rbarton
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Acworth, GA
Has anyone had an issue with Rusty's track bar frame mount breaking? As you may recall, I mentioned last month about my problem with his track bar breaking (and him overnighting a replacement unit to my campsite). I mentioned to him then that the paint around the frame mount nuts in the wheel well looking as if it had shifted. He told me that if it had, it must have already been loose. I looked and didn't see any signs of further damage, but I was wrong! Turning left across traffic after church yesterday, I heard and felt a "pop" at which point my steering went whacko. I was able to get across the intersection without being hit (thank God...literally!) and pulled off to look for the trouble. My first thought was "oh no, not ANOTHER track bar break" but it didn't feel quite as bad and I did have a little bit of steering control. Anyway, checking the track bar, and other steering/suspension components as my wife moved the wheel back and forth, showed nothing. I started to crawl out from under the XJ to look at the steering box from above when I just happened to glance into the wheel well and noticed that the frame mount was sitting about 1.5 inches off the outside of the frame rail area when my wife turned the steering wheel. I had he hold it and looked back up towards the inside of the frame rail and found that the mount had broken clean in two! Except for about 1/2 inch of broken surface, it appeared to have been like that for a little while due to the amount of dirt and oil/greasy goo that had worked it's way into the crack. The metal looked very brittle and like "pot metal" in the way the surface of the break was. My guess is that when the track bar broke last month, it hit either the ground or the axle and jacked the other end into the frame mount...which is WHY I saw the broken paint around the nuts on the outside of the frame rail. The bushing in the track bar end on the frame side is no longer round, which further indicates a "kick" in that direction. I actually remembered to take pics this time so you can see what happened. I faxed Rusty yesterda and told him what happened. He left a message last night and said he'd call me today. I'll let you know what the outcome is. Again, as with the track bar, it scares the bejeebies out of me to think what would have happened if we had been at highway speed, or in a curve when this thing broke.
Never posted pics here before, so if they don't work, look here under "broken parts":
http://community.webshots.com/user/rictbarton
Never posted pics here before, so if they don't work, look here under "broken parts":
http://community.webshots.com/user/rictbarton