Screwed up big time towing my Jeep

Viking Jeeper said:
What maintenance or other actions can help prevent this for all of us? Sounds like it was unrelated to towing.
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If the centering ball is greasable, damn sure keep it greased.

My standard practice is if I have a driveshaft out for any reason and I haven't personally rebuilt it before, I just do it while it's out. It costs about $75 in parts for 3 u joints and a centering yoke and takes 30 minutes.
 
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FWIW, I had the same experience (2012). I was flat towing behind a motorhome in Canada. My damage was much worse than what you seem to have experienced. Does that make you feel any better? I didn't think so.

I think you can quit worrying about whether being in neutral or park made this happen. It didn't. Double cardan wear lead to an off-center position which seized it. Because of the full-time 4WD, the front axle was rotating. The off-axis rotation ripped the TC into two parts. In my case, the 1/2 of the TC still attached to the driveline continued spinning which ripped apart the wiring harness and knocked holes in my new transmission and holes in the floorpan.

That doesn't mean that being in neutral was OK--your transmission may still have been damaged but it was a separate process.

It was expensive to fix. Finding a wiring harness was difficult then. I hope you don't need one now. I quit flat towing after that and bought a nice tilt trailer. No looking back.
 
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Grant Lasson said:
FWIW, I had the same experience (2012). I was flat towing behind a motorhome in Canada. My damage was much worse than what you seem to have experienced. Does that make you feel any better? I didn't think so.

I think you can quit worrying about whether being in neutral or park made this happen. It didn't. Double cardan wear lead to an off-center position which seized it. Because of the full-time 4WD, the front axle was rotating. The off-axis rotation ripped the TC into two parts. In my case, the 1/2 of the TC still attached to the driveline continued spinning which ripped apart the wiring harness and knocked holes in my new transmission and holes in the floorpan.

That doesn't mean that being in neutral was OK--your transmission may still have been damaged but it was a separate process.

It was expensive to fix. Finding a wiring harness was difficult then. I hope you don't need one now. I quit flat towing after that and bought a nice tilt trailer. No looking back.
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Not that it is a contest but a friend of mine was driving his JK , a very well built one and forgot to unlock the hubs. When his locked up, it did enough damage that his insurance totaled the rig. There was a softball size hole next to his ankle in the trans tunnel. It blew up the exhaust, beat a hole in the trans, tore up the shifter linkage, and destroyed the Rubicon T-case. We put an Atlas in it, patched up a few bits with some exhaust and new trans and got him going. Our most frustrating issue is he let it sit in a rodent infested garage for quite some time and they ate chunks out of the wiring on top of the motor.
 
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At the moment the Double Cardan is still attached to part of the Transfer Case so cant inspect it fully.
I will have access to it in a couple of hours and will post my findings.
As always the input from people on the forum has been valuable to me.

THANKS EVERYONE
 
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CowboyTJ said:
I have heard worse. Don't know if it is true.
He mistakenly put t-case in low, not N.
Put tranny in 1st as he should and WOW.
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There was an article on yahoo IIRC where a new jeep owner did just what you mentioned flat towing behind a mega motor home. TC in low and trans in first I believe. It put rods thru the block and pretty much destroyed the entire drive system save the diffs.
 
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Got the pan off and now have access to the drive shaft and Double Dardan.
The Double Cardan is very ugly is as many have suggested may be the primary cause of the failure.

Wire loom has been ripped apart but should be easy to splice together.

1/ Should I keep the drive shaft and rebuilt the Double Cardan?
2/ Do I need to get the drive shaft balanced prior to installing?
3/ Are all the uJoints on all the drive shafts including the Double Cardan the same

All the surface damage to the Double Cardan are new and happened during the failure.

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Bob.Gibson said:
Got the pan off and now have access to the drive shaft and Double Dardan.
The Double Cardan is very ugly is as many have suggested may be the primary cause of the failure.

Wire loom has been ripped apart but should be easy to splice together.

1/ Should I keep the drive shaft and rebuilt the Double Cardan?
2/ Do I need to get the drive shaft balanced prior to installing?
3/ Are all the uJoints on all the drive shafts including the Double Cardan the same

All the surface damage to the Double Cardan are new and happened during the failure.

View attachment 286548View attachment 286550View attachment 286551View attachment 286552
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Just order a new front driveshaft. That one will cost as much as a new one to get rebuilt, balanced, and there is a good chance the tube is bent and not straight.
 
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I obviously need to replace the Transfer Case. If I purchase new I will need to import from USA. What are the groups preferred options?
 
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Bob.Gibson said:
I obviously need to replace the Transfer Case. If I purchase new I will need to import from USA. What are the groups preferred options?
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I would try to find a used one. I broke an ear off the front case half one time during an SYE install and bought a usable case for $150.
 
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Bob.Gibson said:
I obviously need to replace the Transfer Case. If I purchase new I will need to import from USA. What are the groups preferred options?
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If it helps, I have one out of a late model TJ. You are welcome to it for 100 which isn't for the case, but for our time to inspect and crate it. Shipping is going to be fully stupid and I'll open it up to make sure there is nothing wrong internally.
 
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mrblaine said:
If it helps, I have one out of a late model TJ. You are welcome to it for 100 which isn't for the case, but for our time to inspect and crate it. Shipping is going to be fully stupid and I'll open it up to make sure there is nothing wrong internally.
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Hi Mrblaine Thank you very much for your generous offer. I am keen to explore this further could you please email me [email protected] so we can discuss this further.
 
mrblaine said:
I did and this will be the single exception where I go to that effort first. ;) Don't want others getting the wrong idea.
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Hope you pack securely. Wouldn't want the TC to have any damage during transport. ;)

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Sorry to read about your troubles. Hope you get it figured out and are back on the road.

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I just noticed you're in NZ. Maybe @Kiwi TJ has an idea where you can get a new, used, TC that wouldn't require shipping from the USA.
 
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