Unbelievable corrosion on 2008 Jeep Liberty Front Axles

[tommudd]

It's Hard to hose off a vehicle in sub freezing temps.
The body of my KK is almost rust free, it's all the undercarriage that's rusting away.

Not really, 5 degrees today here
The 03 went to car wash and I had a mat to lay on to hose out underneath
If you want to keep one clean there are ways, I would rather freeze for a few moments than have my junk rust away
Have to watch though my 68 Bronco the doors would freeze shut, had to go through the tail gate many times LOL

 

[Johnny O]

I took the wheels off my wife's Liberty last night to replace the brakes and noticed something I've never seen before. Both front axles (I only inspected the visible portions) and axle nuts were severely corroded into a yellow powder. I was able to easily remove chunks by hand. There is no hint of the hex feature left on the axle nuts and no remaining thread on the ends of the axles. We are the second owners and the Jeep has always been a daily driver, not a trail Jeep. These are the factory original axles.

At first I thought the problem might be more widespread but a quick check showed only the two front axles suffering from this extreme corrosion. I called Jeep sent these pictures to our dealership so we'll see if they help us out here.

I am an Engineer and deal with different steels a lot as well as some corrosion testing and have never seen corrosion like this before. Something weird is going on here but our dealership claims they never saw anything like this before.

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Mind blo.wing. I've pulled Volkswagen Bug carcasses out of fields with less corrosion.

 

[Johnny O]

It's Hard to hose off a vehicle in sub freezing temps.
The body of my KK is almost rust free, it's all the undercarriage that's rusting away.

Hosed mine off yesterday. A few quarters in the self service carwash and the salts are gone. Trust me, nowhere uses road salts like Nebraska, most of our streets are paved with salt for four months a year.

 

[Exqqqqme]

I did the same but doing it like that misses as much as it gets. Don't believe me, put it on a hoist after you **** it off and look. That salt dust is everywhere! Unless you pull the front wheels there is no way to wash down the axle stubs to fend off corrosion. My next vehicle will get thoroughly doused with Fluid film to slow down the corrosion.

 

[Johnny O]

I did the same but doing it like that misses as much as it gets. Don't believe me, put it on a hoist after you **** it off and look. That salt dust is everywhere! Unless you pull the front wheels there is no way to wash down the axle stubs to fend off corrosion. My next vehicle will get thoroughly doused with Fluid film to slow down the corrosion.

Yeah! We have a pit bay available at our local DIY wash, so you can get under there and blast it good. There is a line ten vehicles deep waiting to get into this time of year here. The salt mix they use creates a sticky gel on you vehicle. It is insane. I do have a good undercoating suggested by the gurus here. It is great stuff.

 

[tommudd]

I did the same but doing it like that misses as much as it gets. Don't believe me, put it on a hoist after you **** it off and look. That salt dust is everywhere! Unless you pull the front wheels there is no way to wash down the axle stubs to fend off corrosion. My next vehicle will get thoroughly doused with Fluid film to slow down the corrosion.

That is why in the winter I pull wheels etc off and ****, wash, clean well every couple of weeks depending on how much ice/snow we have had
If it has just been cold then not as often of course just when there is a lot of salt and oil well brine on the roads

 

[Exqqqqme]

Thing is, this is the first vehicle I've ever owned where this had to be done. There is no excuse for this type of damage! My 1947 Diamond T that came from South Dakota and Michigan never suffered this kind of corrosion damage, same for our 1969 Buick GS. There should not be the need to go to the extremes of removing the wheels every few weeks to keep this from happening. In an earlier life I was a suspension mechanic in Michigan at an alignment shop and never came across corrosion issues like this.

 

[Johnny O]

Only time I have seen corrosion like this on a vehicle is on those that spent a long time mired in flood waters. You getcha a flood special perhaps?

 

[tommudd]

Thing is, this is the first vehicle I've ever owned where this had to be done. There is no excuse for this type of damage! My 1947 Diamond T that came from South Dakota and Michigan never suffered this kind of corrosion damage, same for our 1969 Buick GS. There should not be the need to go to the extremes of removing the wheels every few weeks to keep this from happening. In an earlier life I was a suspension mechanic in Michigan at an alignment shop and never came across corrosion issues like this.

I was a brake and suspension tech back in the 70s and seen way worse on old Fords and Dodges
Had to use the hot wrench almost daily on them to get anything loose

 

[Exqqqqme]

I was a brake and suspension tech back in the 70s and seen way worse on old Fords and Dodges
Had to use the hot wrench almost daily on them to get anything loose

Rust seized is a bit different than corroded away!

 

[Exqqqqme]

Only time I have seen corrosion like this on a vehicle is on those that spent a long time mired in flood waters. You getcha a flood special perhaps?

Nope, bought this Jeep new and never saw a flood.

 

[tommudd]

Rust seized is a bit different than corroded away!

Putting words in my post are we ?
Did I say " RUST " anywhere ?
By the way, got off early today, came home to do a "complete" front brake job on a Chevy Equinox or whatever those junk things are called
Front axles looked just as bad as some pictures posted on here , couple owned since new and always in Southeast Ohio
Yep it is a Chrysler thing LOL

 

[KKinTexas]

I was successful getting the old nuts off with a week long soak of pb blaster, a 34mm and a 35mm socket and a 30" long 1/2" breaker bar! I was worried I would have to cut them off! Here's a pic of old and new nuts.
Replacing struts, hubs and cv shafts. Should be great when it's done. Had to pound the hubs out of the spindle with a 3lb hammer, they were corroded and really stuck in there!

 

[KKinTexas]

Here's a shot of the before. This is after I cleaned it up!

 

[Johnny O]

I recently "discovered" a product new to me, call Free All.

I'm a Kroil man through and through, but Free All really does dissolve the rust that binds things up. I was amazed. Those through bolts on the front clevises that hold the shocks? Shot of free all and I didn't need the impact wrench.

Just my to cents on rust difficulties.


On that note, I have been following this thread and have come to the theory that perhaps the previous owner never pulled the wheels and the central hub covers collected lots of corrosive crud?

 

[KKinTexas]

I will try to get some of the Free all to try out! While I agree the previous owners probably only had the wheels off for tire rotations, this will happen because of
1) poor metal treatment of the hub and nut
2) water really does get trapped in there for some time. The wheel fits so tight and there are no gaps in the wheel casting to act as weep holes for water to get out. I've noticed this a number of times. I have the 5 spoke silver aluminum KK OEM wheels.

 

[Johnny O]

I will try to get some of the Free all to try out! While I agree the previous owners probably only had the wheels off for tire rotations, this will happen because of
1) poor metal treatment of the hub and nut
2) water really does get trapped in there for some time. The wheel fits so tight and there are no gaps in the wheel casting to act as weep holes for water to get out. I've noticed this a number of times. I have the 5 spoke silver aluminum KK OEM wheels.

Wondering how you made out with this mess? Good I hope!

 

[WyldWolf777]

I took the wheels off my wife's Liberty last night to replace the brakes and noticed something I've never seen before. Both front axles (I only inspected the visible portions) and axle nuts were severely corroded into a yellow powder. I was able to easily remove chunks by hand. There is no hint of the hex feature left on the axle nuts and no remaining thread on the ends of the axles. We are the second owners and the Jeep has always been a daily driver, not a trail Jeep. These are the factory original axles.

At first I thought the problem might be more widespread but a quick check showed only the two front axles suffering from this extreme corrosion. I called Jeep sent these pictures to our dealership so we'll see if they help us out here.

I am an Engineer and deal with different steels a lot as well as some corrosion testing and have never seen corrosion like this before. Something weird is going on here but our dealership claims they never saw anything like this before.

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Dang! Unbelievable amount of rust... Like it was run down the beach every day! Wow

 

[Davidc1]

Dang! Unbelievable amount of rust... Like it was run down the beach every day! Wow

Did you only have to replace the rusted nuts. Or did this require axle replacement and hubs as well. Looking at exact same issue.

 

[lfhoward]

I think it will depend on what happens when the old nut is removed. If the threads on the CV axle are still serviceable, you can keep it. If the nut looks like the pic on the first page, it is definitely needing to be replaced.