@blarsen and I took the rigs to Hole in The Rock, San Juan County Utah for a trail run a few weeks ago. Rough trail, great challenges and phenomenal scenery.
The first catastrophe was a rear driveline failure while on a high incline on @blarsen LX450. Pictured is the steep incline with a jeep on it from a previous run. Next is where his rear failed and we were able to stop the rearward slide to handle the repair. No choice on location, glad we carry a spare driveline in the kit.
We camped the night and started the return trip.
About 4 miles from the last of the significant obstacles, I suffered sheared knuckle studs and lost the front passenger wheel.
5 hours later, and happy I've been carrying a spare Trunnion bearing, we patched it back together using a stud from the DS wheel and using the broken studs to maintain alignment. The new trunnion bearing allowed stearing to be maintained and a ratchet strap was wrapped repeatedly around the steering arm and the knuckle to hold everything together (hopefully), and get through the last parts of the trail and back to civilization.
Temporary fix once back in Blanding was to use 2 M12 1.5 bolts in place of the knuckle studs and that got us home.
Huge thanks afterward to Kurt at CruiserOutfitters. We now have the front rebuilt, new bearings, races, gaskets, seals, as well as Knuckle studs, trail gear wiper kit, trail gear spindle nut kit. We also found that one of the spindle bushings was bad on the other side and Kurt and I talked about whether a newer style spindle with the bearing and bushing cap could be retro fitted to the older solid brass bushing.
Kurt @cruiseroutfitters measured the new style bearing and small cap bushing at about 22mm tall. The older style long brass bushings also measured at 22mm. Should work as diameters are identical.
The bushing was easy to get out by prying from the inside at the flange end. The bearing had to be tapped out from the threaded end and was difficult as I didn't want to damage the spindle. Brass punch was too soft and just peeled away. Used 5/16 steel punch and it only contacts by about 1/16 of an inch and worked very slowly.
After the bearing was out about 1/4 of the way, the punch wasn't grabbing enough to move it. I used the mushroomed end of a cold chisel to engage it slightly and continued to tap it out.
Once out, there was no damage, and the new long bushing pressed right in with no issues fits as it did before. Looks like it will work perfectly.
Finally have it back on it's own tires again. Getting the alignment checked and we are back on the road.
Also, quite enjoyed the new drawer and fridge mount that were built for this run.
The first catastrophe was a rear driveline failure while on a high incline on @blarsen LX450. Pictured is the steep incline with a jeep on it from a previous run. Next is where his rear failed and we were able to stop the rearward slide to handle the repair. No choice on location, glad we carry a spare driveline in the kit.
We camped the night and started the return trip.
About 4 miles from the last of the significant obstacles, I suffered sheared knuckle studs and lost the front passenger wheel.
5 hours later, and happy I've been carrying a spare Trunnion bearing, we patched it back together using a stud from the DS wheel and using the broken studs to maintain alignment. The new trunnion bearing allowed stearing to be maintained and a ratchet strap was wrapped repeatedly around the steering arm and the knuckle to hold everything together (hopefully), and get through the last parts of the trail and back to civilization.
Temporary fix once back in Blanding was to use 2 M12 1.5 bolts in place of the knuckle studs and that got us home.
Huge thanks afterward to Kurt at CruiserOutfitters. We now have the front rebuilt, new bearings, races, gaskets, seals, as well as Knuckle studs, trail gear wiper kit, trail gear spindle nut kit. We also found that one of the spindle bushings was bad on the other side and Kurt and I talked about whether a newer style spindle with the bearing and bushing cap could be retro fitted to the older solid brass bushing.
Kurt @cruiseroutfitters measured the new style bearing and small cap bushing at about 22mm tall. The older style long brass bushings also measured at 22mm. Should work as diameters are identical.
The bushing was easy to get out by prying from the inside at the flange end. The bearing had to be tapped out from the threaded end and was difficult as I didn't want to damage the spindle. Brass punch was too soft and just peeled away. Used 5/16 steel punch and it only contacts by about 1/16 of an inch and worked very slowly.
After the bearing was out about 1/4 of the way, the punch wasn't grabbing enough to move it. I used the mushroomed end of a cold chisel to engage it slightly and continued to tap it out.
Once out, there was no damage, and the new long bushing pressed right in with no issues fits as it did before. Looks like it will work perfectly.
Finally have it back on it's own tires again. Getting the alignment checked and we are back on the road.
Also, quite enjoyed the new drawer and fridge mount that were built for this run.
