Proof that both God and my Dakota hate me:
on my way to Tully NY today (20ish miles south of Syracuse), I get an odd
vibe. Being as familiar as I am with the consequences of odd vibrations, I
limp off 690 and check it out. All ujoints seem fine, the left front tire
spins fine, etc (problem seemed centered at the left front tire area). Still
an odd vibration above about 30mph unless I'm on the brakes - or locked in 4wd
and on the gas....
Seemed to me to point to a bad CV in that corner - especially since turning
also affected the noise that soon became apparent. I limped along to my
friend's place here in Tully, and pulled the drive axle, figuring that I could
then get back to Rochester with a 3-wheel drive capable truck no problem.
right? wrong.
Got the shaft pulled, put the tire back on, and headed out for a quick test
drive. Ran it up to about 55, and got no vibe. I figured my problem was
solved. Then I made a right turn onto the second road of my square circut.
And the noise was back - but different. Instead of sounding like a clicking
with a bit of squeak, it sounded like a rubber-on-steel creaking. WTF? I
drove back and forth, and Casey looked for the source of the noise. I had
Casey drive back and forth, and I looked for the source of the noise. No
rubbing seen, nothing out of place, no ideas....
Then I got the jack back out, lifted that tire off the ground, and found my
problem: bad hub bearing - the wheel was wobbling horribly, and looking at the
back of the knuckle I could see that it was all the bearing's fault. I tried
riding the brakes to hold the tire on and limp it back home, but that only
worked for about a mile of the needed 2.5. Little damage done when the hub
came off since I was doing less than 5mph and felt it let loose - just the
brake pads and pulling the caliper out of alignment.
Hit up Advance Auto in Cortland to the tune of $305 for a new bearing/hub
assy, caliper, pins and pads. Need to go back tomorrow with my old caliper to
get a $55 core back, and to pick up the new caliper - it was the only part I
needed that they didn't have in stock.
Lesson learned: if you think you might have a bad CV, don't just pull the
shaft and test drive the truck - if it's actually a bad bearing, you'll give it
the chance to fully fail since there's no longer anything retaining the hub.
Which brings me to my one and only question from this "ordeal": *should* the
lack of that shaft have caused the bearing to fail, or would the bearing have
to have been bad to begin with? I certainly expect that the bearing being bad
would have to have been a pre-existing condition, but just for the record I'd
like to know if I was wrong about that.
Second lesson: when executing stupid testing procedures, do so with a AAA
member. free tow = teh goodness.
And finally - the biggest frustration of all. Not only did I drop a C note
on the RamCharger on my way here (coincedence or irony? ;-) ), but think of
the proportion of a SAS that $250 in wheel bearing and brake parts is! I've
been *waiting* for something stupid like this to happen as an excuse to park
the truck and work on an SAS. But not 100 miles from home. aaarrrgh!
-- Mike Maskalans RamCharger with $300 worth of mods in the last month Dakota with $300 worth of annoyances. today.
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