Fox stabilizer destroyed

[93trojan]

Has anyone seen anything like this? I had a MetalCloak HD system installed about 6 months ago….painted after installation as my boy doesn’t like the gold color. We had such a great father son experience on the Rubicon last year, I decided to start upgrades on his Jeep….3.5 game changer on the way with a whole lot of other goodies coming at the moment. Anyway, he calls me from a gas station yesterday and tells me he can turn right but not left. He sent me this pic. I headed over and took the stabilizer off and couldn’t believe what I saw. I had a very reputable Jeep shop install the system and then got it aligned. He’s just been driving back and forth to school….no wheeling since it was installed. Any ideas?

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[93trojan]

I should add there was no place where I could see it rubbing/hitting anything. The dents/scratches in the eyelet are from hitting the mount on the tie rod mount. He had told me he heard some weird noises a week ago but I only see him once every other weekend so…in fact, he was on his way over to my house yesterday after school when he called from the gas station

 

[Bill_BCNtoNY]

Whoa!

I was just about to ask about the rubbing - if the marks on the bottle don’t match the area close to the top of the tie rod bracket, I can only think it’s either (a) manufacturing defect, or (b) the axle side mount chose is at too steep an angle for the tie rod mount…

Can you share pics of (b)?

Following and hoping nothing else got destroyed in the process!

 

[93trojan]

I will later when he gets back. Just went to a car show with a buddy. Where I dismounted it looked fine. It was a little odd to me as I didn’t see a bracket that I was expecting….when I bought it and reading about it. It was a longer stud that held the track bar and extended beyond as a stud to where the stabilizer mounted. No damage or anything looked weird beyond that

 

[93trojan]

Here is a pic I took after we did some painting with good Ol’ Rust-Oleum. Don’t know if it helps but it was parallel to the tie rod, which I’ve read a lot of Jeepers like. I’m more of a Raptor guy but have caught the Jeep fever after seeing Jr’s Jeep flex through the rubicon. I learned how to drive in a WWII Jeep and never drove one since, until now. Spend half my day on these websites gathering info…great community

 

[Jeeps2Little]

So that stabilizer is NOT a thru shaft version? It could be that when at full left turn lock it was further than the available shaft travel and blew out the end of the shaft mount.

I have only seen that style (IFP) mounted in the stock location like the image below, but what do I know?

 

[Not2Late]

Looks like maybe the bracket needs to move to the left a bit. Thinking maybe when turning right, the steering stabilizer shock was pulled past the maximum extension length and that caused it to pull loose/break where it attached to the bracket in the picture. I had a similar issue with a fox steering stabizer. The instructions were not good. Figured out that once installed, I was supposed to cycle the steeting left and right a few times and put the bracket somewhere in the middle of the extension length. That way it is not crushed or over extended. Perhaps the install shop didn't pay attention to that detail.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Part of the installation should have been to check the damper's travel vs the steering movement. If that was done, then that clamp on the tierod likely moved.

 

[93trojan]

Thanks guys. I too believe it wasn’t mounted with the bracket MetalCloak supplied. Also…my boy is on his way so I can post pics, but the “fancy” tie rod mount seems to be bent towards the drivers side. That would explain the “blowout” on the front side of the eyelet. Pushing one way and then pulling the other way type of thing without enough travel? If that makes sense? I would think it should blow the seal on the shock but that’s just me. I talked him out of a Mustang “to be safer” but this could have turned out very bad on a different road/freeway. I’m a little pissed to tell the truth.

 

[cripton805]

That looks like the bracket wasn't installed / aligned properly.

 

[roaniecowpony]

That looks like the bracket wasn't installed / aligned properly.

There are some marks on the tierod, indicating that the clamp moved.

 

[Faded glory]

Not uncommon mount point. Mines was installed this way as well on a TF tierod

 

[93trojan]

I appreciate the observation, but remember Jr and I just did a half ass paint job in my garage with spray paint and used a piece of cardboard and some electrical tape as borders. He only painted his draglink and lower control arms as far as the eye could see. But good eye nonetheless

 

[93trojan]

I tried to tell him it’s cool to have MetalCloak but he wasn’t buying. I’m not a huge fane of the gold either. Depends on the color of your rig of course

 

[93trojan]

More pics. The tie rod mount is bent towards the drivers side but it seems the eyelet blew out on the front. Also th photo of how they mounted the axle side. You just see the stud since I had the remove the stabilizer.

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