Freakin sweet! Here's the story. I'm out wheel'n with a 4x4 crew up here in Alaska. We went out to Boulder Creek, which is about 2.5hrs from Anchorage here. Well, we made it about 1.5hrs down the trail and roughly 19 miles before one of the Jeeps breaks a beed. While winching him out, the front sector shaft to his steeing box sheered off. After finishing winching him out, one of the guys called back to town and had another box delivered 4 hours later. The box didn't match up but they were able to make it functional, but he had to drive out without power steering.
Mean time, myself and another guy(stone) decided we were restless and off we went farther up the tail. We made it down to the creek bed and then headed back. On the way back I bellied out and got high centered on about a 3.5ft ledge. I was turning the wheel left and then right to try and get some sidewall bite, when bang. My tie rod bent . . . wahwah waahha. We were easily able to get the tie rod off and headed back to camp to straighten back out. After putting it in the fire for about 20 mins, we were able to stick it in one of the other guys front bumpers and bend it back straight. Another guy had a solid piece of steel pipe that we cut down and welded it on to make a sleeve over the tie rod. Worked great. I call it an upgrade, but i was able to drive the hr back off the trail(we were moving pretty damn fast at the) and make it back to Anchorage. Couldn't have done it without stone's took bag and quick wits, tony's cutter, bumper, and steel pipe, and then curtis's ready welder. It was freakin sweet what they guys carry in their riggs.
I called NAPA and the new tie rod is only 60 bucks. And after using the search feature, I found out that I can use the 07+ tire rods that are larger and I'm hoping more HD. Does anyone know where I can get a Chrome oly or a really HD aftermarket one? I've found them for the H2. And how convertible is the Colorado's stuff to an H3?
Here's some pics, enjoy it:
Cruising out to the trail head
This part of the trail was a solid sheetof ice going up a hill. These guys were spinning all four and slide backwards at the same time. The stilitrac sytem on my 3 rolled right over it.
This was the part that cost the jeep it's fate. He got pinched in.
Tony's 8000lb + bronco was curtious enough to break all the ice and open up the mud holes.
My tie rod. It's supposed to be straight, not bent. U shape!
It was about 18 degrees and we had a crappy breeze blowing. Thanks again to Tony's bronco for blocking the wind.
