I was on Behind the Rocks Thursday and a JK I was trailing with carrying much bigger juevos than I have decided to try to go up High Dive. That obstacle will eat a normal "built up" 4x4, especially in going up it instead of down. He ended up popping his rear Superior chromoly axle shaft (First one to do this according to Superior) and what looks like his front carrier (Rubi e-locker) as well. Ouch!

I think carrying a rear shaft is much more important than carrying a spare front shaft, as a winch and a rear axle can get you about anywhere whereas we can remove a front shaft, plug the end and still go. The problem is the rear shaft is much more awkward to try to stow. Any ideas of a good out of the way place and method to carry a spare rear axle shaft or two? There's really no room behind the seat for it. I'm thinking of modifying that useless aquarium Jeep offers as a "storage area" under the rear compartment.

 

I'll ante up as the guy who decided to try it. And admit that there were four others smart enough not to try it. There was one line that I think would have let a JK on 35's make it (other than that line it is buggy territory). I think I almost made it to but at the last second a bit of bump steer put me to the left and caused me to drop my left rear tire into a crevice. On second reflection I shoulld have got on the winch at that point and I would have made it up without breaking. Taking full responsibility forces me to say that Seer1 said he had a bad feeling about it and my wife, who didn't say anything about doing Behind the Rocks and go UP White Knuckle, really, really didn't want me to do it and is still steamed that I didn't listen to her.

I spent a bit of time with Superior on the phone yesterday and this is the first of their JK CM rear shafts (out of about 800 sold) that has broken. They are going to warrantee it and UPS'd the replacement right away. I will have to send them the busted axle as they want their engineers to test it. They were great about it. Moab 4x4 Outpost wasn't as they several boxes of axles sitting there but wouln't ante up even though Superior would have hand delivered a replacement on Sunday. IMHO that somewhat sub-par customer service.

As to Seer1's question part of the problem is that the pumkin isn't centered and the left and right shafts are different in length by about two inches. Since you don't know which will break that means you need to carry both sides. The other thing is that the spares would have to be set up and ready to go without using a press. Which means the CM shafts have to be equipped with tone rings and backing plates, seals and bearings. I was able to pull the stubb of the busted axle shaft out with a long extended magnet so you'd need one of those too.

One good thing is that I was able to drive out on the easiest trail out in "one wheel drive" (the right rear) in 4Low and locked. The front did nothing as the Rubi locker carrier was wasted. I needed to be in 4L because that is the only way to lock the lockers. I went a total of about 24 miles and the "semi floating" rear axle setup retained the wheel and tire.

 

That was sure somethin' to behold Chuck. That damned crevasse just swallowed your entire left rear tire and reached up its rocky teeth and took hold of it. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a fatal accident as your better half looked ready to commit a bit of homicide about then.

My thoughts have gone to cutting the tub out, putting a plate over it with maybe some reinforcement, building a water tight container (pvc?) and slinging it under the plate with some u-bolts that you could un-bolt from inside. If you make the container the right size you wouldn't have to worry about the axle shifting about and breaking it. You could also maybe store some other little used stuff in there as well.