razor02097

I went to put the new spring isolators on but after pulling the spring off I noticed this...



I cleaned it, burned the holes, and painted it. My question is....... is this common on D30 axles and is it dangerous?

Tural

Never seen one rusted through before.

razor02097

okay...... soooo......what does that mean this is a big problem?

It is repaired now but I'm just curious?

xjmarc

I'm guessing it's a road salt thing.

JeepingDan

I had the same problem but it was waaaayy worse than that. you can either get new brackets or rebuild them. I redid mine with flat stock steel. I don't have pics. otherwise I would show you. But here's one of what I did. I went over kill with it. But hey why not lol

Tural

I'm sorry, i answered from my blackberry and i can't type long on those things. it kinda looks like a big deal for me. imagine hitting a good size pothole at 30-40mph and one of your springs come out flying. i think there are spring perch kits out there. but it might actually be cheaper to just get a junkyard d30. i'm not positive, but i'm almost sure that ZJ and XJ d30's are the same.

razor02097

Thanks all for the responses, yes it is a winter vehicle and the road salts are heavy here. I have filled in the holes with metal and burned them up so it shouldn't be a big deal anymore.

I will be installing GC springs this weekend, I will look into doing reinforcement while I am under there.

Tural

i'm not sure if filling in rust holes is a good idea. if you do not clean the rust off completely before welding, you might end up with contaminated welds. not to say that it definitely won't work, but i think it might be pretty risky to just weld up the rust holes. the metal around it might be in worse shape than it looks.
i'm not criticizing your repair method, but just be careful.

mike albo

Living in California I don't have to deal with rust like that.I would knock it off and weld on a new spring pad.

razor02097

I don't think that's going to happen. I can't have her down for that long.


The fix was the cancer part was removed, wire brush, rust buster scrub, wire brush, sand, weld, paint. The repair is fine. I was wondering how common this was among the jeep community and if I didn't catch it would it have been dangerous.

I asked a fellow mechanic friend he said the spring may eventually break through the perch but it would not have been dangerous because it would have been gradual. In other words he said the chances of catastrophic failure is small and that rot is very common with daily driven vehicles in places that go through harsh winters.


I have had my Cherokee for 5 years and have driven 40,000 miles. She is the newest vehicle I have ever owned. I have watched family members go though car after car and my Jeep kept truckin along. Never has she complained about it. I have now opened my eyes to the **** I have neglected over the lifetime of my Cherokee. Every day I have been working harder then a constipated accountant on crack to try to get parts installed, rust repaired, cleaning, tune up, brakes, and other repairs.

With forecasts like this the temps and 87% humidity really take a toll.




I do really appreciate the help I am getting from this forum, things I would have paid someone to do in the past I have the confidence to tackle now

xjmarc

Dang wish it was that cool here. We are averaging 97-98 every day with heat indexes around 110. I have to wait till around 8pm to start working on mine and use spotlights once it gets dark.

razor02097

you can have the "cool" weather as long as you take the humidity too!

xjmarc

Already got the humidity. Our low last night was 81.

razor02097

it ranges from 80% to 95% humidity here. You sweat and sweat but don't cool off.