Don't get me wrong, a bent flange is far from a break and therefore, not really a "weakest link". Or, at least not in my opinion.
Don't know what you were doing when your sector shaft broke or more to the point, what you HAD been doing up until that time - but to say you just broke it the first time out with 37 is a bit alarmist and misleading. I have seen my fair share of JK sector shaft breaks over the last 9 years and even had one of my own break on me while running 40's, I've never seen where a sector shaft brace made a difference. But then, what do I know - I'm just a mall crawler who never wheels his Jeep.
Exhaust spacers or even a new y-pipe is a cheap fix rather than a solution to a real problem. What you should be doing is installing a new front drive shaft especially if you have a 2012-up. Protecting the slip shaft boot on your front drive shaft only addresses one concern - the steep angle that your drive shaft will sit at will cause the CV boot at the output shaft to be in a constant state of pinch and that will cause it to fail sooner than later. Once compromised, it's just a matter of time before the bearings inside fail as well.
The factory locker is definitely nothing to write home about and I went through 3 of them early on before finally upgrading to ARB's. That being said, it is FAR from being a "weakest link"
This is for sure. Couldn't agree more but again, far from being a "weakest link". On my 07, I was able to get upwards of 60,000 miles out of them. On an old 2009 I used to have, they were shot in about 14,000 miles.
Yup, with you on all of this! Still running factory skid plates, still running factory track bars/drag links and no rear bumper and in spite of what the nay sayers keep telling me. :thumb: