Track bar sheared off at the weld. I feel like I’m cursed with my new JL

[jman]

Thats sad Jeep has to assign someone to mark welds with a pen to assure its done correctly.

Actually that's how it should be done. Each and every frame should be inspected by a human eye and a computer eye for issues and marked to show it was done.

I work in a mill and when equipment is getting PMed, repaired or whatever I write on and mark up parts I'm working on.

Sponsored

 

[mwilk012]

Thats sad Jeep has to assign someone to mark welds with a pen to assure its done correctly.

That is exactly how welding is supposed to be done. Commercial weld techniques have requirements for dimensions including number of layers, toe length, thickness, and porosity. I don't want my family's safety to be up to someone 'eyeballing' a critical weld.

 

[swozey]

I knew there was more to this story. The constant "parts out of stock" bullshit was different parts for everyone. LEDs here, painted hardtops, hearing about bad welds, 1-3 month train delays.. Course the blue guys still don't have jeeps at all (I believe). I bet this entire time it was them auditing the cars when they found out it some machine was doing bad welds and now they're going back to fixing all of the ones that might be affected. I've seen blue markers then orange after the fix is made.

I think if I still keep my order I'll definitely lease it. My 2013 Escape has every single first year bug that you could get and has been a nightmare.

 

[1quick1]

Well this one is pretty scary. Losing steering in many of the roads I'm on means certain terrifying death.

 

[OldGuyNewJeep]

So you would have crawled underneath your Jeep on the highway and done what? Take pictures? Fix the broken weld then and there and never posted about the problem because you are a "true Jeeper"?

What was this Jeeper supposed to do? I love the fact that you are trying to shame people (not true jeepers) because their Jeeps suffer catastrophic failures. I guess that's just a jeep thing, right?

I, for one, am on this forum to learn, and I think most members are. The only thing I've learned from your posts in this thread is what kind of person you are, JK builds under your belt or not.

Look at his content. He’s a troll. Don’t feed him.

 

[Tech Tim]

Wow, crazy story @rboss , keep us posted to the resolution.

 

[Papuga]

Mine looks like it was built January 10th.

I'm not a welder. Looking at everyone's photos I'm trying to determine what exact areas I should be looking at, but from what I can see on my own JL by crawling under it and looking at the parts near the front wheels, everything appears to be solid. Only has 1,300 miles on it though.

 

[RNJeeper]

I just checked mine which was rebuilt 3/28 after my original one failed inspection. All of my welds around that area look perfect and all the welds on that side have been marked with a bright color marker. It looks like the weld issues are being addressed moving forward for those thinking about canceling. Unless they’ve been marking all those welds from the beginning.

My welds certainly aren’t marked... hoping for those of us who got our Jeeps before it was identified as an issue, that they don’t take too long to call us all in for an inspection of them if it is a safety risk. Im definitely not qualified to determine that on my own from looking.

 

[Brad41]

I worked at a frame plant that supplied the old ford explorers. You should absolutely visually inspect the track bar welds for missing welds, badly “rolled” welds and welds with severe porosity. There are also weld defects (such as cold-lap) that can not easily be seen even with visual inspection. If you have any doubts or fear, let your dealership look at it. I understand the concern here. Let’s hope this is a very isolated occurrence. I’m glad you’re ok!

 

[Brad41]

Anecdotally, when I worked at that plant, we had a shock tower mount break off on a delivered vehicle. (It was traced back to a robot putting on bad weld, so yes, it does happen)Luckily, the driver was not in mortal danger due to that failure. You better believe our plant heard about that from ford! We shut the lines down to have a meeting about it, every frame we had sitting around was inspected by hand, and we also sent employees to the ford assembly plant to inspect the shock tower welds there as well. It was a big deal. I’m assuming whoever supplies the frames for the wrangler (or is it built by fca? Idk) are already in high gear if this was not already a known issue.

 

[TroyBoy]

Yikes! I had to go out and check my welds. The track bar welds look good. I did notice that the two arms that come down from the frame, for bolting on the front skid plate, were crappy but the other welds looked good. As someone who used to weld as a hobby, I have an idea of what a good weld should look like but I am by no means an expert.

 

[SaintNick]

Yikes! I had to go out and check my welds. The track bar welds look good. I did notice that the two arms that come down from the frame, for bolting on the front skid plate, were crappy but the other welds looked good. As someone who used to weld as a hobby, I have an idea of what a good weld should look like but I am by no means an expert.

Sorry, but consumers shouldn't have to go out and check their welds to make sure their $50K Jeep is safe.

 

[Hakkodapow]

So for you guys that understand good welding (not me), what are the ramifications for taking your jeep to a good welding shop and having the welds replaced /reinforced on that trackbar mount? Does all of the old weld material have to be removed or can new welds be placed over/alongside those and new weld where there isn't any material? I assume the weld areas have to be ground down to bare metal first. I know it's bs to even be discussing repairing a factory defect, but the lives of my family are more important to me than a couple hundred dollars to make sure that trackbar mount is safe. And I do a lot of interstate driving at speeds over 70. I apologize in advance for my total lack of welding knowledge. Thoughts?

If I were you I would want them to buy the vehicle back. Just think if this caused a serious accident and it never came to light that the welds were bad because they thought the damage was due to the accident. What if you were killed and they blamed it on you falling asleep. I would lawyer up and make them buy the damn thing back. I would never trust it and would never put myself or my family back in it.

 

[cnyjl]

If I were you I would want them to buy the vehicle back. Just think if this caused a serious accident and it never came to light that the welds were bad because they thought the damage was due to the accident. What if you were killed and they blamed it on you falling asleep. I would lawyer up and make them buy the damn thing back. I would never trust it and would never put myself or my family back in it.

I appreciate the reply. Mine looks okay, not great. It's welded on both sides. It doesn't wander at all down the road. Had a friend turn the wheel back and forth while I checked and no movement or flex. Definitely not a definitive exam, and certainly not the pounding it will take off road or even on road.but I don't have a case until I get a failure. FCA has a lot of lawyers and I don't. Until there's a recall or a failure with mine I don't really have anything to start a case with. I certainly can't start a case based on one other jeep on a forum having a failure. I guess I can go to a frame shop and have them check the weld. One of the first suggestions everyone makes for almost every issue on this forum is to make them buy your vehicle back. That sounds nice, but in reality not reasonable. They don't have to do buybacks under lemon laws unless you can prove yours is unsafe or the they were given multiple chances to fix a deficiency and didn't get it done. If they do a recall, they will check every sold jeep and make their decision on whether the welds are satisfactory or not. If not, they will re weld the bad welds and give you your jeep back. The only ones they will be buying are the ones they can't make right or the ones that end with an accident after a failure. I don't believe I should have to pay to fix anything under warranty, and is total bs, but my thinking was $200 or so to re weld it over before it cracks and moves is cheap peace of mind.

 

[cnyjl]

It depends on the cause of failure for the welds. Not going to get technical on welds, but if there are gaps where the weld simply missed, then it should be a simple fix. If the weld itself is defunct, it should be removed with a grinder to replace the defective portion. In any case, the paint and/or rust absolutely MUST be removed first. If a defective weld is not removed but simply built upon, the failure will still occur at the same location.

Thank you.

Sponsored