Engine Bay Body Rips

[MoabRat]

bernd previously said:

The whole story. Well I bought it because it was a trail rig. I use it as a trail rig. I run trails in the PNW and I took it to Ouray. I crawl over large obstacles and don't land hard. I have flexed the rig quite a bit. The trails I run with it I have run numerus times with my CJ-7 prior to buying the FJ. I'm not new to wheeling and am very sad that this has happened. I truelly love this rig and want this problem figured out before more of us see it. I only have 7000 miles on this rig. I am worried for you all also. This is not good

My heart really goes out to you. What size tires are you running? Maybe we can figure out some specs to keep this from happening to any other poor souls. Inside your wheel well have you noticed a lot of rub or other indicators? This is so crappy!

[Pumbaa]

just measured all body mounts, they all are at 1 3/4" except for one front is at 2"...
This makes all the sense in the world now... last week I was fabing up new mounts for my new bumper and I did some measurements from the bumper mount (frame) to some of the body panels and although the mounts were the exact same the measurements didn't add up... rep points to you for pointing that out...

[bernd]

MoabRat previously said:

My heart really goes out to you. What size tires are you running? Maybe we can figure out some specs to keep this from happening to any other poor souls. Inside your wheel well have you noticed a lot of rub or other indicators? This is so crappy!

Tires 285 70/17 BFGs. Iwas just outside looking at the wheel wells. There is no visable rubbing.

[bernd]

Pumbaa previously said:

are they all in the crunch zones?

yes it looks that way

[homedad]

bernd previously said:

My truck has never left the ground. I am not into flying. The only thing I do with this rig is trail crawling. I have many people that will stand behind me on this.

Let me start over....My rig has 12k miles on it and my gps offroad miles are at 7346 miles....so I think I can call mine a trail rig too....OME 285's ARB and warn9k to name a few mods....
every time I've jammed a tire into the wheel well the only rub spot I see is some stupid bolt that comes down from the top...I have since cut that bolt out...no mount chops...
Toyoya has been happy to give me at no charge;
3 rear diffs
1 auto tranny
1 front diff
all pulliesX3

I do run hard...but my issues have been covered because of "no obvious abuse"

I crawl Arizona desert rock on a steady basis...
I like to get to the fun stuff in a hurry.....

You don't have to go airborn to smash a tire up into the wells....but the truck does seem front heavy and bottoming out DOES happen.....

again... I am sure insurance will cover this...they replaced my roof and rack when I leaned a little hard on a rock crawlin' night run and ripped my roof on the passenger side....

your deal may or may not have been a case of "Oops I did it again".....
I just don't see it as a defect as much as a cost of being in the game...
this surely didn't happen on the hiway did it???
So I'm sorry if I offended you but (I'm going to offend you again) suck it up and move on....
call the insurance... or call air2air and see if he has the solution....to be honest...I think it'll happen again...regardless of repair....I'm kinda shocked this hasn't happened to mine yet....

[Brian - VABeach]

Hopefully other owners that spend a lot of time offroad will inspect this area as a result of this Thread and report back. If these cracks start small and propagate there could be lots of folks with a developing problem that aren't even aware of it yet. It would also be interesting to find out if any of the Trail Team FJ's have cracks in this area since they have more miles offroad than most of us. Finding out how widespread these failures are and the circumstances involved would obviously help determine if everyone that does a lot of flexing will eventually have this happen, or if it's confined to modified FJC's, or there's a manufacturing defect peculiar to just a few vehicles.

[goose175]

you are quite lucky with only 1/4 in difference. Mine shows ~3/4 in difference...

[bernd]

homedadr previously said:

your deal may or may not have been a case of "Oops I did it again".....
I just don't see it as a defect as much as a cost of being in the game...
this surely didn't happen on the hiway did it???
So I'm sorry if I offended you but (I'm going to offend you again) suck it up and move on....
call the insurance... or call air2air and see if he has the solution....to be honest...I think it'll happen again...regardless of repair....I'm kinda shocked this hasn't happened to mine yet....

I do understand the cost of this game. I don't think that the sheet metal should rip in a crumple zone just because its been driven on a trail. I have no signs of tire rub. I truely can say that I ever noticed the tire rubing. Offended me? No, I'm just trying to figure this out. I truely hope this doesn't happen to you.

[bernd]

Brian - VABeach previously said:

Hopefully other owners that spend a lot of time offroad will inspect this area as a result of this Thread and report back. If these cracks start small and propagate there could be lots of folks with a developing problem that aren't even aware of it yet. It would also be interesting to find out if any of the Trail Team FJ's have cracks in this area since they have more miles offroad than most of us. Finding out how widespread these failures are and the circumstances involved would obviously help determine if everyone that does a lot of flexing will eventually have this happen, or if it's confined to modified FJC's, or there's a manufacturing defect peculiar to just a few vehicles.

Yes. Please go out and look at your rigs. I am under my hood quite a bit and only noticed it today.

[homedad]

OK...I went and took pictures of what I think is a problem with after market bumpers/body damage....

note this is the ARB bumper...the one trail teams use...

Note the size of the gap between bumper and body....at least 1 inch
note the flags on mine...still rubbing at over 1 inch gap
note the body rubs on the side

I have seen a few bumpers with the bumper smashed right up against the front grill...This WILL cause damage in the long run because the frame and the body are NOT connected(note the rubber bushing you are all talking about)
there HAS to be some play in that area
please go check your bumper and tell me if the bumper touches the grill AT ALL...or is there a gap...the gap is absolutely nessisary if your are going to flex this truck as far as some of us do....to be continued...after you gap check