hello all from the lovely city of Sandusky, OH
when I hopped in the truck today leaving my friend Alan's place in
Cleveland, the truck felt a hair strange - something not quite right in
the steering, I though, but it could have been just cold to having been
riding in other vehicles, or whatever. I wasn't worried. she hadn't
let me down and I wasn't expecting her to.
I hopped on 480 westbound, and all was well. after getting on 80 west
of Cleveland, I noticed the odd feeling was definitely speed related,
and I could hear it a bit, too. I felt the 4x4 shift knob and it was
vibrating more than usual....
then rather quickly the vibration got much worse. I scrubbed some
speed and as I was heading for the right lane, intending to check it
out at the next service plaza (about 5-7 miles down) when I heard a
small crash under the truck and shit hitting the floorboards. that's
never a good thing, I thought to myself....
What I expected to see when I got out was a bad u joint and the rear
shaft slamming around in my safety hoop. the red fluid on the ground I
expected to be from the yoke having slid out of the tcase. but when I
bent over to investigate, the driveshaft was in the right place. and I
could see the chain through the giant hole in the t-case. the whole
half of the case that the front shaft attaches to had separated,
leaving that half of the case restrained by the front driveshaft
sitting on a crossmember and the chain hanging off the driving gears.
so my questions that I hope can be answered before I talk to the dealer
tomorrow morning:
can I pull the front shaft and limp around with it (5-10 miles to
parking), without killing the tailshaft of the trans or the rear
driveline? if I can, how do I get the chain out? of course, I left
the haynes in the truck (just thought of that...)
also, unlikely, but if I just pull apart the front drivetrain, might it
even make the other 750 miles? I'm betting it would depend on what
condition the rest of the housing is in, and whether or not it could
support the bearing in place in front of the rear shaft's front U
joint, right? I haven't taken a close enough look to know the answer
to that question.
will an NP208 off a 727 talk to my RE44/46, whatever the hell it is?
(5.2 auto) I'm wondering if I could use the RamCharger for a spare
part and then upgrade it's 'case to an Atlas or something....
what would a good stealer charge for a t-case R&R? I can do it myself,
but that involves buying/renting a trailer and trusting the RamCharger
from MN to here and then either back to MN or on to NY. Luckily, I do
have an option for storage here, so aside from the RC that could work.
I'm getting up at 07:00 tomorrow since the service dept opens at 08:00,
and I plan to rent a car and drive home tomorrow, so I want to know the
best option to leave my truck - in storage or under someone else's
wrench. I hope you're all up late!
if you have something important to say and you're "late", go ahead and
call me - cell # in sig.
thanks, all.
-- Michael Maskalans <http://mike.tepidcola.com/> ClassTech Consultant - ITS Printer Tech - ITS Lab Tech mobile.612.618.4652 campus.585.274.2246 fax.954.697.0487
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