I recently visited Steve's site and noticed his comments regarding his rear tire carrier and the fact that the Rockstomper spindle failed.

I am curious (Steve if you're out there) did you contact RockStomper and what was their response?

Also does anyone have experience using the Slee spindle and what is your opinion?

 

Which Steve

 

Ooops...Steve Schaefer...

 

The Rockstomper hinge on my bumper broke on a sand dune.



Not the first one I have heard of breaking. I am quite disgusted with that guy.

 

More Rockstomper Junk:



Not even a year old.



Bearing races cracked as well, all from the weight of a single 33 on an aluminum wheel.

 

I knew it was Junk. Should have bought the Slee.

http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showfl...=&Number=21649

 

OH MAN!!!!

I better pull mine apart and check it.

 

Do you still have those broken parts, steve? I'd be neat to see the fracture surface, maybe I can figure out how/why it broke.

 

Yeah, they are in my garage garbage can.

 

Well, if you want to send them out to me then maybe I can analyze it. If you do, don't touch the fracture surfaces...don't put them back together. Wrap the surfaces in a paper towel or something to protect them. Of course, if you don't want to send them, then that's cool too.

 

I can send them to you, but I already touched the surfaces and put the broken parts back together to see how it broke.

I doubt anything was effected though.

 

Think that they way the latch closed things put odd pressure on the hinge?

Seems like a fluke failure, but you are finally going to be able to have things low like you wanted.

Sorry to hear about this mess Steve.

 

That's quite a fracture. I'd be interested to look at it to see where the fatigue point started.

Bummer though. If'n I had the time, I'd machine one up for 'ya out of some cool crap we have around the shop.

Oh yeah, call me tomorrow if you get a chance.

Mike

 

The hinge pulled down, the crack/break was forward backward.

It broke where it machined down smaller. I wonder why the bearing seats cracked as well.

Tankota on the TTORA board had one break the exact same way.

 

I am really impressed that it went front to back. Must be because of the vibes from the longer lever arm?

For the short term the tire goes underneath, but are there any plans to revise the rear carrier? That was one of the slickest that people have designed themselves. Maybe a low carry like Mr. Hunt with an adaptor?

 

It was most likely the torque that the weight of the tire put on the hinge. How much do tires weigh, 50lbs? The lever arm on the hinge while it's closed is probably 12in so there was 50ft-lbs of constant torque on the hinge. But, when driving lets say the truck experiences 2Gs from various bumps so there is a cyclic torque of 0ft-lbs to 100ft-lbs.

It's possible that welding got the hinge too hot and changed the mechanical properties of the steel. I'm sure trailer axles are meant to take more than 100ft-lbs of torque. Didn't tankota say his broke because of the welding heat?

I check my hinge periodically and even have a thick rope tied around the carrier, just in case.

 

15" steel wheel with 32x11.5 MT/R is about 75lbs!

 

Tire is 75 pounds, carrier 65 pounds.

Tankota thought it was fatigue, so do I.

We welded it in with low heat and little welds. It was held in by the upper and lower 1/4" section of the bumper.

I really think the reason it broke is that I was able to get the tire carrier to have very little vibration/free play.

My carrier had less than the Rockware and the only Rockstomper bumper which had the most and probably is saving the hinge.

It's just another Rockstomper piece of junk. I'm so disgusted nothing is going to happen for a while.

 

Think long term underneath. It's just too nice to be able to open the rear door that easy.

 

All cleaned up.