Broken front axle at CV joint on my Bronco Badlands 4-Door 2.7L

[Bulletbill]

Now I don't feel so bad about giving mine away a few years back (sold way too cheap ).
Can't wait to get some Broncos together out on the trail.
Does this look familiar to you?

Hope your not in 4 wheel drive in this pic. According to most of the people who replied to the op you can’t use 4 wheel drive on any surface but mud.

This should be fairly interesting because according to a lot of the Ford sycophants anything that goes wrong with the Bronco is the drivers fault. Odd that they marketed it to novice off roaders who will become pros with the turn of a dial.

I have faith that most of these issues will be fixed by Ford, but it’s also ok to say something broke and s&@t happens. Or that someone had a bad day in the Ford plant and something was put together wrong.

I will laugh my butt off if anything happens to some of the Ford cheerleaders rigs, and they try and cry fowl.

My point is, have some compassion for the people that are just trying to pass along some info on the problems they encountered.

You never know, the next post talking about a defect might just be from you with your new toy.

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[da_jokker]

If the Front diff is like what I have in my F150, basically the output on the side of the diff has a flange that the CV axle bolts to and the diff is still sealed without the CV attached.

Ah gotcha... I think I've seen some folks do a trail repair by pulling out the CV on 1 side (not sure which) and tie strapping it up so it flops around but doesnt hurt anything. Which end should you disconnect...now thats the question

 

[Felix808]

Most guys that I wheel with carry spare axles, welders, and a bunch of spare parts. We once broke a rear axle on a jeep and our tire and wheel came off. We had to cram it back in, put grease on the sidewall of the tire, grease up our high lift jack, and ratchet strap it horizontally to hold in the tire! We had to drive about 4 miles at about a mile an hour to where our buddy could meet us with a flatbed trailer. Had to tow it out. You do what you can on a trail, and hope you have friends like these. And plenty of beer.

That's what happens with C-clip axles & is why I'm glad an 8.8 didn't show up under the new Bronco
Yep I will have a complete set of front axles in my trail spares & not just due to the OP's example.

 

[murphtron]

Hope your not in 4 wheel drive in this pic. According to most of the people who replied to the op you can’t use 4 wheel drive on any surface but mud.

This should be fairly interesting because according to a lot of the Ford sycophants anything that goes wrong with the Bronco is the drivers fault. Odd that they marketed it to novice off readers who will become pros with the turn of a dial.

I have faith that most of these issues will be fixed by Ford, but it’s also ok to say something broke and s&@t happens. Or that someone had a bad day in the Ford plant and something was put together wrong.

I will laugh my butt off if anything happens to some of the Ford cheerleaders rigs, and they try and cry fowl.

My point is, have some compassion for the people that are just trying to pass along some info on the problems they encountered.

You never know, the next post talking about a defect might just be from you with your new toy.

Wait. I shouldn’t be in 4L in that pic? I’m no expert. But I thought I would be in 4L and possible have rear locker enabled.

 

[goatman]

The standard transfer case has front axle disconnect (ESOF?) and the advanced transfer case (models equipped with 4A) does not (TOD?).

Also there was a discussion about Integrated Wheel Ends (IWE)

I have no idea what any of this means.

This makes me wonder if the M190 has a disconnect/hubs and the M210 does not. Not clear enough, but this could be true. The M190 would be just like what's in the Ranger. In that list, all of the front locked axle have no disconnect, but some of them don't have the disconnect with a rear locker in the higher models. Unclear. Need research and info!

Another thing that I have not been able to find any where is the spline count and axle shaft diameter of the M190 and the M210. I've searched Ford and Spicer and nothing. That will tell us quite a bit, and might help people decide how important SAS is.

 

[goatman]

Question...so what is the trail fix for this? I've seen videos of people partially removing things or whatever in order to be able to at least drive out of a trail.

So if a front CV joint goes out, what do you do?

Also, we seem to have 2 conflicting ideas going on. The first one is that you're supposed to stop, look ahead, and select a goat mode prior to actually hitting the terrain (this supposedly keeps your goat happy).

The second train of thought is that you approach pretty much everything in standard drive and only start to engage 4x4 features once you start slipping (which of course then can make your goat unhappy)

What's that saying, can't win for losing

Gotta keep that goat happy!

From my experience, the transfer case mode should be chosen before going over or through whatever you're approaching. Same with the lockers, and although I do think they will engage while you're in something, it won't be immediate because things need to mesh before it can engage. The factory sway bar they say will disengage and engage on the fly, but most of us will simply disengage it when we hit whatever trail or route we decide we'd rather do with the sway bar disconnected. Manual hubs, manual shifting t-cases have worked perfectly forever...

 

[goatman]

Problem is I'm at $31,500 msrp with base 2-door. Thought about it, but adding SAS per build and price, costs an additional $7385 (and I lose the manual trans). Might be an easier sell once manual Sas is available, but still a chunk of change.

Plus I wheeled for years out west with open diff Jeeps, and some mediocre components. Dana 20 keyed rear axle anyone? But still had a lot of fun. Not ruling out Sas, but a base for $31,500 plus maybe $1200 for wheels and set of 33" tires, seems the sweet spot of the fun/cost equation.

Model 20 rear, just gotta keep that axle nut tight.

I have not estimated the cost to duplicate what comes in the SAS package if done all aftermarket. Need to do that. Still need to know the specs on the M190 and M210.

My trail Jeep with 33's and locked, geared and trussed axles with rock rails, winch, etc etc has been at home and I've been wheeling the crap out of my stock XJ on 30's and a rear limited slip. Don't really need much to have a lot of fun.

 

[Butzy]

Photos of break down and gravel parking lot that it happened and got towed from

Photos of break down and gravel parking lot that it happened and got towed from

Nope, should not have broken there.....

 

[LTB Motorsports]

In theory you could probably just remove it and limp out in 2wd. Pretty sure I could just pull a front shaft out of my F-150 provided I have the big socket on hand (yeah right) for the nut on the hub.

Most probably will just turn the radio up and limp it out with the shaft in place.

Extended time in the sticks like real overlanding you can almost not quite do in the US... probably not a bad idea to carry a spare shaft with tools to change (for anything)

Front axles cannot be fully removed, as the hub bearing will fall apart without the axle bolted thru. You coulj remove the axle, dismantle the end joint and bolt just the end back in, but trail spare is way easier.

It's been a long time since I've swapped out a CV axle, and it was on a car, but you had to be very careful pulling the axle out from the transmission and sliding in the new one without things misaligning or fluid leaking out.

So with things like this, can you really just pull a CV axle out and drive it with a big hole in your diff? (Maybe plug it with something to keep the dirt out)

If the axle bolts to the diff, it can be removed. But then the side going thru the hub still needs to be addressed. Anyone going into the boonies with hard use in mind should carry a spare to a oil those headaches.

 

[BAUS67]

This makes me wonder if the M190 has a disconnect/hubs and the M210 does not. Not clear enough, but this could be true. The M190 would be just like what's in the Ranger. In that list, all of the front locked axle have no disconnect, but some of them don't have the disconnect with a rear locker in the higher models. Unclear. Need research and info!

Another thing that I have not been able to find any where is the spline count and axle shaft diameter of the M190 and the M210. I've searched Ford and Spicer and nothing. That will tell us quite a bit, and might help people decide how important SAS is.

Although I don't know the specs, that is zach's dept. or maybe north, I understand it this way ......

The M190 is and aluminum center section. this is ok for most but add some big tires and some precarious situations and you can run into problems.

The M210, however, is a nodular iron case. For those that don't know this is better at combating deflection, it is stronger. Better at big tires in precarious situations.

The CV shafts are all the same, the way I understand it, between all the models. RCV shafts will be indestructible but if mated to an M190 you will have issues with the diff being "the weak link" then.

Not trying to be a know it all just trying to convey what I have learned.

 

[darkscion0]

Rear axle shaft on a TJ? We were on a run where a similar thing happened but we pulled the shaft & tire off, cut a tree and strapped it to the frame to make a skid then towed him out.

Most guys that I wheel with carry spare axles, welders, and a bunch of spare parts. We once broke a rear axle on a jeep and our tire and wheel came off. We had to cram it back in, put grease on the sidewall of the tire, grease up our high lift jack, and ratchet strap it horizontally to hold in the tire! We had to drive about 4 miles at about a mile an hour to where our buddy could meet us with a flatbed trailer. Had to tow it out. You do what you can on a trail, and hope you have friends like these. And plenty of beer.

 

[WuNgUn]

It's been a long time since I've swapped out a CV axle, and it was on a car, but you had to be very careful pulling the axle out from the transmission and sliding in the new one without things misaligning or fluid leaking out.

So with things like this, can you really just pull a CV axle out and drive it with a big hole in your diff? (Maybe plug it with something to keep the dirt out)

Pulling 1 axle out is okay I think. If you yank both out, then shit gets seriously out of line. Fluid level will usually always be at or below the shaft opening. Plugging would be a good idea.

 

[goatman]

Rear axle shaft on a TJ? We were on a run where a similar thing happened but we pulled the shaft & tire off, cut a tree and strapped it to the frame to make a skid then towed him out.

The TJ came with two rear axles, normal was a Dana 35 which was c-clip, and the Rubicon came with a D44, which is not c-clip. C-clip means the axle shaft is retained in the housing a c-clip at the end of the axle shaft, inside the carrier. Non c-clip, like a D44 or the M220 (since it's a derivative of the D44) has a retainer plate on the outside at the end of the housing. Break a c-clip axle and it will slide out, unless it has disc brakes then the caliper will try to hold it in. The M220 should be non c-clip, plus we have disc brakes. Should be pretty hard to break that 32 spline axle unless we run bigger tires, bounce it and get unlucky.

 

[da_jokker]

Yeah I don't know if it's possible but since the axle's broken anyway, too bad it wouldn't be a matter of simply cutting it so that both ends can stay in but obviously not be connected to each other.

I know the IFS is going to be the weak link, so those beefed up options are starting to sound pretty good. I wonder how much they are ?

 

[Evolkidbell]

I know the IFS is going to be the weak link, so those beefed up options are starting to sound pretty good. I wonder how much they are ?

complete set up (if priced like the Raptor) is just under 3K.
If you want just half shafts made from stronger material, and fit in the OEM CVs it’s more like $700-1500.

question is if the RCV CVs are any better than OEM ones.

https://www.rcvperformance.com/ultimate-ifs-cv-axle-set-for-ford-f-150-raptor.html

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