Baja Adventure - Revenge

[alia176]

Wouldn't have needed to search very hard. Ash knew exactly where I was. Before I left I bought a Delorme inReach satellite communicator.

I'm not sold on these types of devices; they're definitely cool and nice for someone to keep track of the traveler. But when crap hits the fan, a rental sat phone would serve better than sending each other expensive texts during emergencies. I realize they both have their place. Still, it was good to know Jon's status.

 

[pappy]

Sat phone rental for 3 weeks would have been about $50, plus $100 for 60 minutes of air time, prepaid. The texts did the job with the inReach, at 50 cents each (first 10 included in the plan). It wasn't just purchased for the emergency function. It was also purchased so I could send out "I'm OKs" to friends and family who worry. I sent out several of those this trip, even though I really wasn't.

 

[pappy]

Pics of the gear.

The stripped gear:

What the splines should looks like:

The two gears side by next. The 21 spline on top, and the 23 spline on the bottom. Notice that the 23 spline does have longer splines, and it still stripped out.

 

[BionicCruiser]

is that burned/hot fluid stains on the damaged ones? that's pretty ugly!

 

[pappy]

The oil was a thick reddish mud around the gear that has been difficult to remove.

 

[MoGas]

Glad you made it home ok.

 

[evanz80]

Maybe I missed this earlier, but what caused the splines to strip?

The camping looked pleasant enough, if you didn't have to worry about the dead truck.

Welcome back to the USA!

 

[pappy]

No idea what caused the splines to fail. Apparently it's not uncommon. There was a post a Marlin's forum that suggested anti-seize would do that. It would explain the red stuff around the gear. This would not have been an original thought on my part and been included in the directions.

 

[Devil Frog]

No idea what caused the splines to fail. Apparently it's not uncommon. There was a post a Marlin's forum that suggested anti-seize would do that. It would explain the red stuff around the gear. This would not have been an original thought on my part and been included in the directions.

I am interested in the failure mechanism. Can you describe what was going on when it failed? From your pic with the tent it seemed like you were on flat, sandy, terrain. What ratio did you have the tranny and t-cases in, and what speed were you going? This may not be very relavent though,as it looks more like a gradual than catastrophic failure.

Was the splined shaft or gear made of chomoly or heat treated, and/or were they parts that had seen heavy previous use.

Over worn splines will fail like this, so will a pairing of a shaft and gear that have different harness specs (one heat treated and the other not). The harder piece will wear the softer piece down until slipping occurs, then slipping will finish the job of wearing down splines. This was a big reason I replaced my hub gears with new chromoly pieces, when I upgraded to Longfields.

 

[pappy]

The gear was factory Toyota from a boneyard transfer case. There is a coupler in the t-case adapter that is also known to fail. They failed together. I have no idea on materials.

On this section of trail there are lots of whoops from the racers. It was not as flat as it appears. I was in second gear, high range, 2WD. I hit this whoop a bit fast and the gear failed when the rear end came down. Still, no faster than 5-10mph.

 

[Devil Frog]

Was the coupler of the Marlin chromoly/heat treated variety?

 

[pappy]

It was from Marlin. That is all I know.

 

[pappy]

For Mike. This is the gas station in Gonazga Bay. It's paved. Bummer. (Pic from BajaNomad.com)

 

[2manycruisers]

Bummer, 2 years in a row. Sorry I couldn't be there to carry you south. Looks like with the pavement you could get farther, faster. But so can so many more....

I hope your next trip goes smoothly. Thanks for the pics, good memories....

 

[pappy]

Back at it. Crawl box was assembled a few months ago. Transfer case took longer. I disassembled my 4.7 case and pulled out the low range gears. Needed Ash's press to remove and install a few bearing. I then had to source a stock gear, and some small bits. Dan imported the small parts I couldn't find from Japan. Last week the final gear was sourced, thanks to MUD. So, crawl box and transfer case are ready to swap with the single in the truck. Ready to rock and roll in two weeks when I have a long weekend.

 

[Dumpolina]

Taking any special steps to avoid the same failure (other than virgin parts)?
I'm debating which direction to go with my long range rig, and this failure is weighing heavily on my decision... but dang I don't want to be locked into only a 4.7 low range in a single box
Then again, I'm not convinced a double would be reliable for 2k mile outings, even with extensive overhaul.
And I don't want to carry an original length shaft just in case I gotta pull the range box.

hmmmmm

 

[pappy]

Ya, I'm pretty sure the original directions said to use anti-seize on the splines. There are two different kinds. One has metal in it and apparently that is what I used. It was abrasive. So this time I'm going with grease. I'm also using Marlins "total spline" chromoly input gears in both cases.

Unless I did something really stupid putting the cases together I'm confidant it will hold up.

 

[Dumpolina]

Ok, understood, thanks. I need to examine that on mine
I have three sets of double boxes - two trailgears and a marlin in the clown car trail rig.
All have low hrs but hard use.
I have the trailgears on the floor, so once Im settled into my steady digs, I wanna tear both down, then reassemble with the best of both and swap in for the Marlin and really examine it - there's some odd inconsistent howls at highway rpm/speeds.
From there I hope to be able to make a more informed decision on the road truck... may just put that 4.7 in a spare forward shift case and see how it feels. My concern is that I really need to test the 4.7 in the snow, which I guess realistically is not that far away.

Thanks for the details on your experience - you are the only one I know putting actual distance mileage on these set ups, which is my greatest concern

 

[pappy]

Donedeal. Truck is back together. Now for some road testing.

 

[evanz80]

Looks good! Keep us posted how it performs.