Rusty Nail, GB, GS and PSM + Break down March 20-21

[themaniam1]

We had a great time and the weathter was perfect. Ran Rusty Nail for the first time. That was fun. There was three Jeeps, two with lockers and on with out. The red 2dr had open diffs but did great with good spotting and some rock piling.

The by pass wasn't so bad

But then we saw this and open diffs did not look like a good idea.

But more rock tossing and good spotting and a few attemps and it made it.

last obsticle was impressive but not as hard as it looked. It still made my wife nervous that there was going to be body damage but they was none.

We all made it with out any damage or breakage!

 

[themaniam1]

Now on to the upper part of Golden Spike. This is where the breakage happened. I crossed the Golden Crack and was coming back when my steering popped and then no steering. The power steering gear box shaft snapped right where it came out of the gear box.


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Has anyone ever heard of the PS Gear box shaft breaking? Here is what it looked liked close up.

A large group of Jeeps came by and none fo them had ever seen that before. They were really nice, like most wheelers, and stopped and tried to help. They had a portable welder but It just didn't have enough power to penetrate that shaft so I could limp out. Luckly we had cell coverage so we found a new one in Salt Lake, $800 dealer only item for the new PS gear box and had some friends drive it down who were coming for the half marathon. We left the Jeep right were it was, some of you may have seen it there all lonely, and went back to Moab via Gold Bar. We got back to camp at 5:30 pm and our friends arrived with the part at 8:00 pm. We headed back up the trail with the other two Jeeps. Started working on it at 10:30 and made it back to town about 2:00 am but greatful it all went smoothly.

Fixed and now over the Crack and out.

This is why you never wheel alone!

Dealership would not warranty it because it had a modified suspension, not to mention it the 37" tires. That part is what really stinks.

the next day we had fun on PSM were the blue Jeep had never ran it. Overall it was a fun trip.

 

[jpest]

That is a pretty odd break. Did you really think the dealer would warrenty it?

 

[themaniam1]

That is a pretty odd break. Did you really think the dealer would warrenty it?

Not really but becuase it was so odd I went and asked anyway. They said that they would have but on things like that the factory wants a photo of the vehicle and then they would for sure deny it.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

That is very strange it broke, were both wheels binding up when it snapped?

 

[Bart]

That's an uncommon break for sure. Bummer. I can't believe the dealer can soak you that much for a new box. Maybe time to consider hydro assist.

 

[notajeep]

Maybe time to consider hydro assist.

Good advise right there.

 

[WHOR.Scott]

i work at a dealership and the factory wanting photos is bs. and by the way unless they can prove it was failed due to the mods they cannot deny warranty. Ihave had to testify in court before on a couple of cases where a liability due to modifications was at question.both times the judge ruled that without proof that the modification caused the failure the waranty had to stand behind the part. just a thought

 

[Grim]

awesome trip report, i love daily driven , weekly beaten vehicles ! nice trail fix

 

[WHOR.Scott]

by the way i did get to see your lonely jeep hanging out down there. we came across pretty late that night.

 

[jpest]

by the way i did get to see your lonely jeep hanging out down there. we came across pretty late that night.

and you didn't strip it. Good on ya! There are still some honest people

 

[themaniam1]

by the way i did get to see your lonely jeep hanging out down there. we came across pretty late that night.

I do thank you for being an honest person and I would like to believe that most everyone on the trails are. It about killed me to leave it.

I will try it again with the dealer but somehow I think I am screwed because I bought the part and if I take it to a different dealer what will they do?

The wheels did want to track into the ledge / rock but no real bind. It snapped when I tried to straighten out the wheel, turn it back to the right when it wanted to track left. It did that again when I went across the Crack after the fix but that time I let it track left and used the front lockers to have it pull its self up and I did not try to straighten it out.

I am seriously thing about hydro assist. $800 would have got me half way there in parts!

Bottom line is it was a fun trip and I really liked Rusty Nail. The breakdown did make so we were not able to finish the trails.

 

[LT.]

I've seen that kind of a break before. Turbosniper broke that same thing on his Ram 1500. I think it is called a sector shaft. Not as uncommon as you may first think.

LT.

 

[Meat_]

For $800 I'd consult an attorney about the warranty. Also, you can probably rebuild your old box and get some of your money back (need to wait until you for sure can't get it warranted)

 

[fire4j15]

Sector Shaft

I had the same thing happen to me last year on a snow run. Front right tire bounced off a rock doing about 20mph down a snow covered trail and BAM the sector shaft shaved clean off. Left the jeep there came back with some friends and welded it as best we could. got down to the trailer and it broke again climbing onto the trailer. It was a 06' Jeep Rubicon unlimited. Come to find out the factory use's very weak metal on the sector shaft. My dealer wanted $750. Went online and got a brand new one for $200 from a company that takes jeeps and converts them to right side drive. Bought an extra one just to have. Sector shaft breakage equals major pain in the butt. I feel your pain.

 

[UNSTUCK]

If I had a stock JK, I'd let you intall the broken gearbox on it and take some pictures. Then you could take those pics in with you when you go in to get your warrenty money. I'm sure they'd warrenty it then.

 

[Talon]

I had the same thing happen to me last year on a snow run. Front right tire bounced off a rock doing about 20mph down a snow covered trail and BAM the sector shaft shaved clean off. Left the jeep there came back with some friends and welded it as best we could. got down to the trailer and it broke again climbing onto the trailer. It was a 06' Jeep Rubicon unlimited. Come to find out the factory use's very weak metal on the sector shaft. My dealer wanted $750. Went online and got a brand new one for $200 from a company that takes jeeps and converts them to right side drive. Bought an extra one just to have. Sector shaft breakage equals major pain in the butt. I feel your pain.

Take off the one you bought tell them its the wrong part and wouldn't fit. Get your money back and grab one from wherever he got his.