JUST SNAPPED MY DIFF IN 12" SNOW!!

dirtykj · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:31 pm

I worry about it sometimes ... almost had a heart attack when I went too fast over the top of one sand dune in Oceano dunes and the Jeep came down hard. In my mind I heard the sound of the diff cracking (had the chance to hear one on the trail and I knew right away what it must have been), but thankfully she held up. Kind of makes me wonder if it is just luck of the draw, or what. If it's weak part / faulty casting it should affect all vehicles equally, and I know that the landing I took was a lot harder than the one where that KJ cracked its diff ...

wendell · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:21 pm

For those who say the jeep was being abused, a normal person shouldn't be able to give it enoufg abuse to break the front diff like that. 4wd is ment to be used and used hard, spinning the front tires and then they catch and break the diff isn't abuse, it's the way it works in alot of situations. This is a substandard part, no if and or buts about it. 40" tires and you twist an axle, yeah, thats on me, but spinning the front tires and it breaks the diff, get real. If you ain't spinning, you ain't wheeling. I'm going to make an attempt to blow mine just so I can dump it jeeps lap. Something like that can hold you back from useing your rig to it's full capabilites. You shouldn't have to worry about if you spin a front wheel or not when your wheeling, thats rediculouis.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:17 am

wendell wrote:

For those who say the jeep was being abused, a normal person shouldn't be able to give it enoufg abuse to break the front diff like that. 4wd is ment to be used and used hard, spinning the front tires and then they catch and break the diff isn't abuse, it's the way it works in alot of situations. This is a substandard part, no if and or buts about it. 40" tires and you twist an axle, yeah, thats on me, but spinning the front tires and it breaks the diff, get real. If you ain't spinning, you ain't wheeling. I'm going to make an attempt to blow mine just so I can dump it jeeps lap. Something like that can hold you back from useing your rig to it's full capabilites. You shouldn't have to worry about if you spin a front wheel or not when your wheeling, thats rediculouis.

I agree that there are certainly front diff defects, but intentionally breaking a part and then trying to get the dealer to cover it is immoral and just asking for trouble. You may want to keep in mind that a lot of dealers and Jeep itself keep an eye on our forum. Please try to avoid doing things that will give us a bad image.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:03 am

Pablo wrote:

Rockjeep wrote:

BVCRD wrote:

Sounds like a Spoiled Brat to me. What's the problem?

Fixed it for you.

What he described as happening to him could have happened to anyone-- plenty of people have broke this part. Your assumption that something else happened and your badgering of him is simply ageism. I suppose if he was a woman or a race you don't like that would have been the reason the part broke. Why don't you find something else to do besides harrassing new members of the site?

Excellent point. We all should feel “safe” to discuss without being antagonized. If the dealership fixed the Jeep at their expense, then that’s a great thing!

The L.O.S.T. forum was designed so each member can encourage and be helpful to each other, not degrade or be destructive.

Rockjeep · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:37 am

No problem. I will now only post little bit of sunshine. Never a bad commit or real thoughts. I'm glad that wendell pointed out to me that I have been wheeling wrong all these years. I thought spinning my tires was a bad thing, but darn if I wasn't wrong. Its a good thing I have that extended warranty on the jeep, so when I change to my new driving style all the parts I break will be covered. My hats off to wendell for making me a better jeeper.

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:48 am

ain't it funny how some threads just take on a life of their own?

wendell · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:24 pm

Jeep needs to view this forum and they need to know they have a substandard front diff. It's not giving the forum a bad name, it's bringing to light that they have a problem. I didn't pay 25,000$ for a 4x4 that you have to worry about breaking. When I said I would try to break it I was just ranting, however I'm not gonna baby it either. I'll treat it no different than I treat my ranger. Did anyone ever get a link on that collar? Even if jeep would offer a fix, it would be worth buying for the piece of mind. If I knew about this before hand, I wouldn't have a bought a liberty. It's sorta getting me pissed, maybe jp mag knows what thier talking about after all. I'm just venting, you wouldn't expect jeep of all manufactures to put such a weak part in the 4wd system, when 4wd capability is thier claim to fame. I hope they are reading this, I'm not a very happy customer right now, 25 grand for a 4wd that you have to be afraid of, thats crazy.

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:35 pm

I posted the link a few posts back.

You don't need to baby it. No one here does. We just found A FEW people had issues.

There's also the weaker Full Time 4WD system (which I have). It's not as strong as the Part Time setup. But again, many of us wheel `em hard without issue. Don't throw the baby out yet `cause the bathwater isn't even dirty.

wendell · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:53 pm

So in other words, I could wheel for 10 years and never break it ? i was getting the feeling that if you wheel your gonna break it, if thats not the case, then I take back my evil thoughts toward jeep hee hee. Just this winter I've been spinning it around in the snow and it would catch, but nothing broke. I really like my kj and it it needs apart to make her stronger, then thats what baby is going to get. Let me read through all the post and see if I can find the link. Thanks for settling me down, I feel better about it now.

wendell · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:07 pm

Rockjeep, when I said if you ain't spinning, you ain't wheeling is refering to the muddy conditions we have back east, not rock climbing. In deep mud you can't help but to spin through it as you have to keep momenum up. Even trail hopping in in the mountains of W,Va you hit slick steep spots and it starts spinning. So yeah, back east here you do spin, even in the deep snow. If you wheel and never spin a tire, then all the power to you, it doesn't work that way for everyone.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:05 pm

There’s a lot of folks on this forum who use and abuse the Liberty and haven’t had any front diff problems. Most of us on this forum bought the Jeep to take off-road and expect the Liberty to meet our expectations. I wouldn’t worry about it. Use synthetic and keep the fluids changed frequently and you’ll be just fine.

CarNutCertifies · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:23 pm

btw where does it say that he was wheeling his jeep, I recall the original post said he slid off the pavement and got stuck. No where in the owners manual does it say the wheels must be fully stopped before engaging the four wheel drive, They actually boast about its "shift on the fly" capability, I don't know how many times i have hit a rut got pulled in and reached down and pulled up one notch to four high to get out without loosing my forward momentum. This guy did just what any of us would have done to get out cept his attempt ended with a loud bang, the dealership pulled him out so they saw what had happened and decided to cover the damage I don't think he tried to hide anything from them. Maybe this dealership follows the board or has had a rash of them come through and they know. Either way DC decided that they should cover the expense so that means one thing.....They know

As far as bashing him......Don't because then you are in the wrong. And changing a quote to make it look like someone else started it....That is just well....i will keep it faimly oriented...but you get the point. As far as just jumping on and offering a ray of sunshine thanks but you can still post other comments about things that bother you just don't bash anyone. unless they are just goofball then they need to be given some kind of trouble

BVCRD · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:45 pm

CarNutCertifies wrote:

btw where does it say that he was wheeling his jeep, I recall the original post said he slid off the pavement and got stuck. No where in the owners manual does it say the wheels must be fully stopped before engaging the four wheel drive, They actually boast about its "shift on the fly" capability, I don't know how many times i have hit a rut got pulled in and reached down and pulled up one notch to four high to get out without loosing my forward momentum. This guy did just what any of us would have done to get out cept his attempt ended with a loud bang, the dealership pulled him out so they saw what had happened and decided to cover the damage I don't think he tried to hide anything from them. Maybe this dealership follows the board or has had a rash of them come through and they know. Either way DC decided that they should cover the expense so that means one thing.....They know

As far as bashing him......Don't because then you are in the wrong. And changing a quote to make it look like someone else started it....That is just well....i will keep it faimly oriented...but you get the point. As far as just jumping on and offering a ray of sunshine thanks but you can still post other comments about things that bother you just don't bash anyone. unless they are just goofball then they need to be given some kind of trouble

Thanks bud. I know who did it and they got a spankin.

mtnbikermatt · **Joined:** Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:29 am **Posts:** 66

i will just start by responding that this was not caused by not knowing how to drive offroad. even though i am only 16 i have been offroading since i was 14 with my friends in a pathfinder and a land rover and i guess i was just used to a quality diff that wouldnt break.
and for the people who think i am spoiled for getting a jeep for my first car, believe me i offered and even begged my parents to let me buy and pay for my own car.

here are some pictures of where the jeep was stuck so you don't think i was like going offroad in 5 ft of snow or something.

here is what the diff looked like after it broke, notice that it is not even upto the diff in snow (and no i did not shovel this out at all)

JUST SNAPPED MY DIFF IN 12" SNOW!!

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