Fox stabilizer destroyed

[roaniecowpony]

Whoever installed the clamp did not properly check that the travel of the steering and the travel of the damper were matched. It's possible that it is still not in the proper location for installing another new damper.

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[roaniecowpony]

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.

I wouldn't put too much weight in that the bolt is bent in a particular direction. When things bend and break like this, it could rotate the bolt as it comes off or it could have been bent after the eyelet of the damper broke and it was steered.

 

[Jeeps2Little]

I stand correct on the fitment of the IFP stabilizer in that configuration, good to know.

Looking at your closeup of the mount with the bolt in it, you can see the top is not square with the tie rod. It is sloped the same way the bolt is angled, I think the intent is to allow for the body of the stabilizer to be slightly higher than the tie rod mount and not bind on a perpendicular bolt(to the tie rod).

 

[roaniecowpony]

The last person that tightened that tierod clamp is the culprit.

 

[fczabala]

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.

just FYI, the MC tie rod bracket has that angle on purpose, it's supposed to be used with their axle side bracket which also has an angle to align both eyelets of the stabilizer

 

[Roky]

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?

That MC tie rod clamp comes with the bolt on an angle, so it will line up with the MC axle bracket which is elevated…. If you used a track bar bolt or another axle side bracket that’s level with the track bar bolt then that could have put the stabilizer in a bind, may have contributed to the failure….MC setup

 

[zworld67156]

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?

yes it’s broken

 

[azjl#3]

Welp, time for a fox ATS/ts, highly recommended by me and three others.

 

[flynbvr]

Not trying to throw shade but that doesnt look anything like a mfg defect but rather a combination of installation error (incorrect bracket location) and operator fafo (hit something at speed with wheel turned driver side causing the eyelet to shear open/apart).

Think about what it would take to make the eyelet shear like that. Certainly not daily driving but some serious forces (ie curb, rock, tree stump, etc) at speed.

 

[93trojan]

I did find out that the MetalCloak system has a bracket to lift the mount above the track bar. That was not installed. The mount stud on the track bar has an angle to it to accommodate this…I thought it had bent. I brought it to get aligned at a different shop after where they said the toe-in was off. Don’t know if the adjustments made would affect the length of travel the shock had….if it was set up with very close tolerances

The installer used the same bolt/stud that holds the track bar and then protrudes to where the stock stabilizer was mounted. It has a 2” Mopar lift btw

I’m not saying my 17 yr old didn’t do something. I did drive it this weekend and it tracks well. Wouldn’t such a hard hit knock the alignment off? That was “my test” as I had the same thoughts as you about curbs etc. Then again, I am used to IFS where it would definitely get messed up. Maybe these jeeps hold there alignment much more with the way they’re built?

 

[Camaroboi13]

I’d definitely replace that for a thru shaft style. The front mount you had on there was hitting the drag link for me causing binding which could have easily been the case here. The TS mounts on a pivoting pedestal that prevents this type of binding on the tie rod.

 

[flynbvr]

I’m not saying my 17 yr old didn’t do something. I did drive it this weekend and it tracks well. Wouldn’t such a hard hit knock the alignment off? That was “my test” as I had the same thoughts as you about curbs etc. Then again, I am used to IFS where it would definitely get messed up. Maybe these jeeps hold there alignment much more with the way they’re built?

Looking at the way the eye was sheared AND stretched open leads me to believe that the front end took a pretty hard hit while turned to the driver side. If the shock is fully extended yet the available steering swing still had room to move the shock eyelet could've given out/failed and not affected alignment at all.

You should be able to test this theory by turning the wheel full driver/lock and see where the bracket is compared to where the shock eyelet is when fully extended. If the bracket is more driver than the eyelet it means the available range (lock to lock) was not correctly considered when the bracket was installed/torqued down.

 

[93trojan]

Finally figured it out. Jr came over on his weekend visit. I wanted to see if the installer put the mount in the right spot. It was set to the right distance BUT….

 

[Zandcwhite]

Looking at your post painting Pic, the stabilizer is fully bottomed out turning right. Unless someone is in the Jeep holding the wheel at full lock the steering automatically moves back about 5-10⁰ from full lock when you let go of the wheel. From that pic and the failure I'm guessing the stabilizer was fully bottomed out before reaching the limit of the steering throw. Every time you try to turn fully toward the passengers side in that scenario the full pressure of the power steering is trying to force the stabilizer beyond being bottomed out. Clearly the eyelet was not as strong as the steering box.

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