KCsurfer420 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Well First thanks for reading my rant but i feel this needs to be said to help other people stay away from rock krawler.... Now I know some of you will probably bash this tread but thats fine with me and i am in no way trying to be rude or blast a company, and for all I know the products that you guys have may be better quality but rock krawler almost killed me..... So I have an 88 jeep comanche, here's the buld tread on Comanche club if you care to look... viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24845 But so yesterday i was driving down I-10 and all of a suden i heard a loud snap and then all hell broke loose, i shot off over in to the fast land almost coliding with a semi and then over to the emergancy lane in a super wild fit of deth wobble. Now every thing on my jeep is brand new and maticusly mantained. Two days ago I got under the jeep and greased every thing and tightended every thing back down in anticipation for a trip to bridgeport ca that I'm about to take....... After leaving skidmarks in my seat i got out of the truck to see what had broken sending me in to the worst and i mean worst deth wobble ive ever experianced.... Well as soon as i looked at the front end it came aparent what had failed. the only part that i have on my truck made by rock krawler is there bomb proof track bar, well aparently its not verry bomb proof. Now what happened is the threads in side the track bar and the treads on the shank of the hime joint failed and riped completly out of the track bar..... now I know what your thinkin, the jam nut wasent tight.... well your wrong I have personaly tightened the jam nut down on three seprate ocasions since the 4 months i have had the jeep done. including two days ago..... so after geting the jeep home i decided that i would give rock krawler a call and see if i couldent get it waranteed. After geting on the phone with a tech at rock krawler it became aparent to me that they have the rudest and most unprofessional tech staff ive ever incountered. I explained to the tech what happened and the reply i got was "well its not our fault that you dident tighten down the jam nut".... as you can probably imagine that realy offended me as i buld rock crawlers I'm no dumb a$$, I curently own 6 jeeps and saying that i dident tighten down the jam nut after i explaned that the jeep has been mticulously matained and I PERSONALY MADE SURE that the jam nut was tight 3 times in the last 4 months..... Realy now what kind of busness are they trying to run? Say what you want but I'm just trying to help other people keep on living and trying to help other fourm members stay away from there $hittY customer service....... so long story short I am fex exing them back there crap that they call bomb proof and chalking it up as a learning experiance, and buying some one elses track bar...... any sugestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MancheKid86 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 http://www.ironman4x4fab.com/Products/TB.html :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakal Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 i found on my drag link the axle side wobbled. and was explained to me, whoever drilled the bar out didn't have the right size drill bit to leave the max amount of thread height or size, and they used a bigger size drill bit. called being lazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incommando Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Unfortunately, Rock Krawler is one of the many 4x4 suppliers that prey on unsuspecting shoppers. This is hardly the first case of their products failing miserably. A few years ago they made a 7" lift for the Liberty called the '7 up." EVERYONE who attempted to install this lift wound up scrapping the jeep, spending around $10k for a SOA, or stuck unsuspecting 2nd owners with it. It was, in short, a death trap. Upon being informed of this and shown irrefutable proof, R.K. kept selling the lift until its stock was depleted. To me, their actions bordered on criminal. The enthusiast aftermarket is full of "caveat emptor" and I am sorry you got stuck by this company. I sent links to a guy on another forum with posts about R.K. issues and he bought a lift from them anyway. He said " they had the coolest windshield decal." :doh: The JK lift he purchased caused other faliures and he had to spend $100's on "not included" items to make the jeep drivable. :wall: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I am pretty sure you are the first person I have ever heard of having an issue with a RK TB. The hiems and bushings go bad from time to time. But a failure like you are discribing? I would put odds on one of two things. They track bar was too short for your application or the jam nut was loose. I have had my own problems with Rockkrawler years ago with their Gen I XJ tri-link. I moved up to the Gen II kit and never looked back. I wheeled that XJ extremly hard and never had a problem with the suspension. It is still on the trails to this day and it was built in 2003. Post up some pictures of the track bar, jam nut, hiem, and the drop bracket. I would like to see where it failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW86 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I am pretty sure you are the first person I have ever heard of having an issue with a RK TB. The hiems and bushings go bad from time to time. But a failure like you are discribing? I would put odds on one of two things. They track bar was too short for your application or the jam nut was loose. x2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 No experience with their track bar, but I have abused a set of their adjustable upper control arms for two years without issue so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanche County Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I have a RK track bar so I'm just trying to understand what happened completely and rule out the possibles. How much of the threaded portion of the hiem was inside the bar? If you lifted higher than recommended for that particular track bar length and over extended the heim joint then a break is understandable. Also, over-tightening the jam nut can stretch and weaken the threads inside the track bar. I've ran mine for a year, installed it with thread locker and haven't had to tighten it once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpnjim Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Different manufacturer, but I've seen Skyjacker Heim joint LCA's where the threads just pulled right out. The threads wore off the heims some, but the inside of the arms (where the threads were) was smooth. Post up some pics, I'm curious what yours looks like myself. PS, glad your not dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanche County Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Yep, I've heard of this happening a lot with any type of adjustable track bar. But mostly because the jam nut was loose or they were bashing on the rig. Just glad he wasn't hurt, a track bar failure at speed can be catastrophic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCsurfer420 Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 here's some pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW86 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 so those are the 8.5 rustys coils right? last i recall the RK bar is only good or "recommended" up to 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 any sugestions? Yep. DON'T buy Rusty's, or the same thing may happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I just went through your build thread. The track bar and bracket look used. The drop bracket is clearly dirty where it was mounted on a previous Jeep. The track bar is a little harder to tell if it was used or not. My guess is it was too. With the 7" Skyjacker coils your joint is almost at it's limit and the axle is still not centered correctly. In your newest pics in this thread you are running a longer cRusty's spring on an already too short track bar. It is possible that you have the wrong track bar. It could be for a 4.5"-6" lift. Are you positive the guy who sold you the track bar and bracket was correct in it's length? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpnjim Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Looks like there wasn't a ton of thread engagement, judging from where the heim threads look more worn anyway (shiny part): My question would be was the track bar engaged up to the worn part, or the track bar + jam nut to that point? Either way, it shouldn't have happened, biggest question is was it Rockrawler's fault, RK + your own fault, or all your own fault? If the nut was loose when you last cranked it, the threads could have already been junk by then, and cranking it just made them give out sooner. Either way, take a breath, be thankful you're still here to post this, and hopefully you can figure out what went wrong. BTW, I'm no fan of RK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garvin Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 any sugestions? Yep. DON'T buy Rusty's, or the same thing may happen. I have never once had an issue with the 8" LA system on my old Cherokee. A lot of the part failures I've seen with Rusty's parts was user error. Is the jam nut where the heim was screwed in to or is it where the shiny part ends a little over half way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW86 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I'm still sticking with my original, he has 8.5 inches of lift with a maxium of 8 inch bar. sure its only .5 of an inch but when its holding a entire truck center with it, I'm betting it was only a matter of time. simple solution, get the correct application for your rig. true it would of worked with your other 7 inch springs but not with the taller ones. there are other heims you can get to run with the RK bar. i don't want to throw out other company names because i can't quite remember correctly but they have a longer thread end and supposedly better built heims. just search and you should get answers. also i run the 4.5 - 6.5 RK bar and ive had no issues. when i go spring over in the rear and up the front, ill do one of two things. call and see if my bar is still good to go length wise and just get a longer heim end. or buy the 6.5 - 8 inch bar. be safe, don't cut corners. its your life and possibly other peoples on the line here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCsurfer420 Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Well the hime was tightended down to where the jamb nut is in the pic, I did use red lock tite on every joint and jamb nut on the entire truck. I should have also stated that every time i tightened down every thing else on the truck the jamb nut was always tight.... i just double checked it so it was never loose to begin with.... Its realy odd. The coils are the 8.5 from rustys that i am curently running I still have the skyjacker coils but when I swaped out coils the rustys, alltho there supose to be 8.5 the truck actualy droped down about an inch in the front when i installed them and i actually had to thread the hijm in a little bit more for the rustys coils.... Now I'm no fan of rustys but the coils are not a bad product and there a bit softer than the shyjacker coils..... Its just odd how It happened like I said In not realy bashing the product but it did fail and I konw that i wasent at fault here, its mostly about the $#!&ty customer service that i recived..... o and I need some one to clean the skid marks out of my seat, any takers? :rotf: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garvin Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 The 8.5" is meant for the 8" lift so that little bit shouldn't make a difference in the track bar length. What in all do you have on the front of your Jeep? I have a slightly heavier engine (Chevy 350) and winch mounted to a custom 1/4" front cross member (no bumper yet though, still in the works) and my coils measure out at exactly 8.5" of lift. Also, a bit softer of a spring is an understatement (SJ is 240+ lb/ft while Rusty's is 180 lb/ft). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Really KC? You cross posted this to at least 3 boards? You are getting pretty much the same answers on all of them. Basically it was your fault. It is in your best interest to post some detailed pics (macro) pics of the bar, hiem, where the jam nut was sitting when it failed, and probably a reciept for the "new" track bar and bracket. I personally think you bought a second hand set up and the prior owner swapped out the hiem for a cheap overseas one or he sold you the wrong set up. The ball is in your court at this point. It is only your reputation at stake... http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1065500 http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/rock-krawler-almost-killed-me-1233168/ EDIT: You posted this on Pirate too? http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=989774 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakal Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 :popcorn: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garvin Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Jeep Forum also http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/rock ... e-1233168/ From the consensus on Pirate, it's his fault and not RK's. Atleast that's what I read around all the bashing. :rotfl2: Glad you're okay though! Next time try to be a bit more careful about swapping everything correctly. I made the mistake of only doing that with half my cooling system and ended up with coolant stains on my skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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