392 broken axle

[SDE]

I always wondered, if I brought my Jeep to the dealership with a failure like this, and told them it just inexplicably broke while driving straight on the highway, what would be the chance it would be covered by the warranty?..

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[Rodeoflyer]

So what's the best way to tackle this? Weld the tubes and truss??

I want to head this off before it happens to me. I can crank up my shock damping and hit things harder than it should. I have a lot of travel and soft bumps so it doesn't bottom hard but I've done some crazy stuff.. maybe the shock damping and durospring bumps saved me. I just want to get that front axle shored up before next season.

 

[Rodeoflyer]

There should be 4 welds, I believe. I have welded many tubes to housings to help with strength. It wouldn’t have helped here though. The tube would have bent even if the cast housing didn’t break. Best thing for this is a truss. Even then, you’ll end up bending the C or bending a ball joint or cracking the knuckle. Something is going to give. Bottoming out your bump stop hard like this will destroy all sorts of stuff.

I read through all the posts, didn't see an answer. Is your brand new Jeep modified in any way? Wheels, tires, lift, etc?

Thank you.

NM, Chevy explained it well.. that has to be driver induced. All that HP offroad.. hard to contain yourself haha.

If you're just jamming across rough terrain on stock suspension with 400hp.. my goodness, recipe for disaster like this.

 

[donmontalvo]

Forget the axle. Anyone notice the scratch on the frame from the winch install?!

No but them’z some happy headlights. :p

 

[chevymitchell]

I always wondered, if I brought my Jeep to the dealership with a failure like this, and told them it just inexplicably broke while driving straight on the highway, what would be the chance it would be covered by the warranty?..

It would be like dividing by zero. Lol

 

[chevymitchell]

So what's the best way to tackle this? Weld the tubes and truss??

I want to head this off before it happens to me. I can crank up my shock damping and hit things harder than it should. I have a lot of travel and soft bumps so it doesn't bottom hard but I've done some crazy stuff.. maybe the shock damping and durospring bumps saved me. I just want to get that front axle shored up before next season.

A truss is a good start if your driving style is frequently aggressive. Other than going to an axle that removes the FAD completely, the truss approach is best.

There are much better bump stop systems out there, too. I run King air bumps. They provide 700 lbs of additional dampening force.

Here's a couple suspension tuning videos I did:

 

[Rodeoflyer]

You're a fucking wizard.. now I know why people drive 1k miles to have you do their work.

 

[grostage]

kinda to be expected no?

 

[Remorseless]

Whoa, whoa, whoa @chevymitchell, hold on now. What do you mean you can't go bombing around in a heavy Jeep with crawling tuned shocks and almost useless foam bumps without also reasonably expecting damage? Clearly having a 392 under the hood means it will simply levitate over holes and rocks through the sheer force of American horsepower.

Bypass shocks? Hydraulic bumps? Reasonable speeds?

 

[Rodeoflyer]

here we go

 

[chevymitchell]

Whoa, whoa, whoa @chevymitchell, hold on now. What do you mean you can't go bombing around in a heavy Jeep with crawling tuned shocks and almost useless foam bumps without also reasonably expecting damage? Clearly having a 392 under the hood means it will simply levitate over holes and rocks through the sheer force of American horsepower.

Bypass shocks? Hydraulic bumps? Reasonable speeds?

I know... it's a hard concept to explain to some. Lol

 

[chevymitchell]

Whoa, whoa, whoa @chevymitchell, hold on now. What do you mean you can't go bombing around in a heavy Jeep with crawling tuned shocks and almost useless foam bumps without also reasonably expecting damage? Clearly having a 392 under the hood means it will simply levitate over holes and rocks through the sheer force of American horsepower.

Bypass shocks? Hydraulic bumps? Reasonable speeds?

Overlander's and kind are having a similar issue where they're overloading the Jeeps and then bending the spring perches up in the rear and breaking welds. The machine just isn't built for repeated abuse like that. The allowed tongue weight is only 350 lbs. Lol. The GVWR is for riding down the road. It's not a dynamic off-road, rock crawling weight.

 

[Remorseless]

I know... it's a hard concept to explain to some. Lol

Not as hard as that landing must've been. With how much that tube bent before it yanked free, that must've been a wild ride.

Overlander's and kind are having a similar issue where they're overloading the Jeeps and then bending the spring perches up in the rear and breaking welds. The machine just isn't built for repeated abuse like that. The allowed tongue weight is only 350 lbs. Lol. The GVWR is for riding down the road. It's not a dynamic, off-road, rock crawling weight.

Yeah, it's an interesting trend. For years and years the game was to get every ounce of weight out of a rig where it wasn't needed or where robustness could be sacrificed for lightness, but now these days everyone's bolting on hundreds of pounds of bracketry and gear. Add on top of that the way front heavy diesel and hemi options, and it really requires being gentle on the rig.

 

[Rodeoflyer]

Yes I can see that. Most aftermarket lift springs have a super low rate in the rear. I'm about to reduce my 2'' bumps to 1'' rear due the rear soft rate. My shocks/bumps will handle it.

 

[Rodinator1234]

I remember that 1977 Jeep commercial where they were jumping Jeeps, any of you old enough to remember that?



I think the Jeeps back then didn't break any axles because of the helmets they had on. Maybe if they 392 came with a cool helmet the axles wouldn't break either.

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