FJ40 I call Shipwreck

[SuperBuickGuy]

Leave him (her?) at your buddies place.

there's a bird trapped in the shop tonight.... only one leaves.

[SuperBuickGuy]

1400 miles, 3 days, 1 day on the Rubicon.... and I broke it. There, the tl;dr.
home

much fresher when I left. I put the top on, mostly because it was supposed to rain - which it didn't at South Lake Tahoe, but pretty much the Oregon border and north... wet.

met up with my friends in California... if the Jeep looks familiar - look back, I wheeled in the snow with him pretty often.

but he moved to California - so here we are.
while I haven't convinced him to get a FJ40 (he'd love one) he does have a sweet ZR2 diesel Colorado - which is the unrecognized hero of all of this... 100k miles so far, 13 mpg average and I think the slowest I pulled a hill was 45 mph....
Got there Friday afternoon, died on their couch for a couple hours, went to BBQ in downtown Folsom. Outside of the Johnny Cash song - I had no idea where it was... cool little berg.
...
Unloaded at the parking lot at Ice house dam.... really wish I didn't park below.... because it's like a mini-Rubicon getting your tow rig and trailer out of the lot....


met up with John's soon-to-be son-in-law... really really cool SAS Colorado

onto the trail


just before things started going pear shaped

think the SIL is going to fit in just fine (more on that in a bit because the story there isn't over)

got some nice shots of me trying to stand it on its front bumper

it does look good

and flex


Luigi is a good lab, but I think he was trying to find a new owner after bouncing on the trail

mind you, this is before the tough stuff starts.... and he's at 99% to get through this

random pics

John standing his TJ on its bumper

more pictures in a bit of the damage, but in a stupid simple spot the need for a welder and a mistake I made in assembly ended my run in... 2 miles... that's what I did.... took 5 hours

this is fix one, later pictures will show with Gorilla tape

so I turned around and another guy from another group was going out and offered to help if needed... he's there in the front... this is me trying to pull at tree over because I had to winch off a rock

I couldn't have hit this rock and more wrong

the trail fix

with gorilla tape

the problem


as it was, it almost came apart again
so... high lift handle to brace the cross shaft, zip ties to hold it to the shafts, then a ratchet strap to hold it all together.... what was really cool and a shout out to all the people out there, I basically got to stand and watch in my "we are welders" (irony, love it) shirt. the guy said he'd done it before and I believe him.... neat people, nice weather.

the broken parts - the weld literally pulled apart

what I did wrong was I should have drilled and plug welded the adapters in place

why didn't I? simple, some bungs you cannot do that with

if you weld the one on the right, it'll foul the threads.... not just that but it will almost instantly rust then fusing the threads together and ending any adjustability you expect
but still, I didn't plug weld, and I should have. whoops.
with that said, the fixes, also the steering column started moving in the shaft - so I need to resolve that issue for once and for all (read, weld that bastard)

and there's a hitch in the steering - so figure that out (thought I'd fixed it)

what's to come is an onboard welder (which is kind of dumb since I've never needed one and have wheeled for 40 years).... ah well, whoever buys it from my estate sale can take it out of its box
so it's fixed... this time, it'll break something else


I'm also going to complete the hydro-assist steering. I know how, need to order the ram - and that will help with this as well because it'll put less stress on the cross shaft/box/frame.


and the last bit.... their phone is still going to voice mail.... they may still be on the trail.... to be continued

[SuperBuickGuy]

but wait, there's more
first, they made it back late last night

however,

wait, you'll say, that joint was brand freaking new when you left. How many miles did you put on it before it failed?
1

Summit came through and replaced it - and I'll void the warranty by tacking the caps on... this is BS. I was under the impression (obviously wrong) that going to u-joints was the stronger option....

yeah, the caps just fell off

and for the record... this is who to avoid

the old joint
note the screws holding the caps in place?

lasted 4000 miles v. 1 mile
in other news, panduit ties are not what they used tobe


and in yet other news.... occasionally the rear signals would stay on dimly. Couldn't figure out why - obviously a ground issue but from where?
the steering column. Over time there wore a bare spot so it ended the problem - but moving the column around and suddenly the light issue was back.....

[SuperBuickGuy]

coming soon, a CS130 rebuild and upgrade to 200 amp

[silver_bullet]

Direct feed for a MIG welder?

[SuperBuickGuy]

Direct feed for a MIG welder?

if it's not over done, is it really done?

[fatguyzinc]

lasted 4000 miles v. 1 mile
.....

and 4K miles is "good"? i thought those things were better than
the crappy factory rag joints.... makes me not want to change
mine in the K5 to u-joints now if it only goes 4000 miles.
any recommendations for a replacement for the rag joint?
apperently borgesson discontinued the good one, all the parts
stores sell generic replacements that SUCK.,

[SuperBuickGuy]

and 4K miles is "good"? i thought those things were better than
the crappy factory rag joints.... makes me not want to change
mine in the K5 to u-joints now if it only goes 4000 miles.
any recommendations for a replacement for the rag joint?
apperently borgesson discontinued the good one, all the parts
stores sell generic replacements that SUCK.,

no, not good at all but better then one mile.... and with that said, this is the first one I've ever had trouble with - also, can't put a rag joint there, not enough room. (but will I put the one on my Blazer that I already have? I don't know.).

so here are my GUESSES of what's going on
1) phasing - the u-joint at the bottom of the steering column is like 20 degrees as opposed to 5 degrees (approx) at the steering box - thus the stumble motion is causing too much stress at the lesser angle (of course, why the upper one doesn't fail too? yeah, a guess)
2) the huge tires - there is a lot of stress turning them
3) manufacturing defect - the swedging the caps in is stupid... thus they come out very easily if there's any force on them.
4) piss poor quality control. The caps are a very soft material while the yokes are forged (my money is on this one)
5) life sucks and sometimes it proves it with screwed up u-joints.

[silver_bullet]

By borgeson's own advertising you are well within their tolerances of angularity :

https://www.borgeson.com/Universal-Joints/

[SuperBuickGuy]

By borgeson's own advertising you are well within their tolerances of angularity :
https://www.borgeson.com/Universal-Joints/

what really kills is that the no-name joint is a better product.

[SuperBuickGuy]

In honor of my void-every-warranty policy, I present a brand new borgeson joint


then tap over the washer to fit the curve


finish welding the washers on

and installed with plenty of loc-tite... just so I have to really fight it to get it apart when the trailgear hydraulic assist arrives next week

in other news, I started disassembly of my various cs130s... pretty sure this one was off my H3 Hummer - overcharged badly but only had 1/8th of a mile on it (anyone want to guess why I avoid Powermaster?)


the brushes are brand new....

as does the rotor

the stator got crispy - those wires should be copper colored not crispy black

what the stator should look like

next up steal the toaster oven and heat the case to get the stator out... but that's for another day, thanks for looking

[Loren]

then tap over the washer to fit the curve

Probably the best thing to do. That is an absurd design/quality issue, somehow my Cherokee has gone 360K miles on the original u-joint so is there something they needed to know? I forget what brand I used on the Chall but it had the button-screw deal which I still thought was crap and wouldn't go endurance racing on.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Probably the best thing to do. That is an absurd design/quality issue, somehow my Cherokee has gone 360K miles on the original u-joint so is there something they needed to know? I forget what brand I used on the Chall but it had the button-screw deal which I still thought was crap and wouldn't go endurance racing on.

the temptation is take it to SEMA and ask them WTF.

[SuperBuickGuy]

the video - with optionals, it's about $180 (not including the alternator)

[SuperBuickGuy]

The list of what's coming next:

1) hydra-assist

2) much larger power steering cooler

3) welder

4) selectable locking front differential

5) 4:1 gear conversion - been wanting to do this for awhile however, getting the parts or having the money has been a challenge




and the cost of the above link.... about $180 not including the alternator

I don't think I'm going to change the axle gear ratio - I like the strength of the 4.56s, thus the 4:1 should resolve the crawl speed. Luigi was not thrilled at bouncing on the trail so slowing stuff down makes sense from that perspective. As far as the cooler, I've had trouble with overheating the power steering pump if the front end is locked and I'm not on snow...




If I run the Rubicon again with this, I'm taking more time off so I don't have to trailer it... for some reason that bugs me most about the entire adventure.