Jonathan_JK

So I was on Daniel Trail this weekend and Right after the "GateKeeper" which I crawled up no problems on the first try. There is a section with small ledges or rocks right after.

Well I got the Jeep in a bad spot and tried to "Bump it over" and the carrier snapped all the spot welds clean off the housing and rotated it to the point where the driveshaft was at a really bad angle. The Jeep was able to Limp to the top.(I took the left side this time).

We tried some redneck fixes like trying to rotate it back with a winch and strapping it to a stump and yanking it down with a bump. Needless to say I had to Limp it back down the mountain to our camp where we had a "Rollback" flat bed truck that my buddy had trailed his rig up on. We even tried the 20K winch and a snatch block off the flatbed. The housing would not budge.

Crazy part was it drove fine no noises from the razippa joint climbing the rest of the way to the top. But to be on the safe side this was the end of wheeling for "Annie" <--My Jeep) for the rest of the time.

So was it bad spot welds? I figured the Ring and pinion or the shafts would have broke before the housing. The tubes and all the mounts are perfect. I mean dam I know Eaton and G2 make some badass stuff but this is crazy.

Anyone seen this before? None of us had. Someone said the spot welds might haven weakened over time since I wheel it and thats its main use. We had to rent a car to get back home. Now my wife is all about me getting a F250 and a Trailer.. So now it will be a Trailer queen and a Garage Queen.

I got my Fabricator Kevin taking it back to his shop and fixing it. He was the one with the flat bed truck.

TweakJK

I have seen it happen. It was on a very vertical climb with a lot of throttle.

The solution was to replace it with a 14 bolt.

I second the tow rig idea, it's so nice knowing that whatever trouble you get into, you can make it to work on monday!

nthinuf

Doesn't seem to be a widespread problem, but you'll see spun tubes posted every now and then.

Happened to my rear axle a few years back. Good timing for me, since it was already ripped apart for new gears when the shop owner pointed it out. Just had them weld it up and away I went. Beats finding out on the trail like you did.

scooby snacks

2013... I'd take it to the dealer and see if they'll fix it under warranty. It shouldn't twist... it is trail rated. Leith Jeep on Capital Blvd in Raleigh is lift friendly. Good luck.

karls10jk

It's certainly not the first instance where the plug welds failed to hold. There was a guy on another forum whose tubes let loose on the interstate.

jadmt

Dang that would suck. Surprised it could not be spun back the way chained it.

Chuck-The-Ripper

Wait a minute, you mean to tell me your 44 did that but your Dana 30 is still intact???
Love it.
That sucks buddy, shouldn't be too hard of a fix though. Just still out the spot welds, align it back up, weld the spots, and weld the tubes to the center section. Should be good to go.

jadmt

I wonder about welding the tubes to the pumpkin but figured there was a reason yiu don't see it. Seems like some good insurance.

Jonathan_JK

Good part is the locker still works and when we took the cover off everything looks good.

So he gave me a couple Options. Tell me what you would do.

1. We can try to heat it up and twist it back.

2. We can cut all the brackets off and weld them back on and weld the tubes.

3. Find a Take off D44 gut it and put my G2 shafts/ G2 R&P and Eaton carrier back in and call it a day.

Problems with options

1. Heating it up and trying to twist it back could bend my tubes and shafts causing more damage and money.

2. Cutting the track bar, spring mounts and LCA/Shock mounts. Would leave my axle breather tube on the side instead of up and down and move the calipers 2" up.

3. Do I really need to replace it since it was just the welds that failed and no other damage? Seems like a waste to me.

Either way the rear axle is going to be dropped what's your input?

Other factor is I'm trying not to break the bank if I had the money I would throw a 1 ton and call it a day. Maybe in a couple years I can do that but it's not in the cards right now.

I know you got to pay to play. But it still sucks.

jadmt

Have you priced a housing from somewhere like overstock mopar etc
Might come out pretty close to what labor will cost and you know it will be straight