Experience and thoughts on welded axle tie down points?

Grant Lasson

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2019
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310
Location
Sandy, Utah
I don't enjoy the process of wrapping my axles for securing the vehicle on a trailer. Mac's is selling weld-on tie down points. Before I head down this road, I'd like to hear about your experiences and the potential downsides to this approach.

Thanks.

http://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/product/Weld-On-Axle-Housing-Bracket/D-Rings
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I would worry about the thin walls of Jeep axels and the tie down tearing the welded tie down off. Probably not during normal use driving on smooth roads but we all know there aren't many smooth roads anymore. Pretty sure that's not a TJ axel in your picture. I would feel safer with the wrapped tie downs your are complaining about
 
Seems like a lot of folks complain about the use of axle straps on our TJs, but I've never had an issue. I get that the brake line is right there & kinda in the way, but I've never had a problem just slipping the strap under the line and around the axle.

The weld on clip does look handy though as long as the weld is secure & can withstand the force of a good yank when the trailer hits a pothole or bump.
 
I switched to lasso style straps, similar to the generic pic below. No more crawling under a dirty jeep on a hot trailer. Holds really securely too.
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I would worry about the thin walls of Jeep axels and the tie down tearing the welded tie down off. Probably not during normal use driving on smooth roads but we all know there aren't many smooth roads anymore. Pretty sure that's not a TJ axel in your picture. I would feel safer with the wrapped tie downs your are complaining about
Tearing out a section of the axle tube isn’t going to happen. The weld or mount would fail before that. And breaking the mount or weld (if burned in good) would take an extreme amount of force.
 
I've been a welder/fabricator of all sorts of things including motorcycle frames and race car frames for over 40 years and it is a distinct possibility or I wouldn't have posted it up. Will it happen depends a lot on the install welds. Just sayin.
Big buildings fall down when airplanes crash into them. I'm pretty confident in telling anyone that is scared to go up into a tall building that they will be okay. So yes, while it is possible for that to rip out of the tube, the chances of it happening are about the same as an airliner crashing into a skyscraper.

The bigger issue us there is no good place on a TJ front axle to install them. I've had a few folks ask me to do it, I tell them to point to where they want them welded on, they stare at it for a few minutes, take the parts back from me, toss them in the box, box goes in back of the rig and we're all happy.
 
Does anyone tie down to the trailered vehicles frame? Thereby compressing the suspension some so the Jeep doesn’t move and sway on its springs? Or is this a bad practice?
 
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The bigger issue us there is no good place on a TJ front axle to install them. I've had a few folks ask me to do it, I tell them to point to where they want them welded on, they stare at it for a few minutes, take the parts back from me, toss them in the box, box goes in back of the rig and we're all happy.
That, of course, was the next question. At least now I know that I'm not alone in wondering where they could be welded.
 
Front axles are pretty easy for me to get the strap through the "C". Rear axles on the LJ have always been the problem so a welded solution to that would be nice.
 
Front axles are pretty easy for me to get the strap through the "C". Rear axles on the LJ have always been the problem so a welded solution to that would be nice.

What's the problem with the rear axle? On my '99 TJ I'm able to slip the axle strap under the brake line just inboard of the spring mount pretty easily.
 
Does anyone tie down to the trailered vehicles frame? Thereby compressing the suspension some so the Jeep doesn’t move and sway on its springs? Or is this a bad practice?

The problem there is that the suspension is still going to move and induce slack in your tiedown straps when you hit a bump. If the axles are strapped correctly the body is still going to sway, but the straps will stay tight & the thing won't be able to go anywhere.
 
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What's the problem with the rear axle? On my '99 TJ I'm able to slip the axle strap under the brake line just inboard of the spring mount pretty easily.
On The LJ I usually end up lying down on the trailer to route the straps. It would be much easier to just bend over and snap the tie downs on rather than lay down in a sometimes wet/rainy/muddy trailer. Also it would eliminate chafe points on the straps.
 
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On The LJ I usually end up lying down on the trailer to route the straps. It would be much easier to just bend over and snap the tie downs on rather than lay down in a sometimes wet/rainy/muddy trailer. Also it would eliminate chafe points on the straps.

Ah, I get you. Yeah I've cursed a few times after strapping down for the way home & coming out from under the jeep covered in crap. As far as chaffing, the straps I got have a sleeve on them so the strap fabric isn't directly on the axle. Integrated tie down points would definitely be more convenient.