TeraFlex Long Arm Bracket Break

wayoflife said:
In lieu of the TeraFlex tire carrier thread, I thought I should post this break on the forum as well. Please note that the fact it is a TeraFlex product is purely circumstantial and I am not trying to "bash" them. As in the case of the tire carrier, this was another break that I saw happen out in Johnson Valley last week and it happend on LoPo's Jeep...

Again, I am only posting this up because several members expressed a desire to see more photos of this nature. I should add that this is NOT the first time that I've seen something like this on a TeraFlex long arm kit. I will say that the primary cause of the break was due to a bad weld but, the lack of extra support in the design of the bracket didn't help anything. If you have a TeraFlex long arm kit, I would encourage you to inspect your brackets and welds on a regular basis.
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--- Lovely, I'm going to check them as soon as I get out of the office. Mine aren't quite as scared up as these in the picture, but I will definitely be mindful of this. Thanks again for the information Eddie, good looking out!

LoPo, did the break happen on your most recent run?
 
jelliott076 said:
LoPo, did the break happen on your most recent run?
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Yeah, wasn't really a run, I was out at KOH and rolling up to jump EVOTJ. I had to go through some narrow sandy wash areas to get to them and back out causing the front-end to flex a lot. It was right after I pulled out that I notice the sound of the bouncing upper control arm on my lower control arm.
 
LoPo said:
Yeah, wasn't really a run, I was out at KOH and rolling up to jump EVOTJ. I had to go through some narrow sandy wash areas to get to them and back out causing the front-end to flex a lot. It was right after I pulled out that I notice the sound of the bouncing upper control arm on my lower control arm.
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Well, I knew breakage was part of the game when I got into the JK life. I'll just have to keep my eye out for stress fractures and wear. I have Tera Flex...everything, to include my dif covers. Ah well, breakage means there's room for upgrades, as long as the funds are there.
 
LoPo said:
There are probably a lot of variables that go into each failure. One variable for me is that I went to the EVO DTD front Coil over system almost 1.5 years ago.

The types of trails and frequency I've run vary, but mainly require lot's of flexing as much of what's around here is rocks. I can't speak to trail difficultly as many people have different interpretations of ratings. But I've put mine through lot's of rocks and high articulation. I can say since I got the EVO DTD I've probably wheeled a lot more difficult trails and more often. Probably a dozen or so times in the past 12 months, which for me is a lot. Prior to having our kid, I went out more frequently.

Here is a pic, albeit a bad one, of the rear end on mine. The angle makes it hard to see, but I can tell you there is A LOT of travel in it. So much that I've considered putting limit straps in to save my bushings/joints. The TF kit has a lot of flex in it, at least mine does.
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Another one:
View attachment 15827
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You've got a really loose rear end. :thumb:
 
LoPo said:
There are probably a lot of variables that go into each failure. One variable for me is that I went to the EVO DTD front Coil over system almost 1.5 years ago.

The types of trails and frequency I've run vary, but mainly require lot's of flexing as much of what's around here is rocks. I can't speak to trail difficultly as many people have different interpretations of ratings. But I've put mine through lot's of rocks and high articulation. I can say since I got the EVO DTD I've probably wheeled a lot more difficult trails and more often. Probably a dozen or so times in the past 12 months, which for me is a lot. Prior to having our kid, I went out more frequently.

Here is a pic, albeit a bad one, of the rear end on mine. The angle makes it hard to see, but I can tell you there is A LOT of travel in it. So much that I've considered putting limit straps in to save my bushings/joints. The TF kit has a lot of flex in it, at least mine does.
View attachment 15826

Another one:
View attachment 15827
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Ahh, ok. Makes me feel a little better. I have the 3" lift, so hopefully that limitation will prevent the breakage. Thanks for the info.
 
LoPo said:
did you do it yourself? How difficult is it and how much time did it take?
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Yes I did it with my friends. U need snap ring pliers, and it would be easier using a press vs a vise like we used. Took some brains and arranging sockets to press them.
On my short arms, and I think all jk tf arms, there is 1 snap ring.. I think tj arms have two cause the kit comes with two.
Remove snap ring and dissemble removing bushings and ball. The new ones press in with some lube. The hard part is getting enough pressure on the big washer to get the snap ring back in.
The kits I bought through Northridge and were shipped from tf. I think each kit was around 20$.
The rear upper arms have different bushings on either end fyi.
 
rinkishjk said:
Yes I did it with my friends. U need snap ring pliers, and it would be easier using a press vs a vise like we used. Took some brains and arranging sockets to press them.
On my short arms, and I think all jk tf arms, there is 1 snap ring.. I think tj arms have two cause the kit comes with two.
Remove snap ring and dissemble removing bushings and ball. The new ones press in with some lube. The hard part is getting enough pressure on the big washer to get the snap ring back in.
The kits I bought through Northridge and were shipped from tf. I think each kit was around 20$.
The rear upper arms have different bushings on either end fyi.
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$20 each?? Seriously, I had been seeing so many of these fail both on my JK and on others that I finally had to tell TeraFlex about it. For a while, they were just giving me boxes of rebuild kits to use to help do trail fixes for people. Man, I should look in my garage and if I still have them, I'll just start handing them out.

LoPo, the kits come with what you need and instructions but, like rinkishjk said, it's easy enough to do. The hardest part is working the spring clips. The C-clips are much easier to deal with.
 
Eddie I have called Joe before at tf and I got rebuild kits for all my lower arms. I paid 10$ shipping and he covered the parts, but it was a pita and took a long time to get them for some reason. So I said I'll bite the bullet and I ordered em when I ordered a few things.
Also I would not use the tool tf can send u. I used it and it did 1 joint. It would be good to have for an emergency though.
And if your gonna hand out any rebuild kits I would love some! Lol. Probably use them sooner or later.
 
rinkishjk said:
Eddie I have called Joe before at tf and I got rebuild kits for all my lower arms. I paid 10$ shipping and he covered the parts, but it was a pita and took a long time to get them for some reason. So I said I'll bite the bullet and I ordered em when I ordered a few things.
Also I would not use the tool tf can send u. I used it and it did 1 joint. It would be good to have for an emergency though.
And if your gonna hand out any rebuild kits I would love some! Lol. Probably use them sooner or later.
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Oh yeah, the tool is a PITA and I carry one just for trail use.

Lemme look later on today and see if I can find some extra kits.
 
wayoflife said:
Oh yeah, the tool is a PITA and I carry one just for trail use.

Lemme look later on today and see if I can find some extra kits.
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Hey Eddie I have teraflex long arm. Do you have pic of this bushing? So I can have a reference to it so I know what to inspect.

Thanks
 
Holly Molly! In this pic you can actually see the bracket seperating from the frame. That can't be good... :eek:

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JeepFan said:
Holly Molly! In this pic you can actually see the bracket seperating from the frame. That can't be good... :eek:

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Well, in all fairness, LoPo is running EVO coil overs and the amount of flex they provide is something I have seen to be more than the TeraFlex long arm kit can handle. Of course, they were never designed to either.
 
wayoflife said:
Well, in all fairness, LoPo is running EVO coil overs and the amount of flex they provide is something I have seen to be more than the TeraFlex long arm kit can handle. Of course, they were never designed to either.
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Eddie, I just check my brackets and whole bracket is welded to the frame from top to bottom. Im wondering would that help with my TF LA?
 
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Here is some pictures. I know it is, what it is. I hope with this kind of weld it would strengthen it a little better.



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JeepFan said:
Holly Molly! In this pic you can actually see the bracket seperating from the frame. That can't be good... :eek:
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That whole section that is bending out is welded on my kit. Everything forward of the skid plate bolt that goes through the bottom of that bracket is welded. But, I don't think the instructions called for it. I just had everything welded on as best as the welder could do. Like I said earlier though, mine still starting cracking at the base of the upper control arm mouth tab on that bracket. So the extra welding on mine only prolonged its life. It still started to fail.
 
Picked the Jeep up from the shop today. Bracket repaired. They noted that the control arm was actually 1/2 inch shorter than the passenger side... which contributed to the failure. :gaah:

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Also saw a familiar ass. ;) :thumb:

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Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
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