Bad luck , Murphy's law or just plain EF'ED ???

[DJM/78]

So for the last two and a half months I've been working on my complete axle and suspension upgrade .

Parts list :

 

RE HD SF 5.5" lift kit ( short arm )

New D44 w/Trac-lock , alloy axle shafts , TF disc brakes , seals and Yukon 456"s

Complete rebuilt D30 w/ matching gears

Tera Flex SOA kit

Tera Flex SYE kit

Custom made Tom Woods CV drive shaft

HD Tera Flex rod ends

TF high steer 1 ton knuckle kit

Custom made drag link and tie rod @$$.

TF sway bar relocation brackets

RE quick disco's

Bilstein / RE mono tube shocks

 

So after a astronomical amount of money and long waited anticipation , AH the test drive .... Not even two miles down the road and

The rear locks up like a horse that won't jump over a creek , locking all four tires at 35 mph , so there I sat right in the middle of the

road all locked up and no where to go . She wouldn't budge , no neutral , back or forward .

By this time I'm sheer meltdown mode because everyone that drives by me looks at me I'm THAT GUY who won't push his crap off to the

side of the road . Then comes the cops , intro with " what did you do " really dude ? I planned all this out . " OH well can see your license

and registration please" , seriously dude ?

The only way we could get the truck on the skid was to drop the drive shaft right in the middle of the road , with rear still locked up

we dragged my brand new sh@t right up on the skid .

I know this kind of stuff happens to the best mechanics but man I had to vent some steam . It was either kick the dog around for a day or

post a big @$$ long blog about how my panties are all wadded up .

Thanks for being my emotional punching bag CC . :thumbsup:

[87Warrior]

So did your D44 lock up or was it the T-case? I am a bit confused.

 

In any case, that sucks!

[1990 Pioneer 4x4]

That sucks!

[Pete M]

happens to the best of us sometimes. My 88 overheated 5 minutes into its first wheeling trip. :shake:

[DJM/78]

So did your D44 lock up or was it the T-case? I am a bit confused.

 

In any case, that sucks!

 

At first I thought it was the T case considering the D44 had less than 2 miles on it but nope after disengaging the drive shaft

she told the hard cold truth that all the money and work that went into that rear end was kaputt .

 

Hopefully when the shop calls me I'll hear a little better news . Good thing is they are the ones who built it so now they have to build it

again .

[Geonovast]

The rear end did have fluid in it... right?

[dunl]

The rear end did have fluid in it... right?

 

Wouldn't be the first time......

[-600JeepMJ]

:headpop: :headpop: Ouch... hope you are able to get back on the road soon

[DJM/78]

OK , so the guys down at the shop felt so bad that they burnt some midnight oil and are working on rebuilding it by today .

None of us know what the actual deal was with the rear but never the less new gears and bearings is what she needs .

I'll probably have it out by noon .

 

I've been excited to throw down some pics so maybe by this weekend I'll have them up for anyone who cares .

[Pete M]

and this is why I shy away from installing gears. Something goes wrong and it can take out everything in one fell swoop (including your whole truck as you almost found out). :(

[DJM/78]

and this is why I shy away from installing gears. Something goes wrong and it can take out everything in one fell swoop (including your whole truck as you almost found out). :(

 

Yeah thats why I left this one to the pro's who have made all the mistakes before , I knew my skill level was far under par for a custom

CV drive shaft and SYE kit , I'm just a plain ol' metal smith with a couple of wrenches .

 

However I couldn't go on with the ever hated 307's , maybe a smaller gear set up would have been better but my plans are to go with

a 33x12.5" tire and probably be towing a small bike trailer or utility trailer at some point as well .

[87Warrior]

Pete, 5.13s turned my TJ into a toatly different animal. Well worth the cost and 3 hour trip home (usually 45min but I had to let them gears cool down). The risk of issue is worth it and should be a non issue if a decent shop does the work.

[DJM/78]

I got my truck back and it runs great , I'm still a little gun shy with what happened and all but the but the culprit ended up being a faulty

axle bearing right out the box , yep the gears after and she was history .

So I'll be a little shy on it for now .

 

Pete, 5.13s turned my TJ into a toatly different animal. Well worth the cost and 3 hour trip home (usually 45min but I had to let them gears cool down). The risk of issue is worth it and should be a non issue if a decent shop does the work.

 

Damed skippy , she turns them big tires with 0 problem now , gets up in to gear so fast you don't even know the tires are there .

 

Just for $#!& I threw a buddy's trailer on to see what happened , other than the trailer being to low for my truck I didn't even know it was

there . I almost yanked my mail box right off coming in the driveway because after a couple of minutes ridding around I forgot it was there .

It is now a completely different truck .

[Pete M]

you've been properly breaking in those new guts before testing it, yes?

[DJM/78]

OH yeah pete , I don't want to go through this again anytime soon so she's a pavement queen for right now , probably get a couple hundred

miles on it before I actually throw any kind of load behind it and no heavy wheeling until then as well . DR ORDERS , remove lead foot and

no heavy metal coming from the juke box either for thats the gateway drug to nascar style driving .

[87Warrior]

I broke my gears in corectly. 200 miles of short trips followed by a lube change. Then I spent a week on the Colorado trails, about 400 miles. :clapping:

 

Glad to hear she is purring down the road. But where is the eye candy!!!!???? We need pics!