What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Broke a sector shaft in the woods

M

Mudstud

1/2 ton status
Joined
May 29, 2001
Posts
1,475
Reaction score
1
Location
Memphis, TN
This is the 3rd or 4th trip out with crossover. About halfway thru this ride I noticed I couldn't turn to full lock to the right. Me and Boz42 looked at it and couldn't see anything. I'm not sure if this info is even relavent but it might be. Anyways, I ended up sliding into some 3' deep ruts with my wheels turn left. The axle dug hard on the rut and brought the truck to a stand still in a hurry. Heard a pop and had no steering. Wheels facing straight ahead. Snapped the sector shaft just above the pitman arm. Long story short. Ended up replacing all the croosover steering back to my previous setup there in the woods. I know this is an unusual break so the question is. Could I have prevented this somehow? Do I have something not set up right? Or was this a fluke? You think me not able to turn to lock was the result of the shaft starting to twist? Your thoughts please. I'd rather not have to deal with this again in the woods, in the dark.

Thanks.
 
I know toyota guys break them sometimes and its not an uncommon to see someone fixing this break on a trail ride weekend. some boxes are more suseptable to it than others
 
Buddy of mine broke his on his lifted super duty on the street.

Parts guy said ya that happens a lot. Scarry stuff.,

Carry spare parts, we carry an entire spare box with 2wd sector shaft, ported caps and plugs just in case.
 
I don't hear about our rigs having sector shaft breakage. I would like to land me some extra variable ratio sector shafts. That would be a reasonable trail fix. There was a guy on here that had a pile of them. Anyone know who that was? I'd rather not haul a whole spare steering set up on the trail- 4wd gear box and pitman arm, draglink, 60 3" block and steering arm and studs. I was just real glad I hadn't sold any of those parts yet.
 
81jimmyslt said:
Buddy of mine broke his on his lifted super duty on the street.

Parts guy said ya that happens a lot. Scarry stuff.,

Carry spare parts, we carry an entire spare box with 2wd sector shaft, ported caps and plugs just in case.
Click to expand...


Yep, broke my sector shaft on my '99 F350.

Installed a hydraulic ram-assist on the tie rod. End of problem.
 
Sunday was a bad day for sector shafts. Thats when mine gave out too. What were you doing when it snapped and did you notice any change in turning radius a short while before hand- like the shaft might have been beginning to twist?

Whats your set up? K5 - 60 - crossover - bent draglink - inches of lift and tire size?
 
ORD crossover , Bolt and weld in steereing braces , 6" lift , 37-14.50-16 IROK's, LOCKED FRONT AND REAR WITH HYDROBOOST>>>>>>IT WONT STEER. If you do Hydro assist, it take 80% of the stress off of the steering box and you wont have this problem. I can make a mean left but almost no right turn. I never had the problem untill i added both steering box braces, before, it would just twist the frame or rip the box off of the frame. Now that the frame is stiffer, there is not much room for flex, so now it puts more stress on the sector shaft.
 
This is fairly common on late model Dodge trucks as well. I've seen some nice kits that take a tractor rotating mount at the end of the sector shaft and then bolt to the frame. Essentially it puts the sector shaft in double shear while preserving ability to rotate. Pretty slick.
 
rcamacho said:
I've seen some nice kits that take a tractor rotating mount at the end of the sector shaft and then bolt to the frame. Essentially it puts the sector shaft in double shear while preserving ability to rotate. Pretty slick.
Click to expand...

You know where to find more info on this? Pics? I don't know what a rotating tractor mount is.
 
I snapped mine a couple of years back. I had some cool pics of it- I think I posted them in a thread I started back when it happened. I wasn't running hydro assist yet and I was turning the wheel as hard as I could while it was flexed out and binded up. Pretty stupid, I know, but that's how ya learn sometimes. Really though, the worst part of the whole experience was getting towed home with ZERO steering!
 
Mudstud said:
You know where to find more info on this? Pics? I don't know what a rotating tractor mount is.
Click to expand...

What he said ^^^

Carry a spare sector shaft with you Mudstud, as well as some fluid, and a drain catch to take your fluid with you.

My break was relatively easy, in the middle of a trail in the daytime, spare available, and a crew assisting.

However, the "night run turned into day run" scenario was quite the experience. Poor Marv:haha: Lock this hub, unlock that one, free wheel, etc etc for hours on end to DRIVE the rest of the trail with no steering:bow: :eek1:

Good times.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom