GSW Damage Report

[Halfdoc]

No breakage, just growing pains.

Front upper axle side bushings lasted 2.0 days. Pan hard axle side nutsert lasted 2.1 days. Tack welded by Chad just for fun

Trimmed fenders supernaturally reattached after overnight Moab miracle.

Death wobble is only fun if you know you can trailer home... I think Sandy needs to consider this option :P (Glad you are safe Sandy)

Otherwise a highly successful shake down run, uh I mean Grand Slam West.

[jsteves]

Sandy, you have the worst luck getting to and from Moab. Glad you made it safely.

[BigDaveZJ]

Forgot to mention we did actually break a Shaft. About 30 minutes before we were planning on leaving Wednesday our dog Shaft sliced his paw open running around in the backyard. My sister was supposed to stay at our place and watch him for us, and she really came through with taking him to the vet and making sure he didn't cause further damage to the paw. We'll take him back to the vet in the next day or two so they can check on him and make sure all is well.

Kind of a bummer too cuz with this years weather he probably would've had a great time out there.

[James]

My brother (Kevin) managed break yet again - he has broken every year he's taken his jeep... haha. This year he pulled a heim out of his steering.. Not too bad tho, just had the outpost weld the shit out of it!
Side note - my Yota did just fine

[chadjans]

Tack welded by Chad just for fun

supernaturally reattached after overnight Moab miracle.

Keep the photos to yourself please.

I had nothing to do with this.

[Texas ZJ1]

I replaced a shaft I had broken the previous GSW Friday night and had zero problems driving home.

Hunter

[recon zj]

On the way to Moab, I had the small bypass hose on top of the water pump/under the AC bracket go out in the middle of the desert (it was only 96 deg. that day - a dry heat, of course). AAA tow to Las Vegas to have that and the water pump changed in.

Then when we dropped Sandy's ZJ at the repair shop yesterday evening, the shop owner found that the stud connecting my sway bar link to the sway bar was broken off. Coming into LA it felt a little squirrelly, but I thought it was just the LA freeways. The stud probably cracked (but was still holding on) on the planner's run when I didn't disco, because I also bent the bracket it connects to. The bracket isn't in the right position on the axle, but I ran out of time to correct it before I left. Oh, well...

[recon zj]

He mentioned it (more than once) as he was planning how to get the beast home!

...Death wobble is only fun if you know you can trailer home... I think Sandy needs to consider this option :P (Glad you are safe Sandy)...

[OverkillZJ]

Sandy - OUCH, that sucks!

Dasbutthurter - I think what hurt Elliot was the beer bottle I threw at him.

Halfdoc - Guilty as (not) charged. What can I say, Elliot and I had a few.

[Colorado 5.9]

Boy Sandy, you and Gary had it bad this year. Glad everyone made it home OK though!


Lost a Caliper bolt on the front pass. side. NOT fun trying to stop when the caliper is grinding into the rim. Made it to Moab OK & found a bolt.

Also lost a rubber seal in/on the T-Case letting fluid out. Fixed that with a small plastic plug & The Right Stuff sealer. Held the rest of the trails however I went outside today to find a puddle undeneeth the belly pan again. Looks like it blew on the trip home again. Hummm?

No problems on the trails!

On the way home almost to Eisenhower tunnel the vic beeped telling me to check guages & to check battery. Looked over at the volt meter & it said 0. :O

Figured the alt. was dead. Stopped in George Town & checked things but left it running for fear of not starting again. I figured It would run untill the battery was dead. Thought about it a bit going down I-70 & figured I'd rather install the spare I had sitting at home in a nice parking lot instead of leaving the jeep on the side of the highway & fixing it there so we stopped in Idahoe Springs. Shut it off & forgot to roll up the windows so I started it back up. Good battery still. It had voltage at the gauge again & I checked the battery while Jessie reved it up. Voltage climbed up so the alt was still good I guess. Made it home OK. The windings look a little fryed though.

[fpkites]

I think my carnage happened on our October trip (TC input shaft bearing assploded) - everything ran great this weekend, and I think I actually worked out a vibe that it had. No vibrations at 40 like I had before.

Other than that, just slider tags and a little more powdercoat worked off the KOR TC skid.

[Mochisme]

Well nothing on the ZJ broke, but I did bent the crap out of my newly installed, custom modified left sway bar bracket. I think I need to look at longer front bump stops or do away with the sway bar completely. Hate to get rid of it after all the money spend to replace the busted off bracket and new quick disconnects, but with a trailer, who needs it.

I also tweaked something in my steering as my steering wheel after that last drop down at Area BFE is almost 90 degrees to the left of center when the ZJ is going straight ahead. I did notice a ding in the shock type thing from the pitman arm hitting it, so that could be the area where the problem is.

The biggest problem was the dang fuel filter on my tow rig (94 Dodge 2500, Cummins), at various times it would become loose and pump fuel all over the engine compartment until I would smell the fuel and stop to tighten it. It would sometimes for for hundreds of miles with no problem and a few times it was under 50 miles (28 one time and 34 another). I searched and could not find a pattern as to when it would come loose, so I just had to trust to luck.

Took it into the shop when I had the truck gone over before leaving and they said they had not changed the fuel filter, but suggested I do it now as the gasket on it should be installed dry and mine was anything but dry at this point. When they got to filter off, it was discovered that the filter had never came loose, but the pipe/stud the filter screws onto appeared to be the problem and was only holding on a couple of threads, so they think it was working its way out and next time the whole filter and pipe/stud could have dropped off and them I would have had big problems.

All in all a really great time in Moab for GSW and looking forward to the next one.

[Sandy R]

I also tweaked something in my steering as my steering wheel after that last drop down at Area BFE is almost 90 degrees to the left of center when the ZJ is going straight ahead.

Ted, if you loosen up the upper track bar mount bolt and rotate the sleeve on your drag link with the ignition key turned on you can probably straighten your steering wheel unless something is bent. After recentering your steering wheel re-tighten your track bar bracket.

Good luck with the other stuff and glad you made it to GSW---and back home.

[Sudz]

no trail repairs on this trip, but....



driver side lower shock bushing - brand new RE shocks (0 miles) - completely gone! - noisy as hell on the trails - i looked but didn't find it until sunday afternoon - Carquest in MOAB carries the 5/8" hourglass bushing set

both front AlloyUSA X-Joints failed (spare axle swap in condo parking lot)

driver side hub bearing unit (replaced in condo parking lot) Carquest in MOAB had one in stock

trailer pass side front axle tire - tread separated after smacking an 18" deep pot hole on I-70 eastbound just outside Brazil, Indiana (noticed it while parking the trailer in the driveway) drove on it for 750 miles

my wallet: fuel, tolls, lodging, food, souvenirs, jeep repair parts in MOAB, etc for GSW 09 = $2,635

90 Chevy 1500 long box pickup with a feisty 5.7 power plant pulled 6,800 pounds of trailer trash round trip across country (84532 ~ 19067) attaining an average of 10.1 MPG

the pick-em-up pulled the pass on the return trip and never broke a sweat - couple of hill climbs had her chuggin' at 30 MPH - i passed a tandem trailer UPS truck on the climb up to the pass for bonus points - woohoo!

dave and crew flipped me off and blew heavy black diesel exhaust in my face as they passed matt & i somewhere near denver on I-70 eastbound - lucky for me i had my Primatene Mist handy

thanks to dave & pam for their hospitality and inviting me to crash at their place on tuesday night (during the trip out)





alloyUSA goodness (2 years/4 months - 5240 miles - 3 wheeling trip later)

[LSRGreg]

expensive trip!

yikes.

[Sudz]

expensive trip!

yikes.

I kept a detailed log of odometer readings, price per gallon, gallons pumped, time of day, location. etc

I also logged and numbered all my receipts

Fuel Cost = $1,256

...and I didn't even get a mention at the banquet as "Longest Distance Traveled"

[Sandy R]

Bummer about the carnage Ron. Join the club of shit that seems to happen to me every year too. But it was great that you made it and great to meet you and overall I hope the positive experiences outweigh the negative ones and the expense.
Take care.

[CrawlerReady]

90 Chevy 1500 long box pickup with a feisty 5.7 power plant pulled 6,800 pounds of trailer trash round trip across country (84532 ~ 19067) attaining an average of 10.1 MPG

the pick-em-up pulled the pass on the return trip and never broke a sweat - couple of hill climbs had her chuggin' at 30 MPH - i passed a tandem trailer UPS truck on the climb up to the pass for bonus points - woohoo!

dave and crew flipped me off and blew heavy black diesel exhaust in my face as they passed matt & i somewhere near denver on I-70 eastbound - lucky for me i had my Primatene Mist handy

What's funny is that I have pretty much the exact same truck. I tow my shit with a 1990 Chevy K2500 short box w/ the 5.7L

I even weighed the ZJ on the way home from GSW just because I was curious as to how much I was really hauling.



5340lbs and I'm hauling it on a trailer rated for 7k. The trailer weighs approximately 1600lbs (says the builder) which leaves 5400lbs load capacity That's right at 7000lbs, and when the doors are on probably about 7100lbs.

It does the job great, but how the HELL are you getting 10.1MPG?! I average 6 flat. That is why I just sold mine today for $5k and am picking up my new '04 Duramax on Monday!

[SirFuego]

It does the job great, but how the HELL are you getting 10.1MPG?! I average 6 flat. That is why I just sold mine today for $5k and am picking up my new '04 Duramax on Monday!

I'm going to guess altitude is the big reason. But if you people from out west ever came to wheel in the east, you would probably already know that

[Cody]

I'm going to guess altitude is the big reason. But if you people from out west ever came to wheel in the east, you would probably already know that

But all the good wheelin is out here

One trip to Moab killed those joints. See how hard traction is on drivetrain components?

[Sudz]

One trip to Moab killed those joints. See how hard traction is on drivetrain components?

the u-joint grease got all light and fluffy from the altitude

that's my story and i'm sticking to it

[ArloGuthroJeep]

CV joints FTW

[PassRunnerZJ]

Grease in u-joints? When I replaced mine last fall rust was the lubricant. I did mode my yokes for full clips though while I was in the neighborhood.

Glad everyone had fun.

[Sudz]

great to meet you and overall I hope the positive experiences outweigh the negative ones and the expense.

likewise

and the broken heep stuff was all just part of the adventure

11 months and counting..

[Sudz]

Grease in u-joints?

Todd,

The joints were loaded with grease when I pulled them apart.

I called Larkin @ OMIX-ADA and Bruce @ Roundeyes and both refused to honor the AlloyUSA X-Joint 3-year warranty. This contradicts claims that they would continue to do so. I purchased my D30 AlloyUSA shaft assemblies from Bruce on Pirate4X4.

Enter Ron Stobaugh of TEN Factory (formerly of AlloyUSA)

I shot him a quick email and he requested the bad joints and a copy of my receipt. A few days later I had a pair of warranty replacements. (Spicer 760X). TEN Factory does not offer an X-Joint style u-joint in their current product line.



email I sent Ron S- a few days ago:

Ron,

I received my X-Joint replacements last Thursday (7-2). Thank You.

Have you given any thought to offering a modified 760X that has the flat style grease fitting in each cap? I know myself and a few others that would purchase them in a heartbeat.

By the way, your excellent customer service has won me over. My next axle shaft purchase will be TEN Factory. I will be sure to pass along my positive experience with Ten Factory on the forums I frequent.

Thanks Again,
Ron