Hey guys.....

So three days ago I start hearing a squeaking noise when I pulled into my driveway with the top and windows down. Then late last night I noticed a little wobble in my steering wheel. Thought it was that my tire was a little out of round because I parked up against a curb overnight. But this morning the wobble got worse as the day went on and I was thinking maybe my steering stabilizer was f#$ked up. After going around a corner and hitting a pothole, by traction control kicked in and my ABS was activated.....scared the crap out of me. I came home and parked the badboy and did a little inspection - come to find out that the upper bracket (the one that connects to the frame) is freaking cracked!.

If I push the jeep from side to side the crack opens and closes.....Has anyone seen this happen?

I can't upload pics on this laptop so I'm sorry if you're having trouble picturing this...

And by the way - the jeep has NEVER been off road....I bought it a month and a half ago and had the lift kit put on three days after I got it.....

Thanks for the input.....

Dave

 

unfortuantely, i have seen it happen before and it's not uncommon especially if you have a track bar relocation bracket installed there. glad you're okay and that nobody got hurt. when you get it welded, see if you can have it reinforced as well.

 

If it's under warranty, the dealer will take care of it. If it's not, wielding work usually isn't expensive. On an old Integra I used to own, the exhaust tip was angled bad and melting the underside of my bumper, so I took a buzz saw to it and went to Minekie to get a new exhaust tip wielded on. Cost me $15.

 

Yep. Did yours crack like this?

 

Joe what did you do to repair your RE failure? JP

 

What the heck!?

What causes this?

 

Weak factory welds. Add a cheap relo bracket from a cheap lift kit and the stress is just multiplied...

 

Mine cracked at the axle. Got it rewelded and gusseted with no problems since.

 

Just lifted my JK and my kit had a relocation bracket.This is making me want to order up an adjustable trac bar and toss my relocation bracket.

Is this going to be same issue for rear trac bar bracket too?

 

this is NOT just a rough country issue. ANY kit that has a relocation bracket either on the axel side, or the frame side should be gusseted and reinforced. it wouldnt be a bad idea to do this even if you don't have a relocation bracket, because the factory welds are known to be weak. The added leverage of a relocation bracket just makes the situation worse. I gusseted my trackbar mounts with some steel bar stock and replaced my relocation bracket with a JKS trackbar after I had my trackbar mount start to break off on the axle side.

Even though a trackbar relocation bracket w/ drop pitman arm will give you the best steering geometry and make driving easier, its just not worth the risk of having my trackbar break loose while i'm driving down the interstate.