Wow, had to help a friend with a TJ - Front wheel Fell Off!!

Wow, I mean holy shit, I think I have seen everything.

A friend has a TJ and he blew a front axle u-joint so had a 'mechanic' friend with a shop help him change it.

They couldn't get the right u-joint or it didn't seem like it because the jerk bent the ears on the yoke trying to hammer the old one out before he ended up using a cutting torch to cut the old u-joint out.

So buddy says ok, I will get a new or the right u-joint tomorrow and come back after work. The mechanic says fine and puts the front hub back on and send him off on the 30 mile highway drive home.

He gets home and on the first tight turn he takes to park, the front wheel falls off!!!!

The 'mechanic' didn't install the short stub of the axle back into the hub. That is all that holds the inside bearing race in place! The race fell out on the first tight turn.

I couldn't freaking believe it!

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Reply to
Mike Romain
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Boy oh boy Mike Lucky day for your bud to still be alive. Shaking my head in total disbelief.

Reply to
JIM LAIRD

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

Like on most FWD vehicles with unit bearing hubs, the stub axle and nut on non-locking hub Jeeps hold the wheel bearing together. Whoever this poor guy's tech is needs to start using his brain, he could have killed the poor guy.

Reply to
Jerry McG

The spindle of the pressed hub relies on the axle to hold it together.

It is pressed tight to start, but the side to side slide is held by the short axle stub.

The nut to hold that bearing race is torqued to 175 ft lb!

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

When I get back from Iraq in December I'm going to pull the stock axles, front and rear, and replace them with Superior axles. Your post got me wondering, what special tools will I need to pull them? I have an 03 rubi, if that affects the front axle at all.

Thanks, Andrew Whitley

Reply to
Andrew

The front hubs are 'barely' pressed together Bill.

The axle stub that goes through them has to have the nut torqued down to

175 foot pounds to hold the bearing together.

You can't use an axle puller to get the hub off on these suckers, the hub just pulls apart.

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

We only needed a 13 mm 12 point socket wrench to do this one. Oh and the 36 mm axle nut wrench to get the big nut which we can 'borrow' from the parts store.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Andrew wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Something similar happened to my bf a little while back- although it's probably under different circumstances but his tire fell off too, after the mechanic said he 'fixed' the wheel. He was about to take a turn onto the freeway when it happened!

The next year he went to a different mechanic because his driver's seat broke and he couldn't make the darned seat back stay up any longer. He had an appoitment that afternoon, but when the guy looked at it, he said he didn't have the right part to fix it, but offered a temporary fix so he could drive it until the part came in- he actually offered to put a BOARD propped up on the back seat floor and against his seat!!! Can you even imagine?? What if he got into an accident??

I can't even begin to think of what other quick fixes that mechanic has come up with. Needless to say, my bf high-tailed it out of there. When you don't know a good mechanic, it sure can be a struggle sometimes.

coop

Reply to
cooper

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

You know Bill, the gent was sure lucky that didn't happen to him.

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

Dude...I used to have a log behind my Chevette seat to keep it up. When the log started rotting and smelling bad...I used my football helmet (I got a big melon)!!

Luckily it hasn't happened in my Jeep yet!

Reply to
SB

I love your email account! Bet you're feeling like Muad'Dib big time now out in the sand! I did 2 tours in Bahrain/Saudi and know the feeling.

Matt

Reply to
Matt

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