Well I broke it, in Canada

[pugslyyy]

The actual failure occurred on the Dempster Highway, but I suspect that the real stress came on Highway 2 between Whitehorse and Dawson City. There are some pretty big frost heaves in the road (that are very hard to see) and I think that overtravelled the suspension. I scavenged bolts from various other less important places, and we drove on to Inuvik.

 

[Czechsix]

So it was just all the bolts shearing off?

At least the bracket looks like it's still in good condition.

Here's to hoping you have a trip remainder that has no more drama.

 

[kerry]

All the bolts broke at once? How did you tell? I assume it make a lot of clattering?

 

[pugslyyy]

So it was just all the bolts shearing off?

At least the bracket looks like it's still in good condition.

Here's to hoping you have a trip remainder that has no more drama.

Yeah, bolts just sheared. I think the frost heaves did the real damage and the Dempster just finally shook things loose. Funny thing is that I could feel the steering getting loose and kept looking for a problem in the front end. I was convinced that the steering box must be coming loose or something.

 

[boostin]

Drove from Alberta to Alaska many times, there are some wild frost heaves up there, glad things are ok though, let me know if you need anything, down in Alberta. But could help on your war back

 

[EarthCruiser]

Yeah, bolts just sheared. I think the frost heaves did the real damage and the Dempster just finally shook things loose. Funny thing is that I could feel the steering getting loose and kept looking for a problem in the front end. I was convinced that the steering box must be coming loose or something.

I think you just like upgrading your truck with new stuff in unusual palaces.

 

[pugslyyy]

I think you just like upgrading your truck with new stuff in unusual palaces.

Heh, I did find out why it was so noisy in Bend - driveshaft was loose at the parking brake!

 

[pugslyyy]

Drove from Alberta to Alaska many times, there are some wild frost heaves up there, glad things are ok though, let me know if you need anything, down in Alberta. But could help on your war back

Thanks! I was able to pick up some more hardware today in Inuvik, we are hanging out for a few days hoping that the weather will break so we can get up to Tuktoyaktuk.

 

[SkiFreak]

Heh, I did find out why it was so noisy in Bend - driveshaft was loose at the parking brake!

The nuts used on the drive shaft and uni joints are meant to be "single use". They are a special nut that has a crimp at the top, and work similarly to a nyloc nut.
Given that I do not like throwing out stuff that is still functional, I built a simple tool for resetting the crimp on the top of the nut.
This does not mean that the nuts can be continually taken on and off, but now I do get more than one use out of them and still feel safe knowing that they will not come undone during use.

 

[pugslyyy]

The nuts used on the drive shaft and uni joints are meant to be "single use". They are a special nut that has a crimp at the top, and work similarly to a nyloc nut.
Given that I do not like throwing out stuff that is still functional, I built a simple tool for resetting the crimp on the top of the nut.
This does not mean that the nuts can be continually taken on and off, but now I do get more than one use out of them and still feel safe knowing that they will not come undone during use.

Ah interesting, I had thought those were nyloc type nuts - I did have the drive shaft off to rebuild the parking brake a while back. I'll have to keep an eye on the nuts from now on.

 

[yabanja]

WOW! That must have been exciting! Yay for easy repairs!

Allan

 

[gait]

that's a bit unfortunate ....

my chassis had some extra steel added in a former life (which I removed) so everything from the step backwards is bolted rather than any original rivets. My front spring mounts are riveted to chassis. I'm a bit surprised to see bolts on your rear mounts - but I have nothing original to compare to.

I'll have a closer look at my spring mounts just in case after recent hard trip.

when I had my front driveshaft rebuilt I used new nylok nuts. Local Hardy Spicer workshop reckoned ok. They are deeper than the Mitsi nuts but there was enough clearance.

 

[java]

Wow, at least it hit something and stopped moving upwards! Good work on the repair!

 

[dwh]

I'm a bit surprised to see bolts on your rear mounts - but I have nothing original to compare to.

Not original. Aftermarket replacement frame.

 

[unkamonkey]

OK, I was driving across Vail pass and hit a bridge joint of at about 5 inches. I called back to warn people that were heading up later. I gave them the mileage marker and they knew where to slow down. I didn't break anything and neither did they. Just what you do.