At least you had the thought that something was not "right" and had the
failure occur at low MPH.
Think of the additional expense if it had happened at speed. 3 wheeled
trucks don't balance too well ;-)
TonyC
-----Original Message-----
From: mike-lists@tepidcola.com <mike-lists@tepidcola.com>
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
<dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net>
Date: Friday, July 16, 2004 12:48 AM
Subject: DML: Guahhhh!
>
> 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.
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Aug 01 2004 - 00:46:15 EDT