Indiana Bent Axles

[Louiscypher]

I have a, new to me, 2020 Gladiator Mojave that had 27,571 miles on it when I bought it. As of yesterday it has 29010 miles on it. I bought it 1/22/24. For some odd reason, my Gladiator was not sold to the public until 12/21, so my full warranty is still in effect until 12/24. The Gladiator (as I bought it) came with aftermarket rims and 35x12.5x17 tires on it, no spare. No original tires/rims. During my test drive I didn't notice anything, but now that I have it home and put some miles on it I have noticed squeaking coming from both the front and rear. At first I thought is was the brakes because the noise was more noticeable when I hit the brakes. I removed the rear tires to check out the brakes and found significant drag from both sides while trying to turn the rotors. Almost as if I had warped rotors, but this was not the case.
I have taken it to a local CDJR dealer and after their inspections, they told me I have bent rear axle shafts, bad rear rotors, and bad rear calipers on both sides. They tried to tell me that this was due to the aftermarket tires being to big. After I quit laughing at them, I told them they were full of kaka. Jeep designed the Gladiator to run 35's, why else would they have designed it to hold a 35" tire in the spare cavity? Also told them that there is no way 35's would have bent Dana 44 axles from driving it in the first place. The dealer is telling me that the axles are not covered under warranty due to the fact that I am running 35's. They said they will look at the front axles tomorrow for the same reason. The dealer suggested I contact Chrysler and see if there is anything they can do for me from that side. After calling and talking to Chrysler, they called my dealership, got the story from them, and told me that the axles are not covered because I have aftermarket tires on my vehicle, but if I were to put the factory tires back on it, Chrysler would warranty the repairs.
I don't know if anyone has ever bent axles due to driving with to big of tires? Its just not possible to bend axles while "driving". If the dealer would have said that someone was jumping this Gladiator before I bought it, that I could have understood, But that is not what they told me and not what they told Chrysler.
I guess after all of this rant, I'm asking if there is any way that I can fight Chrysler/Jeep about this? Any Chrysler/Jeep corporate people on this feed?

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[PuddleJumper]

I jump my Mojave with 37s. Nothing is bent. Previous owner probably sent it way to hard or the dealer is jerking your chain. You may have take back to wear you bought it from and get a refund, I would hope there's a consumer law that would cover this but not sure. I would also have them show you the bent axles. Axle shaft tend to shatter not bend. So maybe its the tubes? But regardless you should get some mad vibration as well as drag. just my 2 cents

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

If the rear shafts are bent at the flanges, this isn’t very hard to do… bumping obstacles to get the rear up will do it. Definitely bent the tubes on the front of our JKUR with big tires….(adding only for clarity- they are claiming shafts right?)
Seems annoying, but if you can’t find a realistic dealer, I am sure someone in your local area could help you out with a wheel swap for a couple days.
Suppose this sets the tone for the future for modifications to your jeep in your area.

or just take this as an opportunity to jump on Chromoly rear shafts. They usually have a lifetime warranty. Motive gear had great experience with their warranty and gears. - that may read like a product issue…. It was an install issue and they still went above and beyond and sent new gears

 

[Louiscypher]

Thanks both of you for your input.
PuddleJumper, unfortunately, no type of vibrations at all. Just a drag that you can actually feel. One of the things that led me to taking my gladiator into the dealer, was it is getting bad gas mileage. Even with 35s on there, it should get better than 13 mpg in the city and 15 mpg on the highway. No matter what happens, I will definitely make sure the dealership gets me all of the parts that are replaced. I always want to see what is replaced.
I wish I could take it back to the place I bought it from. They were a small dealership out of Lexington, Kentucky, (Short-Redmond Auto Group) and nothing but trouble and a bad experience day two after the sale.

Escape.idiocracy.
Yes, they are claiming bent axles. I do like your idea of swapping wheels with another owner. That was a thought I did have in mind. I do know for sure, that if this is not covered under warranty, I will replace the bent original axles with chromoly axles. I have always been a firm believer in “building it, driving it, beating on it, breaking it, upgrading it, then doing it all over again”.
You are right by the way it does set a tone for this dealership. That being the case, I will not take it back to the dealership. Even if they wind up replacing everything under warranty, I will not take it back to this dealership. If they think I’m dumb enough to accept the fact that you can bend axles because of 35s, what else are they going to lie to me about? Still plan on 37’s after this is all said and done. I had a 13 wrangler JKU that only had Dana 30’s upfront, with 37s on that. Never had an issue at all with any type of drivetrain problems. Granted, I never really did anything stupid with the wrangler and always paid attention to what I was driving through or going over, but never had any problems. Told the dealership that and they didn’t really like my attitude or what I was telling them.
Thanks again both of you for your input.

 

[willys 41]

First. Never trust what the dealer is telling you.
Take the jeep to any place that does brake work and have them put a dial indicator on the axle flange and see if they are in fact bent.
If they are not bent then have the shop put the rotors on a brake lathe and see if they are warped.

 

[SoK66]

Ah, car dealers, what a pack of Putins! Lie, lie, lie, steal, steal, steal.

You could have bent rear axle shafts (flanges, actually) and there's an easy way to check. lift the rear tires off the ground, put jack stands under each side of the rear axle. Block the gfront tires so they can't roll. Start the JT and put it in drive so the rear wheel are spinning. Watch the rear brake calipers. If they are moving side to side (moving back and forth on their mounting sliders) the axle flanges are bent and you'll have to replace the axle shafts. Unless something EXTREMELY weird is going on the calipers and rotors will be fine. The pads might be funky, if so good time to replace them.

This is an old problem that afflicted JKs, but it's rare to hear about this on JLs & JTs. I sincerely doubt that's really your issue, but if you actually need shafts get quality, pre-assembled aftermarket units from Ten Factory, etc. Easy replacement.

Dealers, I tell ya.....

 

[Reddog]

I have a, new to me, 2020 Gladiator Mojave that had 27,571 miles on it when I bought it. As of yesterday it has 29010 miles on it. I bought it 1/22/24. For some odd reason, my Gladiator was not sold to the public until 12/21, so my full warranty is still in effect until 12/24. The Gladiator (as I bought it) came with aftermarket rims and 35x12.5x17 tires on it, no spare. No original tires/rims. During my test drive I didn't notice anything, but now that I have it home and put some miles on it I have noticed squeaking coming from both the front and rear. At first I thought is was the brakes because the noise was more noticeable when I hit the brakes. I removed the rear tires to check out the brakes and found significant drag from both sides while trying to turn the rotors. Almost as if I had warped rotors, but this was not the case.
I have taken it to a local CDJR dealer and after their inspections, they told me I have bent rear axle shafts, bad rear rotors, and bad rear calipers on both sides. They tried to tell me that this was due to the aftermarket tires being to big. After I quit laughing at them, I told them they were full of kaka. Jeep designed the Gladiator to run 35's, why else would they have designed it to hold a 35" tire in the spare cavity? Also told them that there is no way 35's would have bent Dana 44 axles from driving it in the first place. The dealer is telling me that the axles are not covered under warranty due to the fact that I am running 35's. They said they will look at the front axles tomorrow for the same reason. The dealer suggested I contact Chrysler and see if there is anything they can do for me from that side. After calling and talking to Chrysler, they called my dealership, got the story from them, and told me that the axles are not covered because I have aftermarket tires on my vehicle, but if I were to put the factory tires back on it, Chrysler would warranty the repairs.
I don't know if anyone has ever bent axles due to driving with to big of tires? Its just not possible to bend axles while "driving". If the dealer would have said that someone was jumping this Gladiator before I bought it, that I could have understood, But that is not what they told me and not what they told Chrysler.
I guess after all of this rant, I'm asking if there is any way that I can fight Chrysler/Jeep about this? Any Chrysler/Jeep corporate people on this feed?

This is why the Jeep brand is in decline. The vehicles are built for offroad and the company knows 90% will have some aftermarket changes. Now they are just screwing the buyers because they are having a tough time selling a $65,000 over priced vehicle. If you want to stay in the car business, you can't treat your customers like this. If you want customer loyalty, you have to earn it.

 

[Louiscypher]

So I'm waiting to find out from the dealer if the axles are going to be covered by the warranty. I picked up my vehicle tonight from the dealer, after paying $150 for them to take a look, and after reviewing the paperwork its a wonder they can breath. I'm sure they have a bad case of Cranial Rectum Inversion-itis. The work order says that the customer is complaining of a shimmy in the front drivers side. Their comments were that they pulled the rear wheels to inspect the shimmy. I guess the rear dictates whet the front does? (Wag the dog)

I had also said the my bling spot monitoring system disables itself when I use the remote start. They replied the the they could not find a problem, but it was due to the aftermarket key fob I have. I have one of the AJT Design Injection fobs because I can't stand the switch blade always coming out of the 6lb factory fob, so I have this cover, (which works better and further), with the factory electronics inside, but the dealer claims aftermarket. Again Cranial Rectum Inversion-itis.

I did ask the dealer "if the axles and calipers are covered for replacement by the warranty, does that mean that the removal of the calipers to get to the rotors, and the removal of the rotors to get to the axles, that I will not have to pay labor for the removal of the rotors?" The dealer told me yes, that I do have to pay labor for the removal of the rotors. I might have said a couple choice words and told him that was bu**sh**. He made the comment back to me that it is a pain to do this type of warranty work in the first place. I'm guessing that is because they can't jack up or pad the repairs.
I do know that if the axles and calipers are covered by warranty, that's all I'm going to have them do. No caliper warranty work at all. Let them pull the rotors on their own nickel.

More updates later.

Thanks for all of your help

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

The axles are bent? Axle housings or axle shafts/axle flanges? Front or rear or both?

 

[Louiscypher]

From what the dealer is telling me, both rear axles are bent.
I asked them if they removed the axles and they told me no they did not. Their paperwork says that they “used a dial indicator on the axle and had run out. Both axles are bent.”
Who knows. I’m just waiting to see if this is going to be covered under warranty. If not, I’m going to replace the axles myself with new chromoly axles.

 

[Scott L]

This is a fascinating post but do you realize it’s in the for sale section? Have you tried Jeep doesn’t cares? it really sounds like the dealer is a piece of work. Is there another fairly close?

 

[BUZZHEAD]

David , it sounds like your service manager sucks.
Here is a good one, I tell him the issues and he orders the parts for the repairs. He has been great since I purchased mine in 2019.
GREIGERS JEEP VALPARAISO,IND. - JOE LUCIANO -219-312-5085
GOOD LUCK with your repairs

 

[Louiscypher]

Scott L
Oh darn. No I didn’t realize that. This is only my second time at a post here and I didn’t know I picked the wrong section.
But thank you all for being kind enough to reply with your help.

 

[Louiscypher]

Buzzhead,
Thank you for this suggestion. I’m not quite close enough to Valpo for a drive (Fort Wayne), but definitely close enough for a phone call. There are two other CDJR dealers here in FW that I could possible go to as well. Actually I will for anything else.

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