I blew the front housing!

KJ04 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:17 am

I blew the front housing at Wellsville Saturday. Yep, the same crack line with a 2" X 4" chunk out of the collar on the left side.... Just another bad casting??? How many does this make now on the LOST board?

Hurry up on the SFA All J, I think I need one!

DoverKJ · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:42 am

Any pics?

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:48 am

Pics Please.

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

Man that sucks. Sorry to hear that.

Do you remeber how you did it?

WV(0)IIIIIII(0) · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:28 am

THAT SUCKS! How much is the repair gonna cost so I know how muchj to leave set back for this, in cace it happens to me.

lilmatty · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:30 am

Is someone at Jeep in Toledo intested in looking at it?

Jeepin Al · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:42 am

I just left a message for my buddy at a Dodge Dealer to see if he can order in a 2005 Grand Cherokee front end housing, at Camp Jeep they had a chasis cut away, and the front pumpkin was steel, with the alum. axle tube. It looked like it would fit the Liberty. If he can get me one I should be able to match it up, I hope. I think this problem has gone on long enough and either Jeep, or we need to do something about it. By the way, the Dana 44 I have for the front will be a winter project, it doesn't help any of you now, but I plan to work on this over the winter months. I am looking for a under carriage with the lower a-arms attached so I can mach it up! I will take lost of pictures and keep everyone posted. If the 2005 Grand front end looks like it will work, I will post also!

Sorry to here about the front diff. :cry:

I would like to get a count also! Let's see how many out there has cracked over the last several years.

Al

hoss75 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:07 am

Nick! Say it ain't so! Man that bites hard.. I'll be getting my Boulder Bars this week too and was really looking forward to getting back out to Wellsville with ya.. Where did you do it at? Scooby doo? How did you get your KJ back out of there?

KJ04 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:23 pm

hoss75 wrote:

Nick! Say it ain't so! Man that bites hard.. I'll be getting my Boulder Bars this week too and was really looking forward to getting back out to Wellsville with ya.. Where did you do it at? Scooby doo? How did you get your KJ back out of there?

I was trial leading 5 Wranglers on some new trails none of us had been on over by Oak Tree Campground near where we came out the day your electric fan crapped out.
It was just a piss ant hill kinda steep with rocks. The front end bounced up on the second attempt and came down hard, when I backed down I saw the oil all over the rock and dirt. Put it in 2 wd and drove it out through Oak Tree into town to the BP station. The guy working there put it on the lift for free just too look at it. :lol:

I rented a tow dolly and had to have a friend from Grafton come all the way down and tow me home.
I have to get it towed to the dealer for them to see it. Naturally, they had never heard of one blowing... I said: " you don't visit many Jeep web sites do you." And proceeded to tell him about "LOST KJs". :wink:

For those of you requesting Pics, it looks just like all the rest that have been posted. The same break in the collar and the crack running all the way up.

USAFCOP · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:00 pm

You know, I wonder if this theory has been thought of...

Could this be happening due to faulty carriers, or maybe the axle shafts busting loose in the carrier causing it to "bounce" into the housing ascerting force where force is not intended?

It just seems weird to me that so many have had problems.

Has anyone with an aftermarket carrier set (ARB/Truetrack) had one burst?

I think Liberty one (TL Tim's wife?) had one break, was this before or after the front ARB?

I have the ARB in front, and have bounced, naw no sense fooling jumped the front end hard enough to bend a front a-arm, so if simple bouncing the front is breaking them mine should have broken... now everyone knock on wood for me so mine doesn't break now!

btolle · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:14 pm

My theory is that the pinion is putting a strain on the housing in a particular spot and the aluminum casting just can handle it. Just not beefy enough.

Someone on the forum was talking about putting a steel collar around his. I have always thought that might be the solution.

Every one I have ever seen pictures of broke in the same spot.

FWIW, a number of them have broken at Camp Jeep's and I know some of those got sent back to Jeep. Unfortunately they have not done anything about it and I doubt they will.

A redesign and all that goes with it would probably be more expensive than the one's they are replacing under warranty.

Bill Tolle
05 Rubicon
04 Liberty

If you love offroading and want the trails to stay open please join Blueribbon Coalition.
"Preserving our natural resources FOR the public instead of FROM the public"
http://sharetrails.org/

KJ04 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:16 pm

USAFCOP wrote:

You know, I wonder if this theory has been thought of...

Could this be happening due to faulty carriers, or maybe the axle shafts busting loose in the carrier causing it to "bounce" into the housing ascerting force where force is not intended?

It just seems weird to me that so many have had problems.

Has anyone with an aftermarket carrier set (ARB/Truetrack) had one burst?

I think Liberty one (TL Tim's wife?) had one break, was this before or after the front ARB?

I have the ARB in front, and have bounced, naw no sense fooling jumped the front end hard enough to bend a front a-arm, so if simple bouncing the front is breaking them mine should have broken... now everyone knock on wood for me so mine doesn't break now!

Yes, I have a True Trac and have bounced far worse in the past also. I guess it depends on how you land. :lol:

USAFCOP · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:30 pm

ok, well there goes that theory I guess...

Please knock on wood for me :roll:

jpzkj · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:36 pm

Quote:

FWIW, a number of them have broken at Camp Jeep's and I know some of those got sent back to Jeep. Unfortunately they have not done anything about it and I doubt they will.

I was told that the Jeep engineers were taking all kinds of data about where it happend in California last year.....even took soil samples, bunch of photos. They grabbed the KJ and sent it off to the dealer and gave the guy a rental until his was fixed.

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

KJ04 wrote:

Yes, I have a True Trac and have bounced far worse in the past also. I guess it depends on how you land. :lol:

Aluminum has a tedency to develop fatigue cracks. So even though it dosen't break the first time they add up and eventually fail.

I was the one that put the collar on the diff. Don't know if it is a fix, but it was worth the attempt. I agree with bill that I just don't think the front diff is beefy enough to stand repeated strain from offroad adventures.

Here is the link to the collar write up I did
http://yourip.org/eddo/diffcollar.html

lilmatty · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:52 am

Can we put the write up on this board somewhere. Tech articles?

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

lilmatty wrote:

Can we put the write up on this board somewhere. Tech articles?

I will make a post in the tech section probably this weekend. I'm in the middle of the move right now at this is my last day at the hotel with internet access. Should have cable internet installed sometime this week.

PitViper · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:34 pm

USAFCOP wrote:

You know, I wonder if this theory has been thought of...

Could this be happening due to faulty carriers, or maybe the axle shafts busting loose in the carrier causing it to "bounce" into the housing ascerting force where force is not intended?

It just seems weird to me that so many have had problems.

Has anyone with an aftermarket carrier set (ARB/Truetrack) had one burst?

I think Liberty one (TL Tim's wife?) had one break, was this before or after the front ARB?

I have the ARB in front, and have bounced, naw no sense fooling jumped the front end hard enough to bend a front a-arm, so if simple bouncing the front is breaking them mine should have broken... now everyone knock on wood for me so mine doesn't break now!

Maybe you do have something there... I wounder if maybe that is the reason DC went with 3.55 gears on the renegades? Maybe it puts less stress on it? I don't know.

KJ04 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:40 am

KJ04 wrote:

I blew the front housing at Wellsville Saturday. Yep, the same crack line with a 2" X 4" chunk out of the collar on the left side.... Just another bad casting??? How many does this make now on the "LOST" board?

Hurry up on the SFA All J, I think I need one!

Dealership called the regional powertrain tech center in Detroit and said they had no reports of failures. I was turned down on warranty!

TJTIM And AZSCOUT, I PM'd you for the last 6 digits of your vin number and the name and address of the dealership that did your warranty repair. Please reply, and thanks JJsKJ for yours.

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:05 am

As you may recall, my front diff failed but didn't break. The bearings were shot at 30k. The mechanic said they were way out of spec on the backlash setting. Is it possible that many of the diff's were built out of spec and this created slop and slack enough to cause the thing to bust the housing?

Anyway, I'll be following this thread.

I blew the front housing!

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