Trail was rough on me. I thought I had built this thing to take the punishment.....WRONG!
Items that broke, or what happend:
-upper link of my 3 link broke on front end, so it sent the axle housing and pinion spinning upwards, and went through my oil pan.
-track bar (when the housing spun, it ripped it off at the axle mount)
-oil pan
-D60 front yolk
-front u-joint
-both front shocks...they look like an "L" now
-put one front spring back in...it shot out when the axle housing spun....didn't ruin it, just a pain to get back in...ever try to put a 12" lift coil back in place on the trail?
second break:
-rear shock mount
-rear shock
3rd break:
-steering heim
4th break:
-transmission mount
final break, within 1/2 mile of the trail head:
-track bar frame mount (used a come-along to secure it to get off the trail....grade 8 bolts held, but the mount just ripped away from them).
This is the quick version. I got to Spider Lake on Monday when the big break occurred. Didn't get any further than that...and it took us until Friday afternoon to get off the trail.
I'll get some pics scanned in soon, and up on the boards. I know everyone likes carnage pics.
Oh ya, to round out the trip...I got a speeding ticket when I left about 1 hour away from my house, and my F-250 Diesel decided to foul a couple of fuel injectors while I was out there. Luckily, Ford was working on that while I was hiking in parts to fix my XJ.
Thanks to AAA for their tow...thanks to Maita Ford in Auburn for fixing my F-250 quickly (Mike "Moose" Russell)...and thanks to Foothill Offroad in Auburn (Virgil Haddox) for sourcing parts for me, and not charging me out the a$$, considering my situation. And, one last shout out to Vern Mitchell from Modesto Differential, for welding up my tranny mount out on the trail. Glad he was out there to weld it up right....I tried a trail weld...obviously, it didn't hold
Let's just say I'm glad to get home.
Anyone want to buy a set-up XJ?