Nothing is indestructible. If you hammer hard enough, something is bound to snap in the steering, the drivetrain, or even in the suspension. We saw some good breakage this year, and since we know how much you love seeing others' pain and you know how much we love showing it to you, viola! Enjoy!
We see steering linkage get...
We see steering linkage get hurt all the time, but this was a good one! This poor owner taco'd his drag link and lost his brakes, all in the same outing. Brett Lovet from Superlift was nice enough to help this poor soul out by strapping the rear bumper and using a low gear to let the Jeep drag him down the hill.
Ah, driveshafts. If there's...
Ah, driveshafts. If there's one thing you should be packing in your bag, it's spare U-joints. Driveshafts love to spit themselves out in the most precarious of places when a U-joint decides to give up. We've seen many a rig left on the trail, grenade a transfer case, and even put a hole in a fuel tank when the U-joints coupling the driveshaft let go. Remember, a driveshaft hoop can minimize damage the next time something like this happens.
We have to believe that every...
We have to believe that every time we see a Cherokee or Wrangler on the side of the trail, it was a Dana 35 rear axle that blew up. These things seem to be the bane of '80s and '90s Jeeps everywhere. They have axleshafts held in by C-clips and will slide right out should you snap one, allowing your tire and brake drum to depart from your Jeep. All we can say to anyone that has been able to continuously wheel one of these with success is, "You're the Man, and please let us get in front of you on the trail before something explodes."
Is this an ad for an onboard...
Is this an ad for an onboard welder or what? This lower control-arm mount ripped completely off the axle, leaving this axle dangling by three links. The owner rigged up something to hobble it off the trail using a strap from the bumper to the front of the axle and some bailing wire to keep the control arm from dropping onto the ground.
This break wasn't from this...
This break wasn't from this year, but we don't think we've ever used it before and it's one of our favorites. This axle had its "Inner-C" snap right in half. We applaud such impressive breakage. Nice job! You might be able to weld something like this up enough to limp it off the trail, but good luck trying to get a break this bad fixed enough to move at more than a crawl.