A couple buddies and myself took a last minute planned trip up to the dunes for a few hours today. One of them (Steve) just got himself a jeep, its a 2000 safari edition (the green one) The red jeep is my buddy Brian's jeep, it was his first trip to the dunes.




a little vid of test hill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL4jUaQASyU

All was well with the world until after I climbed a few hills. I was locked in 4 low pulling a steep hill when I heard a pop and then some grinding immediately following that. I thought for sure I blew the front diff because thats where the sound was coming from. I limped out of the dunes in 2wd and drove home to investigate the problem. Turns out the diff wasnt broken which made me happy, the RCD diff support bracket that was part of my lift broke and it was allowing the diff to twist down until the pinion hit the cross member making the grinding noise I was hearing.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKaRFH0MTEU

So luckily it wasnt a big deal but it cut my dune playing short but oh well, gotta pay to play! Steve broke in his new jeep and Brian is no longer a Silver Lake virgin so all want lost. Weather was awesome too BTW.

and for the hell of it, a couple pics of my ranger because its clean.

 

i saw the title and was like, Broken ranger? No way! but that isn't too bad, gonna buy a new one? or get out the welder?
Also, how'd you get a Dealer plate?

 

no ill weld it up and gusset it a bit more. i know this is an issue with the RCD lifts, im surprised mine lasted this long actually. and about the plate, if i told you i would have to kill you. lol

 

That ain't too bad then, good to know. i plan on lifting the next truck i get will have to look out for that.
as far as the plate goes. I'll take that chance. I'm on the other side of the state from you, so i've got a two hour head start.

 

I love your truck! It is so sharp!

 

Wow that looks like it would be a lot of fun!
Nice truck too!

 

Yeah, i'm pretty sure TrePaul had the same problem with his front diff mount thing that you broke. We gusseted like crazy and made mad welds and it was all good. Then he SAS his truck. lul....truck lewks gud!

 

Looking good as usual.

 

Yup I'm familiar with that grinding noise as well lol. Looks nice man!

 

ya couldn't wait for us..... see if you would have waited. all would have been good in the world and sh*t. now your truck is broke. bring on the zombies.

 

You know the fix but there are posts about the same thing, check them out.
My SL Kit came reinforced.

 

dude those blue bead locks are sick!

 

Truck looks great as always Pat.

The vid made me lol: LIKE A BOSS

 

Thanks Mike!

thanks! its a blast up there

yeah i remember he had this issue and i was trying to find his post about it yesterday. i do hope to SAS this truck when i have the cash so i dont have to deal with this anymore.

thanks man!

lol yeah, def not a good. thanks!

ha ha those damn zombies. it will be fixed before the ranger meet (if i can make it up)

yeah, i remember seeing posts about it before. ill do some more searching today

thanks man!

thanks!

 

UPDATE!! Hey look, its fixed!




i plated the front side of it with 3/16" steel, edge welded and plug welded the plate as well as re-welded the break in the original piece. this should make it about 1 and 3/4 times stronger than it was before. (fingers crossed

 

Yeah, that bracket sucks!!

Glad to see you got it fixed up.

 

It broke? when? lol.
looks brand new.

 

i take it youve had the same issue. i knew my time would come eventually. how did you fix it?

lol thanks

 

I already gusseted it but it still cracked at that bolt hole. I just scabbed it the same way you did. Hopefully it holds up.

 

yeah that hole is the big issue. i wanted to add a web along that side to add more material by that hole but it looked like it would interfere under the truck. i hope this works.

 

damn hard to believe you broke your truck. last june you were taking it slow from what i saw, which i wish i did lol. that piece doesnt even look like it was broken after the repair haha

 

yeah i dont beat on her too bad but im not afraid to put the hammer down sometimes. Im sure a repeated combination of 4 low+ full throttle+ sand hill is what = broken stuff. lol i do however like to keep all four wheels on the sand though, ill let you guys jump your trucks while i record it. lol

 

Looks real good! Hope it holds better!

 

hey now, i did that by accident haha my skidplate didn't like me after that though, completely pushed it upwards