Warning to Solid Front Axle cars
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Hello folks, as some may know I recently bent my front axle on my wrangler. So now I’m looking to replace my front axle and in the mean time I decided to write this “warning” to all drivers with solid front axle in their 4x4s.
While this article is mostly directed at people with Solid Axles. People with IFS cars (Independent Front Suspension cars such as FJs) can still benefit from it.To avoid bending/damaging your axle and other components you can reinforce your front axle. Of course you can reinforce your rear axle as well, but as we all know it’s the front axle that takes the most abuse. So reinforcing the front axle is a good start.
If you don’t do heavy offroading and mostly do newbie/fewbie level drives then you don’t “have” to do this but this depends on your driving skill/style. I’d still recommend that you consider it as a type of insurance to avoid future problems, especially those with lift kits and bigger tires.
For clarity I’m going to show the difference between Solid Axles and IFS so those who are not very mechanical know what I’m talking about. You can easily determine which type you have by looking under your car.
This is a “Solid axle” found in cars such as Wranglers:
And this is a “IFS – Independent Front Suspension” found in cars suchs as FJs:
Please note that some cars with IFS still have a solid rear axle, I think FJs and F150s are like this.
The problem that I’m facing right now is, as I mentioned, a slightly bent front axle. This either happened during years of abuse or the really bad bump I had last Friday (April 16th), or a combination of both.When bending occurs in solid axles you get something called “Camber”. Camber can, and does, occur in IFS cars but for different reasons. The image below should explain Camber:
A negative/positive camber affects your ride quality (on and offroad) and also causes uneven wear on your tires, so not a good thing.
I should mention Camber can be cause by other things as well, such as a bent/damaged Axel C’s which are the C shaped joints that connects the axle to brake assembly. You can see the C’s at the both ends of the axle in this image:
There are several things you can do to avoid these issues:
1- Drive sensibly and safely 😀 As in no jumping/flying lol Generally don’t do anything that causes your car to hit the ground hard. But as we all know accidents happen.
2- Get your axles reinforced. There are a lot of axle reinforcement styles/types/levels so I suggest you research the matter extensively. Since I’m currently looking to replace my whole axle I’m not researching reinforcement so I can’t comment on which type is the best or where to get it. I personally recommend the reinforcement option since it’s a good thing to have to prevent possible future problems. Although I have not researched it I’m pretty sure there are reinforcement options for IFS cars as well.
This link is a general google image search I did for axle reinforcement, as you can see there are tons of different styles/levels of reinforcement for solid axles: http://tinyurl.com/gnpy6yl
3- Get an heavy duty aftermarket axle such as Dynatrac axles. In my opinion this option should only be considered if you already have a bent axle and you’d rather get a heavy duty axle instead of the same factory one you bent. The cheapest aftermarket axles I’ve seen so far are around $2,000 to $2,500 USD and some that are in the $7,000 USD range. Aftermarket axles are a lot tougher and more durable than factory ones and you could get one as a preventative measure if you have at least 10,000dhs to spend. Cost wise, axle reinforcement is a more sensible, and wallet friendly, preventative measure than going straight to an aftermarket axle.
Warning: If you decide to reinforce your axles make sure you find a good type, and more importantly, a trustworthy and skilled place/person to do it. Axle reinforcement works by welding the reinforcing parts on to the axle. This needs to be done by a professional so the axle itself doesn’t get damaged during the welding procedure. A good welding of all the parts (depending on the level of reinforcement) can take up to 4-5 days to finish. It takes a long time because the axle needs to cool between welds so the integrity of the axle is not compromised. If the welding is bad then the axle can actually become weaker than it was.
The reason I suggest axle reinforcement is this:
If your solid axle is bent the only option you have is replacing it. There are a some places/people that say we can straighten and fix a bent axle, but a damaged axle is damaged no matter how straight it looks. Axle replacement can be very very costly whether it’s a factory replacement through the dealer/insurance, or aftermarket axle. And while reinforcing is not that cheap, it’s still cheaper than replacement. it can be a very good investment in your cars future.Of course it is possible to drive with the factory axle for years and never damage it. Reinforcement is not for everyone and it’s one of those things you can do just to have peace of mind in your offroading adventures.
Finally, it is possible to keep driving your car even with a bent axle but that strongly depends on how badly it’s bent and where it’s bent. If you have any questions or concerns please msg me or leave a reply here and I’ll try to answer as best I can.
Oh and also please note there is a 100dhs donation charge towards my new axle for anyone who makes fun of jeeps/wranglers 😀
Bad things happened :-ss it’s risk to broke something every single drive,
Like your report that y share the problem and solutions how to avoid axle bending!!!!
Im sure many Jeep lovers will make some conclusions.
Good luck with repairing!
Known and common issue. Not such a big deal when rock cawling. Added reinforcements to jk 1 week after purchase. Didnt need on tj
Hi Steve, where did you do the axle reinforcement and how much did it cost?
I did it with Shibu at best line. Like his method. Doesnt create clearance issues. Cost was 1800 aed.
Hello
I brought my jeep to Ramy to let them do the axle reinforcement. My worst fear came true when they told me that I already have a bent axle and they don’t recommend to reinforce it but to replace it. So the hole on my last night drive was really a deadly one. :(( Once back to DXB I need to shout with TE people as they haven’t recognized the issue with the axle although I asked them explicitly to check it. I hope my warranty will help me once again.
@Sash716 : how is your baby doing? Have you tried with the official jeep service ?
Sorry to hear about your car @edeg1972. I am thinking to get mine also checked soon, as that night I also landed in that same ditch which ur mentioning :-ss
Sorry to hear that Sasha, hope it’s nothing too serious. Yes, reinforcing the front Axle on a Jeep is a very important step as these cars, and unfortunately, come with a very weak front Differentials. I believe Paul @paul&anja have reinforcement on his Jeep Axle, which looked very well and neatly done. Now, and depending on how badly your differential is bent, determines whether you can go on driving it or not. My jeep has a very minimal bent on the right side of the front Differential, but I only changed the right axle rod when I bought it, and it has been doing just fine. So if you are not having a serious issue with alignment and how the car balances on the highway at high speeds, just leave it as is and keep driving it. I second your advice that, and in case you want to change the differential, go for a heavy duty one and not an OEM, and reinforce it before you get it fixed. Again, sorry to hear that about your Jeep bro….
Cheers.
These are horror stories… can’t believe it can happen… is metal so expensive nowadays they reduce it even from axles?
@edeg1972 Sorry for the late reply man, and also sorry to hear about your axle. Did they say how much its bent? mine is pretty bad. I think if it’s not to bad you could still do it, not sure.
The jeep warranty service won’t cover a bent axle, however insurance will. I’ve been very busy this week so I didn’t get a chance to follow up but tomorrow I’m going to call the insurance company to see what they need.
I’ve been asking around for aftermarker axles and so far no one has any or out of stock. Of the 2 axle brands (besides mopar) one is Dynatrac and one is Teraflex. From what I’ve read both are good axles. Dynatrac axle gives a bit more ground clearance (better for rock crawling/going over boulders) where as the Teraflex one has holes to make the oil change easier. I think with the Dynatrac one the service guy (or whoever) has to open the axle housing. Which isn’t a bad idea to make sure the inside is in good condition. It’s actually recommended to do this every few differential oil changes.
I’ll update you on the insurance tomorrow when I talk to my insurance company.
PS: for reference my camber numbers were: -1.9 on driver side and -2.8 on passenger side.
Hi Sasha,
I bring my jeep tomorrow to TE. At Ramy, where they found the bend in the axle, they said that there were metal particles in the differential fluid. I need to get a professional opinion about the state of the axle and its inner parts – although my trust in TE is not the highest but they are the official service.
Pls keep me updated on the insurance to possibly minimize my costs, I was told by TE too that the warranty will not cover this.
Instead of a new, weak factory axle I am also considering heavy duty type, maybe Teraflex – but this is not available at the moment in Dubai, if I’m right AEV is the dealer of Teraflex. Axle reinforcement might be a good measure against future bending but it works on the vertical direction only, the axle can still get bent horizontally, even if this happens rarelier than vertical bending. All in all the front axle seems to be the weakest spot of the JK’s.
@samonajj @edeg1972
Hey guys, just wanted to give an update. Insurance said it’ll pay for it provided I can get a police report saying it was an accident. After talking to 4 difference officers they said they won’t give a report because they can’t see the damage. Apparently, you only get a report if there is visible damage to the exterior of the car. So short of driving my car into a wall (not that hard lol) there seems to be no way of getting a police report.I’m still going to try to get a report somehow, if not then the only option is to find an aftermarket one, or a second hand one from sharjah or something.
Anyway, I’ll update again later.
All you need is the axle housing. Very common on jeeps, less common on other solid axle cars such as patrols etc.
Ironically a lot of places actually bend the housing welding re-enforcements due to the heat warping the axle (try and use a place that has done it before and has a solid jig to stop this happening). It is always a good idea to get straightened or at least check it’s straight after anyway.
If its only slightly bent I would have no issues straightening, then welding on re-enforcement and straightening again. Will be much stronger than stock. Or buy a spare housing (or whole diff is you want a spare R&P and axles, god idea on a wrangler anyway) in sharjah, get it re-enforced while driving on your bent one and then install later.
p.s. I would change the title to “warning to all wrangler drivers…..your axles are piss weak! ” =)) =)) =))
The sand is not so soft as one might think. I have had my front differential housing + axel bent too and replaced I also did reinforcements at that time, so hopefully it will last for a while now. If you are doing anything non flat with the wrangler I would suggest reinforcing it. Especially if you have larger off road wheels like me. Reinforce the front and rear Axel’s and get more heavy duty track bars + reinforce the mounts for these . I am now looking for aftermarket more heavy duty engine mounts as I have had to replace the factory ones twice now. The problem it seem is often also if you reinforce one thing the next thing down the line will snap. I hope no one is deterred by the trips to the service place as the desert is an amazing playground, that should be enjoyed behind 6 or 8 raging cylinders.
Very useful info and explanation.
Thanks so much.
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