Bent front axel and worn bearings...yikes!

Bullet · **Posted:** Sat May 22, 2010 11:25 pm

Hey gang,

Its been a little over a year since I have been on here....yea yea, but 7 kids keep me really busy. Anyway, I had some issues a few months ago. The front end of Bullet was making some crazy clunking noises. She is still under warranty so I took her to the dealer and had her fixed....evidently I had a bent front axel and both wheel bearings were bad. They blamed it on my Frankenlift but fixed it and warrantied the work. I got some A-arms from Al and put them on her....so far so good. I have heard a couple of noises when I turn but they are not consistant enough to worry about at this point. I feel pretty lucky the dealership didn't give me a hard time because the repair bill was around 1300.00! So I guess my story is one of those that has a happy ending but I still can't figure out how the axel got bent! I haven't wheeled in ages and never did anything really hard...mostly just mud and trails....go figure!

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat May 22, 2010 11:42 pm

Bent front axle???? Mmmmmm you sure thats what they said?

Oh yes welcome back wondered what happened to you. :wink:

Bullet · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 1:30 am

Yep...the paperwork said bent front axle....idk what happened. Took them almost two weeks to fix it.

KJ 119 · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 7:01 am

You musta got the factory solid axle option????

Sorry,I thought you said it was bent.,cuzzzzz aluminum don't bend.

IFS

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 7:56 am

Well - the skepticism comes from the fact that the Liberty front suspension has about 5 axle pieces and the outer sections have hinges - so the concept 'bent front axle' doesn't fit too well.

However 'crazy clunking noises' sounds like one of the hinges - the CV joints - died - that tends to come from the grease boots being ripped and grease being replaced with mud/dirt ect although you can also kill CV's by bending at too great an angle - The Frankenlift is at the max of that angle - but safe enough that many people have lots of miles with no CV issues - so I'm thinking the grease boot damage is the most likely issue.

The wheel bearings - would more likely be a continuing noise - matching wheel speed

$1300 sounds like they replaced everything both CV's and the bearings -- they decided that warranty work was more profitable than being idle even if the parts weren't that bad.

personally - I'd be watching for a shop that could at least properly explain what happened.
Obfuscation - tends to go hand in hand with Scams.

Bullet · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 1:57 pm

yep they did the cv joints too...I was looking for the paperwork but I seem to have put it in a safe place....too safe because I can't find it! I will run it down and get back to you guys with what it says. I am not too worried because Bullet is fixed so if they want to give me new parts just because...well that is one less thing that has wear. LOL. I am curious as well so I will try to get my hands on my paperwork as soon as I can.

KJ 119 · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 4:12 pm

All that matters is that it's fixed and free! :pepper:

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Sun May 23, 2010 10:23 pm

CV's are often referred to as axels... Maybe you caught something with a cv and slightly bent the shaft... IDK :juggle:

just throwin it out there

Bent front axel and worn bearings...yikes!

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