Quite a night.

I had to go to work and get something done tonight because the power was off in most of the plant all day.

On the way in I noticed a hum/thrum when I let off the gas around 40 mph. That got worse on the way there, and even worse coming home.

Coming home, as I pulled off the highway and had to stop at a light, the truck went clunk-pause-clunk from underneath when I rolled slowly. I'm hoping it's just u-joints. I limped it home and the driveshaft feels slightly loose when I shake it, but I'm going to inspect it more in the morning light.

I haven't even gotten to putting on the shackles yet, so the driveline angle shouldn't be way off.

Anyway, thoughts on this? Advice on troubleshooting? Looking in the manual it doesn't look too bad to replace the u-joints. Remember I have the 4x2 rear.

 

does it have a vibration from the rear? can u feel play in the rear driveshaft?

best bet is to go over everything from the inout shaft to the rear axle. sounds like the u-joints tho. they are easy to replace. i use a socket and hammer to pount the old ones out. i would try to get some heavy duty sealed ones so u dont have grease them. i got mine from advanced for like $20. make sure to mark the shaft before u take it off so u can allign it again. good luck.

 

Sounds like U joints.
Truck in park, e brake on, crawl under the truck and turn the drive shaft to check for play.
If no play I would suspect bearings, but they usually produce sound under load not coasting down.
Your driving style (punch it, wheel hop, 2WD unstoppable powerman) would suggest pre-mature U joint failure.
Good luck, I hope it is cheap and able to be done in your driveway.

 

Well, it's not looking good.

My neighbor the mechanic came out and checked it at my request. I couldn't detect ANY play in the u-joints -- but the gear lash going into the differential seemed excessive. He looked at it and thought the same thing -- way too much lash.

So, I took it to the local dealer for the first time and the service manager drove it and said it still might be u-joints, even if you can't feel it by hand, or it could be a problem with the rear. Another customer said he had the same problem in his Ranger and they had to replace the rear.

I have the $100 deductible 100K mile warranty. Hopefully they'll cover it -- if not: big bucks maybe. Don't know. I'm having faith that one way or the other I can manage it.

I'm glad those longer shackles aren't on there. FOR SURE they would blame it on them if they were.

 

Even though you don't like me, I'll offer some advice. Just go buy a new rear end at a junk yard. Someone I work with got one for $100 for their Ranger. You'll never get yours rebuilt for that money.

 

John, I think it's time to trade it in for a 4x4!!

Seriously tho, now may be the time to consider replacing the L/S with a locker of some type. If you intend to keep the 4x2 for a while and still offroad with it, and E-locker like Carl has or even the lockrite may be the way to go. When I had the rear failure in my 84 Jimmy, I put in the lockrite and never had a problem again and I wheeled that truck hard.

 

Well, Dave, I'm a hot-headed Irishman and my liking you or not liking you is kind of like the wind -- it blows over and then there's no sign of it. Too emotional for my own good, don't you know?

That's a pretty good alternative, though, should it come to that -- so thanks.

 

Yes, however, the locker Carl had (similar to the LockRite) was probably instrumental in the candy-caning of one of his axleshafts. I would have thought the LS would be more "forgiving" in high torque situations. Oh well. I wait to see how I must proceed.

 

While there is a good possibility that this is true, I have a theory based on what we saw when pulling the thing apart.

One thing that we noticed is that the brakes on the side with the good axle were completely destroyed. The backing plate was torn and twisted, the shoes were bent, and the cylinder had one ear torn off and needed to be replaced. Since all of the trauma to the axle was on the other side of the vehicle, I could come to only one conclusion as to what happened to the brakes. Keep in mind, that this is just theory and I could be wrong.

My theory is that the failure started with the brakes on the passenger side and while he had significant wheel speed (minimal ground speed) the passenger side brakes failed and locked up thus twisting the backing plate and destroying everything else in it's path. When this happened, the tire lost it's momentum suddenly thus stopping the axle and (thanks to the locker) stopping the driver's side axle. The difference is that the driver's side brake had not locked up so the momentum that was built up in the tire (33" I believe plus significant rotational velocity) continued to turn the tire until the weakest link in the chain broke. This is the only theory I could come up with that explains the damage to the passenger side brakes and the snapped driver's side axle at the same time.

Certainly, lockers DO put more stress on axles, there is no denying that however I believe that Carl's situation was unique. The best solution to it would be to go with the E-locker that gives push-button activation like the ARB but doesn't require an air compressor.

 

Okay, that sounds reasonable.

Tom, if they deny my warranty claim and I have to get a rear axle somewhere, can you help me pick it up? Without the truck, I'll have no way to get it. In fact, without the truck I'm pretty much screwed ANYWAY. Daily driver and all that.

Still haven't heard from them, but they are VERY backed up.

 

No problem. Just let me know when and where.

 

Thank you, Tom. I haven't forgotten you on those names at SunGard -- my son-in-law just hasn't given me them yet. He's worse than I am on procrastinating -- no, that's not fair -- few are as bas as I am!!!

 

Hahaha... I have to work on my resume anyhow.

 

U need to have it in N or put the e-brake on b4 you put it in park. Or u will have pressure on the driveshaft and won't be able to turn it at all.

But sounds like u were able to turn it some, ie the reason u thought there was so much backlash. Did u look at the u-joints as u turned the shaft. Was there any signs or looseness in the driveshaft? Also did u turn and walk next to the truck while someone drove it really slow and see if the nosie is coming for the driveshaft or the brake drums?? Maybe something is wrong with your brakes? But u said the noise was at 40mph when u let off the gas, which sounds like a gear problem. But than there was the clunk-pause-clunk when rolling slow.

Good luck John, let us know what happens.

 

Well, I got an answer.

It's not the u-joints.
It's not the driveshaft
It's not the transmission
It's not the differential or axles
It's not the brakes.

Running out of options aren't we?

I'll give you a hint -- it was a self-inflicted wound.

Guess it yet? I didn't tighten the lugnuts enough on the right rear tire and it was coming loose.

It destroyed the new M/T wheel, and the studs. They are putting new studs in -- at my expense obviously -- and mounting my spare for me.

So, I have to buy a new wheel, and NOW they aren't such a deal, lol! But it's my fault, so I'll pay the piper.

Could be worse! And yes, I DO feel stupid!

On the plus side -- they LIKED the Duff traction bars and praised them and said they would save my u-joints and diff. They did full lash measurements on my drive train and said it is in fine shape as far as they can tell -- THAT'S a relief! After all, I have ragged it pretty good.

They said they felt foolish also for not looking at the wheel FIRST. I don't feel so bad for not having caught it -- just for having CAUSED it!!!

 

The upside: at least it's not something more serious!

Glad to hear you'll be back underway shortly. And no worries, I've done far worse.. This weekend I rolled a farkin' tractor! :-o

 

Define "rolled" -- I take it you don't mean either that you mugged it and tooks it's money, or that you had sex with it? Not that I would put either past you, lol!

No, no, I know what you mean. It's just fun to misconstrue as slang.

 

No, I mean that I put the frigin' thing on it's side in a 3 foot deep trench that I had just finished digging.. It's a long, painful story about how I should never be permitted to operate heavy equipment in sand! The summary is that I'm okay. And after three hours w/ a set of spare tire jacks, some chopped fire-wood for bracing, 15 ft of chain (5 less than we needed, as luck has it), and a 1 ton com-a-long we got it upright and started again. The bad news is it had lost fluids and took us another hour to get the hydrolics working again!

 

Wow, I didn't know you meant rolled it THAT bad!!! I'm glad you're okay -- good story though! :)

 

Always the little things John, I took my snowblower out today, and found it has a hole in the carb, theres no reason it should be. I'm glad I found it out today, than in a snow storm.

I hope my tank did egg you into it Colin,glad things are ok with it

 

Yeah, total picnic! Still trying to figure out you I f'ed things up that bad..
Huh??

 

 

Original text: I hope my tank did egg you into it Colin,glad things are ok with it

Translation: I hope my heavy equipment, which I have posted on previously, had an influence on you in such way that you were motivated to operate similar equipment -- which I find delightful. However, I am QUITE glad you were not injured as a result.

 

whoops, didnt notice the many errors in that sentence, but John didn't do too bad of a job translating it either, lol.

"I hope my tank did egg you into it Colin,glad things are ok with it" +
"I hope my tank didn't egg you into taking things too far Colin, glad things are ok with it, and your ok."

 

Nope, even forgot about your post, it was a while ago. Although I'm sure I could probably flip that sucker too given the opportunity..