Strange Damage to Gas tank shield and others from our First Jeep Jamboree

[1USMC]

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I had checked the clearance btw my drive shaft and steel gas tank shield before I left for the Texas Spur Jeep Jamboree. A couple of inches and no rub marks noted so I should be in great shape!.

So when I did a post off road inspection I was very surprised to see that the drive line had somehow rubbed and I believe pulled part of the steel shield down ???

I didn’t know that could happen.

At first I thought perhaps I had hit something under the gas tank that caused it to bend.

Matt sent me a link to, how he trimmed his shield ( thanks), and even after that I would have just assumed that it would just help prevent rubbing, not what happened to me. The steel is not super heavy duty, but it is not thin either.

At first I thought I would just bend it back up… Not… Then I started to see how hard it would be to remove the shield and bend it back up. Never got to the point of totally figuring out how to remove it and while I was still thinking that way, I realized even if I should get it back in place, it would only happen again.

So it looks like I will be cutting this section out.

You can see in the photos that the drive shaft has also just barely scraped the gas tank itself even after the shield was pulled down.
Strange to me ??

Has anyone else experienced this ?

I didn’t know there could be that much movement back there!



This area is supposed to be FLAT all the way.










Strange…






















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[1USMC]

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Shows witness marks on gas tank itself.

It looks like that the “band “that looks like it clamps the rubber looking part (I know great description!), where the bans over lap and lock, may have been the first part to “catch” on the shield (?). The part that was pulled out the most appears to line up with it.








Rear View !! LOL..

[Matt]

Not strange. .. myself and a few others have had that issue as well. When the axle drops it shifts towards the drivers side. Add in the flexibility of all the bushings and it results in the driveshaft hitting that area. Trimmed mine and no more issues.

[1USMC]

I just had to document my first scrapes of honor! Had a variety of them!









The SA sliders did a fantastic job and got a lot of use. Both side stood up phenomenally well! I had a few places that rubbed through the bed liner all the way to the steel.








Didn’t I have a longer antenna here?








Now I know why you need something better than the stock rear Diff cover.









This metal was slightly pulled on both sides of the Jeep.






Both sides and bottom edge of my SA Steel Bumper left behind their marks on the Texas country side! Something for it to remember me by!



Had this on both sides!

BEFORE >>>…….







AFTER>>>… and my fix for everything!









So I think I came out very lucky for what we did with the Commander for the first time!
Must have been the great skillful driving on my part!! LOL..

To see the event > http://www.theultimatejeep.com/showt...=1%23post43334

[1USMC]

Not strange. .. myself and a few others have had that issue as well. When the axle drops it shifts towards the drivers side. Add in the flexibility of all the bushings and it results in the driveshaft hitting that area. Trimmed mine and no more issues.

I'll be trimming mine soon.. Thanks Matt...I just couldn't imagine that it could move that much ! LOL..

Trial and error !! I was trying to minimize the error's... learning something new everyday.. thanks for everyone sharing, that also leads to less troubles.

[thance]

Add what Matt said to the fact that I believe you are running 5 1/2" of lift to begin with, no? Do you have an adjustable rear track bar? A few companies make them and they are only around $100 or so. Then you could adjust the rear diff back to center - maybe even offset it a little to the right to compensate.

[pjmjr508]

Add what Matt said to the fact that I believe you are running 5 1/2" of lift to begin with, no? Do you have an adjustable rear track bar? A few companies make them and they are only around $100 or so. Then you could adjust the rear diff back to center - maybe even offset it a little to the right to compensate.

He is familiar with the adjustable trackbar, he had me put mine on.