame parts that broke, the weld is still in tact, the frame is attached to the broken piece.

 

I think it is a no brainer having both Jeeps from the same shop have the same problem!

 

It looks like the metal wasn't prepped and cleaned right before the welding, then from the pics the welds look like they were burned in to hot and causing it to fail. In the 2nd and 3rd picture it looks like the bracket is just made of cheap metal and failed at the bend just my

 

Wow, and imagine what could have happened if you actually wheeled your JK.

 

At this point, I'd say its only safe to assume that the shop that welded both of them turned the welder up too hot, burned them on in a big hurry, not taking the time to make multiple lighter passes. Instead they blasted one hotter than need be weld on them and called them good. Now onto the ugly part. Looks like it should be all cut off, frame plated where it was burned and stressed, then new brackets properly welded in place and if need be supports added. Just welding up where it tore out would only further weaken an already bad spot. Good luck to you either way. But I would suspect that teraflex is going to blame the install shop. Maybe they'll at least help you out with the brackets.