Hey guys - im really really mad. how poorly can these kias be built?

This is my rant - just letting off some steam- last week i had my yearly MOT- over here in good old Israel we have our cars checked by the DMV once a year- they check every nut and bolt- including emissions tests etc. well- i take care of my rig so i didnt expect any funny stuff - but at the end of the test i failed. why? - a tear in the chasis. SAY WHAT???? this is a ladder frame - not a unibody. what could possibly go wrong??

And then i was taken to my truck and to my amazement i was shown the damage. if you look inside the front whellarch you will see the chasis. a part of the steering system is bolted to the chasis. this part:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-FRONT-IDLER-AR...ies&vxp=mtr

Well- the metal around the bolts that attach the steering thingy to the chasis simply tore the metal around them!!!! the whole bolt area was cracked. so yeah- i took it to the shop - a kia shop- and guess what they said? - dude...its not a wrangler. really sherlock? Turns out its not the first one they fixed with this kind of problem. they weld a metal plate aroud the area-but need to re align the wheels ETC.

im really disappointed- mainly at the build quality..

well, to be completely honest and not trying to be an ass, what do you expect? you went beyond the engineering requirements with your truck. stuff is going to break. turning taller/heavier tires at a different angle than designed (lifted) along with an "offset" or backspacing on the wheel that is greater than factory is going to put stress on components greater than they can withstand.

look, it's not as bad as what is happening to 98+ Honda Passports and Isuzu Rodeos;

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&a...l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=d6f4b804f9f84a38&biw=1600&bih=747

the entire frame rusts to pieces..

broken steering box mounts are common in the 4wheeling arena when you go big..

i'm just saying that some times something has to give and you can't complain about crappy build quality if you're wheelin your rig and break something..

now power window regulators failing and all the other "common" problems.. yeah. that's understandable.

Look on the bright side, someone checked it for you and pointed out something that could have turned into a dangerous situation before it had a chance to turn into a dangerous situation.

It happens to the "Big Boys" too. Toyota had a serious frame rot issue with previous model Tacoma. The frame basically would break in half when it got bad enough. Toyota was buying them back at "Excellent" Kelley Blue Book value regardless of the shape they were in to get them off the street, and then crushing them. My father-in-law had almost 200K on his when they bought it back.

Man, that sucks!!! But I can't say that I'm surprised. I found the frame to be rather weak-looking when I butchered the front end of my Sporty to install a steel bumper. The power and drive trains seem to be pretty solid. But the frame and body were made with as little metal as Kia could get away with, I suspect. Here's a photo of the open frame. As you can see, it is a light-gauge steel formed into 2 C-channels that are inset and welded. I could easily bend the pieces that I had chopped off with pliers while mounted in a vice... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> Maybe reinforcing the steering box mount is a good idea...

Your experancing a problem that happends to every make of 4WD when lifted with big tires and driven off road, the big differance with a Kia is you are not wheeling the normal 4WD so no one make a reinforcement for them. I have wheeled a lot of differant vehicles and this Kia is as tuff as they come. Mine has been lifted for 12 year, 140,000 miles with no issues but I inspect mine alot. Build a reinforcement, weld it up and Keep wheelin.

Dennis

guess so...anyway- the chasis was reinforce on both sides - i hope that wont happen again. as for the rot in the toyota chasis...i guess its not the same but its still very upseting.

I've seen this on even off-road modified chevy pickups and suburbans. Yup.. it's no jeep, but why conform? We all know what a jeep can do and we all know what they cost as a result.. but what they aren't thinking about is all the electrical problems that come with jeeps.. OMG don't even get me started there!!! jeeps and their stupid electrical technicals... gah!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

x2, I've got a 97 Grand Cherokee. I'm learning to ignore the warnings. The latest one shows it being in 4wd Lo.

yer that happen to me on idler and box side Just weld it up,but i am running 225x75x16 turbo 2L crawler gears <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />