Axel woes

[TrojanYJ]

So I'm out with my buddies spotlight hunting before Christmas. Having a good time, screwing around, drinking, shooting at things, etc.

Next morning, I wake up and my traction bar is hanging by the t-case mount. My bud has been driving it around but only on gravel and what not, nothing even remotely cool.

What's happened is the weld on the axel-side perches has failed and taken the chunk of the axel it was welded to with it. Hooray.

It's about a 3"x4" hole just above the fluid level. Right now I have a piece of sheet metal on top of a piece of rubber gasket with some silicon to hold it together and seal it and hose-clamps on top of that to hold it in place.

My question to you: what now? I know there's SOME strain on the tubes, but is it enough to worry about getting a new tube and having it pressed in? Is there some way I can weld a patch in place that would at least be more permanent than my ghetto-fix? I'm paranoid about letting someone weld to it again, but if it can be done, hey.

I really don't have the $$$ to do much, and it's otherwise been a solid axel for me, so the cheaper the solution the better. I was thinking about just leaving it as it's not leaking fluid and there shouldn't be too much stress on the tubes, but maybe someone else knows a reason this is a bad idea.

If you give a suggestion, give a why and a how. I know (most) of my options, just not why I should do any of them.

On top of this, I got this badass traction bar and nothing to do with it. Any suggestions there? it would help if I could have it in the same place, but I don't see that happening, so just throw a suggestion at me.

Rawr,

--Hardy

[MarkC]

got pics?

[TrojanYJ]

Oak and Fox are out of town and I don't own a digi cam. So it'll be about another week before pics are to be had.

--Hardy

[Chris]

Quote:On 2005-12-29 05:58, TrojanYJ wrote:
Oak and Fox are out of town and I don't own a digi cam. So it'll be about another week before pics are to be had.

--Hardy

I like how you refer to us like we're celebrities and everyone knows who we are...really, it's quite flattering...

As far as the axle goes, I was thinking...what if you just trussed the axle and plugged the hole? Seems like it would work since you're on a budget, and you wouldn't have to worry about strength issues if done properly. Just a thought..

ps. I just got your vm, don't cash that check yet...I'm missing about $80 which should be coming right after new years, when I should receive a check for doing work at the office.

pss. My phone sucks.

[Spawn_X]

pics would be needed to get an idea of how serious it is. hopefully nothing is bent (didn't quite understand where the hole is at)

[Chris]

Hardy, I'm pretty sure I left my camera up there if you want to use it...I think it's on my desk next to my computer somewhere. Batts are dead I think, needs 2 AAs.

[TrojanYJ]

The hole is on the rear axel, driver's side, about 2.5" from the pumpkin, 4" wide and 3" tall. The center sits about 2" up from the center line of the tube.

Nothing is bent, there's just a hole where the weld was. I'm almost positive it was just a {expletive} weld that cracked and then broke free over time. One of my other concerns are, a$$uming the weld cracked, how worried should I be about the axel tube cracking and subsequently failing?

Truss it? Like support beams? I thought of that, but how would you attach them reliably, a$$uming I don't trust _certain_welder_ to weld to my axel again?

I'll get Oak's cam and get some batteries, erase all the gay porn him and AC made at Shiloh and throw down some pics.

In the mean time, any other suggestions are a go.

Any thoughts on reattaching the traction bar?

Oak, any huge plans for New Years? There's a little party down this way I'm taking a little brunette to, should be fun for all (read: me).

::EDIT:: On second thought, it's holding fluid right now, so you all will have to do without pictures of the hole. I'll take pics of the patch and the traction bar end, but I don't feel like going back through the hassle of getting the hose clamps off, cleaning the seal-area, getting silicon all over myself, blah blah blah. I will, however, find a pic of the brunette I'm taking to the New Years party.

--Hardy

[TrojanYJ]

Quote:On 2005-12-29 12:47, Chris wrote:
I like how you refer to us like we're celebrities and everyone knows who we are...really, it's quite flattering...

You're not? I mean, I am, I just a$$umed some of it would rub off with you two living with me...

--Hardy

[Chris]

Ha!

If you trussed it with welded beams (ie square tubing and plate metal) on the top of the axle lengthwise, you wouldn't run into problems like you had with the welding because the heat wouldn't weaken one concentrated area and you wouldn't have a traction bar putting tons of stress on it, especially with your driving habits. That would probably be the way I went if I were to keep the current axle.

Im headed to the coast today for New Years.

[TrojanYJ]

Keep in mind, it's not like I was putting huge amounts of stress on that traction bar. All I did was street driving. Nothing even remotely similar to offroading. And even so, like we've said, it should have held up. This was a case of {expletive}ty welding.

I may not have the lightest foot on the street, but it's nothing compared to my offroad habits.

Happy New Year. I'll be drunk as {expletive} and calling you ~11:03pm in a false-alarm Happy New Year.

--Hardy

::EDIT:: Oh yea, as promised. Happy New Year to ME.