Friendly Reminder: Be Careful in Your Mods and Offroading

[JustinB]

Just thought I'd post up to remind others to be careful out there with your off-roading and modding. Discovered this today while working in my driver wheel well:

That's a split/crack in the inner wheel housing area. When exactly it happened is anybody guess. I don't beat my rig up, I don't jump it (it HAS happened, but it is not a regular not intentional thing I ever aim to do). I suspect it came from a time or two I came down a bit too hard on the front and the oversized tire rubbed (or smashed into, hard to say) the top of the inner fender, but can't say for sure (looking at extended bump stops now). I've got a lot of weight up front (V8, steel skids, arb bummer, 12.5k steel cabled winch), and some fairly new 285/75/17 tires. Even with the body lift there isn't a lot of space in there for heavy stuffing. Things can happen.

It's not a huge deal, and this becomes more and more of a trail rig for me as time goes on so I'm not too worried. But I would be pretty worried/upset if this had happened to me a few years ago when this rig was my daily driver being built to handle daily and weekend duties.

Have fun, but be careful on your clearances, part choices, modification limits, and driving habits folks. And don't forget to give things a look once in a while, better to catch things like this early when they can be dealt with.

:yo:

 

[bombventure]

Currently looking at some Metal Tech extended bump stops as well, I never got new ones after my lift. I’ve heard it hit pretty hard a few times while off-roading and it just feels/sounds horrible and I’m a little scared I’ll do something along the lines of what happened with yours or worse. My 4R is now my DD and what my wife and daughter use now too since I sold my Civic.

Glad you noticed that spot before the crack was any worse! Always a good idea to do an inspection of your vehicle, especially if you take it off-roading.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JustinB]

Another note: This forum is awesome.

I made this post last night right before going to bed.

My first search this morning on this forum pointed me to loads of information on this issue, including fixes people have used.

So another friendly reminder: whatever your case, it's probably been seen/happened before and you can probably find your answers right here.

:cheers:

 

[Seattle206]

Yup, my buddy took his 2nd gen Taco off some dunes in Moses Lake only to discover cracks on the sheet metal. Mostly around the battery/radiator support area. It progressively got worse. He had to reinforce and weld the areas. Pretty common when guys run extra weight in the front and pound hard on the trails.

 

[rkwfxd]

Well the takeaway for me is to check my rig on a regular basis.

I doubt I will ever have cracks like this but you never know.