More NWFest carnage...

First off, sorry for the lack of pics, but my Macbook died and I don't have access to a computer with bluetooth right now to transfer pics from my phone.

I was re-examining the steering on my jeep this afternoon because of a "clunk" I've had in my steering since I blew up my driver's side shaft at the Moon rocks on Saturday at NWFest. I figured it was worn or loose tie-rod ends or ball joints, but everything has been re-torqued and looked ok. My co-worker pointed out as I was cranking lock-to-lock that I was in for a treat.

I have a real nice crack from the side of the "frame" rail near the steering box bolts to the inside where the two pieces of sheetmetal that make up the frame are spot welded together. I've never had any form of brace up there other than the rigid ARB bull bar that holds driver and passenger side frame rails together fairly tight. I was surprised that it held out so well considering I romped on it pretty good up at Evans Creek yesterday!

Long story short, once again this damn Heep is gonna enjoy driveway life for a bit until I can see about getting the JKS steering brace setup and find a shop (ACRO?) to let some sparks fly and get this thing welded up & wheelable again.

:hang:

Ouch! let me know if you need help welding that up

sounds similar to karls (Los lobos) carnage last year... Damn uni-bodies !

OK, thanks Tim. It's still drivable (cautiously, of course) and I don't think it will be hard for experienced mechanics to fix. As soon as I find a computer with bluetooth, I'll post up some pics.

mojojojo said:

sounds similar to karls (Los lobos) carnage last year... Damn uni-bodies !

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Yeah, I still laugh at the pic with Karl and his crazed (cut off "somebody's" trailer jack for steel) look. LOL

How far back does the ARB mounts extend on the frame?

Hopefully the fix won't be too much work. I think some simple frame plates would do a nice job at stiffening the front end up.

At least your Jeep wasn't parked for a little over a week after NWFest because it wouldn't start.

On the bright side, I just had to replace the fuel pump (at least I learned how to pull it at NWFest) and now it runs great.

~Scott

I normally stock the JKS frame repair kit. We do lots of those repairs. It's kind of time consuming, but if you were to remove your front bumper prior to bringing the rig in, it would save you some money.

John

Avanteone said:

I normally stock the JKS frame repair kit. We do lots of those repairs. It's kind of time consuming, but if you were to remove your front bumper prior to bringing the rig in, it would save you some money.

John

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Ok, sweet. I'll clean it up and grind the paint & undercoating down. If I send you some pics sometime soon, can you PM me an estimate? Thanks, John.

I'd attempt to do it myself, but I don't have any experience welding and would rather have somebody that has done it before take care of it properly so I don't make the issue worse as has happened in the past, LOL.