collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Was a normal day of wheeling... or so we thought!
Buddy and I decided to go hit up Illinois Gultch, been there before, pretty simple trail. The plan was to run that, then meet up with a friend at Metberry and wheel that.
And the first thing happened, its hard to tell from this angle, but MAN he was close to rolling. I was standing right by the drivers window talking with ed here, and his rear wheel starts to come up, Quickly I grab the Jeep by the pillar and pull it down. Told him he needs to get down NOW and so he went. Sketch.
Figured that would be the worst of what happened this day. But, I didn't realize it at the time, it got worse right around here.
(The red table are just straps holding up my sway bar links)
Didn't realize it here, we continued on, but about 15 minutes later, I knew something was wrong.
Looked under to find that BOTH the upper control arms had snapped in half!
At first I was freaking out! How will I get down? This is going to cost me an arm and a leg!
Luckily I had service and tested the
Colorado Chapter emergency services. Called troy who gave me the idea of using straps to hold the axle in place, and use the winch to keep it under pressure. Troy even said something like "I would just come down there will my truck and trailer and tow you home, but theres a Jeep on my trailer with no axles!" (thanks for the help Troy)
This is what we came up with. Wrapped it around the right and left control arms and hooked it to the cross member using a ratchet strap.
Got down the trail like this (most intense wheeling i've ever done) and gave FrankZ a call (he was on a trail, but still willing to help in anyway he could). We talked for a minute and I decided that instead of paying for a trailer or trying to get home, I'd take it to frank who would help me figure out what to do next. (thanks again for the offer Frank)
We were going less then 35 with flashers on and trying to be careful (yeah not the smartest idea in the world) Half way to Franks house, the strap burt through (ended up touching the exhaust) So we had to do a road side fix.
Now, about 3 miles away from Franks house we see a advanced auto, my friend (jokingly) said, "Hey! lets just buy some control arms and bolt them up!" Well, we called around to a few places and the Advanced auto right by I25 had 2 of them, $45 bucks each.
We had 4 people, and we went to it. Probably one of the smoothest installs I've ever done. Few hours later, we were on I25 north headed home. Smoother ride then before which makes me think they have been weakening for a while.
Now, I'm sure stock is fine for road use and some light wheeling (as i've wheeled a bunch of times before and not having an issue). But I'm going to save up for a long arm setup. Probably FrankZ's
As you can see in this image, the PO did something weird, he got Long Arms for the LOWERs but not the uppers.
I wish I had more pictures, but as you can imagine, I was quite stressed and pulling out the camera wasn't on my mind.
Now, as I've really pushed the relationships here, I'd like to support the board (though its confusing as all get up how to sign up, why can't I just donate with paypal?)
Buddy and I decided to go hit up Illinois Gultch, been there before, pretty simple trail. The plan was to run that, then meet up with a friend at Metberry and wheel that.
And the first thing happened, its hard to tell from this angle, but MAN he was close to rolling. I was standing right by the drivers window talking with ed here, and his rear wheel starts to come up, Quickly I grab the Jeep by the pillar and pull it down. Told him he needs to get down NOW and so he went. Sketch.
Figured that would be the worst of what happened this day. But, I didn't realize it at the time, it got worse right around here.
(The red table are just straps holding up my sway bar links)
Didn't realize it here, we continued on, but about 15 minutes later, I knew something was wrong.
Looked under to find that BOTH the upper control arms had snapped in half!
At first I was freaking out! How will I get down? This is going to cost me an arm and a leg!
Luckily I had service and tested the
Colorado Chapter emergency services. Called troy who gave me the idea of using straps to hold the axle in place, and use the winch to keep it under pressure. Troy even said something like "I would just come down there will my truck and trailer and tow you home, but theres a Jeep on my trailer with no axles!" (thanks for the help Troy)This is what we came up with. Wrapped it around the right and left control arms and hooked it to the cross member using a ratchet strap.
Got down the trail like this (most intense wheeling i've ever done) and gave FrankZ a call (he was on a trail, but still willing to help in anyway he could). We talked for a minute and I decided that instead of paying for a trailer or trying to get home, I'd take it to frank who would help me figure out what to do next. (thanks again for the offer Frank)
We were going less then 35 with flashers on and trying to be careful (yeah not the smartest idea in the world) Half way to Franks house, the strap burt through (ended up touching the exhaust) So we had to do a road side fix.
Now, about 3 miles away from Franks house we see a advanced auto, my friend (jokingly) said, "Hey! lets just buy some control arms and bolt them up!" Well, we called around to a few places and the Advanced auto right by I25 had 2 of them, $45 bucks each.
We had 4 people, and we went to it. Probably one of the smoothest installs I've ever done. Few hours later, we were on I25 north headed home. Smoother ride then before which makes me think they have been weakening for a while.
Now, I'm sure stock is fine for road use and some light wheeling (as i've wheeled a bunch of times before and not having an issue). But I'm going to save up for a long arm setup. Probably FrankZ's
As you can see in this image, the PO did something weird, he got Long Arms for the LOWERs but not the uppers.
I wish I had more pictures, but as you can imagine, I was quite stressed and pulling out the camera wasn't on my mind.
Now, as I've really pushed the relationships here, I'd like to support the board (though its confusing as all get up how to sign up, why can't I just donate with paypal?)
but they literally split in half.
