Truss Rebuild

So the Rock Krawler truss did fail, the metal fatigued and ripped off teh axle. Also cracked in the middle, bolts were bent etc. I've been meaning to relocate the control arms for awhile anyway. the upper arms are much longer than the lower ones and that creates rear steer as it articulates and doesn't help driveline angles.
Found that the coilover bolts bent on both sides.



The welds did not come apart, it just ripped above the welds.



Notice the crack at the center hole as seen from above





The edge that meets the axle has a hole in it by design and that reduced the weld area. I decided to cut the truss at the top of the hole to maximize weld surface.



I was going to move the heim joints out to the holes farthest from the middle but that would not make it any stronger, still had to reinforce the truss.



I reinforced the truss at the crack on bottom. and on top.



Also welded a piece of 1/4 inch steel across the front to box the truss for strength.



For the upper link mounts I made a template and opted to run just 2 tabs, an upper and lower for added strength.



Tack welded the ends and drilled holes straight through both tabs.



I welded a piece in the middle for strength and assembled the pieces.



Here is where I am at now. everything welded together inside and out and ready for mounting.

Looks good Bill. How are the hiem joints on the uppers holding up?

Nice work - and quick too!
















I guess since Romo is out for a month and Pacman is gone for a while you have 4 free hours to work on the Jeeps every Sunday now too!

Dammit... I hate drinkin and surfin the jeep forums. Sorry Bill - no offense. I have no right to poke fun..... till the Skins clobber you guys in november too....

Nester the Heim joints are holding up fine on the uppers. One is flawless and the other is getting a little stiff to move but still functional. I'm going to buy a couple of spares just in case.
I need to rebuild the upper control arms, cut apart the weld in tabs and shorten them as needed. Also found while test fitting that I need to adapt the ARB line at the fitting, it is too tall and the plastic hose bottoms out and pinches trying to get past the truss.
Danny: The cowboys are probably done for the year. they have a young team that hasn't learned to work together as a unit and I'm very disappointed in their performance. As they grow as a team they will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

Spent from 9-5 helping my brother in law tear out my mother in law's hallway and stairs. It was the drywall over plaster over wooden slats mess with blown insulation. What a freakin mess. At least now it is ready for drywall, tomorrow we won't get as dirty. I still had some daylight so I installed the ARB 90 degree fitting and the bolts with heim joints to check clearance of everything. It was a tight fit but everything will work as is so I welded the truss back to the axle today.


I plan on welding on more supports for the truss. I'll probably weld a piece of steel on each side of the truss to the side of the housing.

The truss was reinforced today. I welded plates on both sides of the arch and one in the back middle. much stronger than the original. ALso found time to build new upper control arms. The originals were 32" long and they were cut down to 29 1/4 ". All control arm bolts were torqued down. I need to buy a couple of 1/2 " x 5" bolts for the coilover shocks since the others were bent. They did have grade 5 bolts, I'm switching to grade 8.
All that is left is install the bolts and torque down, install brake lines back on the axle and bleed brakes. Then I'm ready to go.

rock krawler now sells a reinforcing plate for their truss for larger wheel sizes... They sent me one for the comp rig - it reinforces the arch by filling in under and not allowing it to fold down towards the diff. I will try to snap a picture of it for you.

From their web page they say that the number one benefit is style, and number 2 is added strength. hmmm.

www.rockkrawler.com
SKU: RK02489TJ
Suggested Retail: $39.00

connordanny wrote:

Dammit... I hate drinkin and surfin the jeep forums. Sorry Bill - no offense. I have no right to poke fun..... till the Skins clobber you guys in november too....

Its ok, you can poke fun all you want because I can take it. oh wait a minute was that a touchdown? You mean the skins didn't "clobber" us? damn, we just might have a season again.
If this truss fails It will be completely removed and I'll build my own from tube. Good to see Rock Krawler is trying to fix their mistakes but they should put the plate on there anyway for all the trusses.