Decisions To Be Made

At this point we had to decide what parts we were going to use for repairs. Cost would play heavily into this decision. The stock components had given out which means if we repaired back to stock it would probably happen again. Because of this we decided to perform some upgrades.

Axle Shafts

The first upgrade were the axle shafts. From the pictures on the last post you can clearly see the twisting that occurred. That twist was at the point where the axle shaft is inserted into the carrier. The stock shafts simply weren’t able to handle the level of wheeling we have been doing. I suppose we were fortunate they didn’t snap or there would have been even more damage. We upgraded the axle shafts to Ten Factory 4340 Chromoly axle shafts. This will be quite an upgrade from the stock axle shafts and hopefully be able to handle the larger tires and level of wheeling we are doing.

Differential Carrier

Next was the difficult decision about what to install in the differential. While it is broken down is a great time for upgrades. The only problem is it can get very expensive at this point. We wanted to install an E-Locker like we did in the rear axle. The Eaton locker runs right at $1000. As much as we wanted to upgrade to the Eaton locker, we simply didn’t have the finances at this time to do so. Another option was to rebuild the stock carrier with heavier spider gears. This would have cost us right at $200 and would have only made the carrier stronger. It would not have helped with traction to both tires when needed since it would still be an open differential. After researching heavily for a couple of weeks we decided on the Powertrax Grip Pro Extreme Traction System. This is a limited slip differential that will apply torque to the wheel that is not rotating. Basically if one wheel is slipping it will engage the other wheel so that both will be providing traction. This is an in between solution to an open differential and a locker. Cost did play into the decision. This carrier was $351 which was only a small amount over replacing the spider gears. The cost was also far less than the locker. It would also give us more traction in the front when off roading which will be an upgrade for us.

Miscellaneous Parts

Other parts were more common that we replaced or added. We had to get new bearings and races for the carrier. We also added axle shaft seals to keep water out of the axle. The inner seals were recently replaced when we re-geared the differential and suffered no damage. The Yukon ring gear and pinion also suffered no damage which I was very pleased about. It was nice that the few parts we had upgraded were not damaged.

What Comes Next

The rear axle still has to be dealt with. We did not build the rear axle. We had Redemption Offroad perform that work. They re-geared to a 4.88 gear ratio with Yukon ring and pinion gears, Yukon chromoly rear axle shafts, and an Eaton E-Locker in the differential. This was a costly upgrade but made a positive impact on the capability of the Jeep on more extreme offroading. At this point we don’t know exactly what is broke in the rear axle. We only know for sure one of the axle shafts snapped. After our next post on the front axle rebuild we will cover all the information about the rear axle.

After towing the Jeep home and sleeping on what transpired we had to make some decisions. We knew a lot of parts were broken. We didn’t know the extent though. I decided to wait until the following Monday and call Redemtion Offroad for some quotes. They built the rear axle for us so we knew some of those parts at least would have a warranty.

Our First Option

I called Redemtion Offroad and told them what had happened and the symptoms resulting from the breakage. Wayne said we most likely broke a rear axle shaft since it wouldn’t move in 2WD but would move with the lockers engaged. The front however could be many issues. We knew all of the front axle components other than the Ring and Pinion gears were stock. We also knew it was only a matter of time before we broke those parts. Wayne gave us a quote for a few options based on the information I gave him. First option was to rebuild with used stock front axle shafts and replace spider gears if those were out. This was the cheapest way out but would put the Jeep back in the same shape as it was. This would not upgrade the front to handle the larger tires and heavy wheeling we have been doing.

The Next Option

The next option was to upgrade everything. Chrome Moly Axle Shafts and Electronic Locker. This option is what probably needed to happen but it was also costly. Now we were talking over $2500. That was only for the front axle. At that point he told us if we were going to spend that much to overhaul and upgrade our dana 30 axle it would be better to spend a bit more and just order a fully loaded upgraded dana 44 axle instead. Now with options we had to come to a decision.

Our Next Move

Because we did not know the extend of damage to the front I decided to drain the differential and see if there were any metal shards in the oil. Removing the drain plug revealed a lot. It was literally covered in metal shards. Now I knew there was carrier damage so I remove the differential cover. Now the extent of the differential damage was revealed. The spider gears in the carrier were almost gone. The teeth had shredded and were laying in the bottom of the differential. At this point I wasn’t even thinking about having anyone else perform the repairs. I was actually kind of excited to continue tearing apart the front looking for damages. It only took about 2.5 hours and I had the entire axle tore apart.

What Was Damaged

The spider gears were gone. We also found the axle shafts had twisted at the point they mated with the carrier. So new axle shafts were now necessary as well. The Yukon Ring and Pinion gears had no damage at all. The seals were still intact as well. We would need new carrier bearings for the rebuild as well. Now that it was in pieces I decided to go ahead and perform the repairs myself. The only parts under warranty in the front axle were the Yukon Ring and Pinion which were still good. Doing the work myself would void any warranty on those 2 parts but at this point that cost is negligible. This gives us the opportunity to upgrade the front axle. We will have Redemption Offroad repair the rear axle because of the warranty. The next post will cover the parts we used and the rebuild.

After discovering the broken bolt on the passenger side exhaust manifold I decided to go ahead and make the proper repairs. After removing the passenger side manifold I was greeted by a welcome surprise! The bolt was not broken into the block like the drivers side. There was still some of the bolt sticking out for me to grab. Using a pair of vice grips I was able to loosen it and even remove it by hand.

What We Discovered Next

The exhaust manifold on the passenger side also had a crack. It wasn’t as bad as the other side but we decided to replace it. Having gone this far it only made sense to complete the work properly. The crack wasn’t the only issue we found though. I noticed the rear spark plug had quite a bit of oil on it. After closer inspection I found the valve cover gasket was leaking. It only made sense to repair that as well. Upon removal of the valve cover I was unable to simply remove the gasket. It had solidified along the bottom edge and cracked into pieces. I had to dig out all the hardened rubber in preparation for the new gasket.

Getting the Parts

Summit Racing again provided the replacement exhaust manifold. I already had new bolts from the kit from the driver side replacement. The valve cover gasket came from Autozone. Then came the next problem. No auto store anywhere local had the manifold gasket. Summit could get the part but it would have been a month before it arrived. We had to order it from Amazon at a higher cost but it would arrive within 5 days.

Installing the Parts

It only took a couple hours to reinstall the new parts. Once again the Jeep is ready to go. We’ll take it out a couple times before our next off road adventure to make sure there were no issues with the install. The picture below is of the completed driver side install. I couldn’t get the camera on the passenger side manifold for a final picture due to lack of space but it looks essentially the same.