Well.. **** on a stick!

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ChoppyChoppy

Tree Freak
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20170210_174301.jpg Was headed out to deliver a load yesterday, didn't even make it 10 miles. Thought at first it was the wind, but pull over and could have boiled coffee on the drivers hub. Tried to limp it back, but it won't move under power. Guessing lost the bearings in the hub and broke the axle shaft.


At least I have friends who have friends that do towing.

The truck is parked level, should be straight with the mud flap.
 
Been there done that before. Mine was a Ford 250 with a 10.25 sterling axle. I did brakes then took it outside and parked it on a hillside both ways to let the hubs fill. Evidently one didn't get full and blew out a month later pulling a skidsteer on a trailer. Whole spindle was wrecked and the axle slid out.
 
Inconvenient, no doubt, but way cheaper than driving a new truck.

We just bought a six year old pickup last week to replace my aging mini van.
Priced used pickups, and got sticker shock.
Priced new.
Now I know what a bobble head feel like.
Went back to looking at used with 100,000 miles.

Shopping was interesting.
I talked with two mechanics. One a diesel mechanic that works on my big truck, the other works on our cars.
Met some real life clowns selling trucks too. A number of them...
Ram diesels were 200,000 miles and up, and still very pricy. Almost cult like, along with Jeep, Subaru's, Volvo, Land Rovers pricing.
Diesels in general, 150,000 plus miles, and pricy.

This is going to be a daily driver, and I don't really drive much anymore, so I chose gas.
Wife will be towing a bumper hitch 28' camping trailer with it.
I may sell the 2000 GMC 5500 flatbed firewood truck and switch to a dump trailer, or... put a scissors lift on the 5500 and keep it a couple more years.

A camper and pickup wasn't in the (my) plan, but she has never asked for much. I had actually been thinking of a used Ford Focus for myself.(About 1998, our then fourteen year old son and I helped crew on a 44' sailboat across the Atlantic from Spain to Barbados. It was a once in a life time thing. My boss said no to the month off of work, and I had to quit my job if I wanted to do it. Never would have happened without her support and effort.) She retired recently, and last month bought a beautiful older, one owner, 2005 camper with a blonde interior, for not a lot of money. She thought she was going to sell her car and get a mid-size SUV to tow with, but she didn't realize that would be close to maxing out the tow rating. Her car is only five years old, mine is going on twelve and 236,000. A pickup could work for both of us, and do double duty if need be, by putting a plow on it to keep the drive maintained in the winter better. Have not had a pickup in twenty years.

We made it fun, and took some day trips checking out trucks.
Found a 2011 Silverado 3500 in Kentucky, not far from a weaving shop she wanted to go to. Ended up getting a motel on that trip before driving back. Found a great little local breakfast place called Cliffside Cafe in Frankfort, KY. Beautiful country.
Plain Jane, reg. cab, 8' box, LT package (one notch up from a WT) which is electric mirrors and windows (nice), electric 4 x 4 transfer, and a cd. 103,000 and gas.

It has the 3.73 axle, so actually, a light duty one ton, with the lower 9,300 tow rating, 16,000 cgvw.
Not so heavy duty for firewood after all.
A dump trailer and a cord at most? Cord and a half maybe?
And making payments on a six year old vehicle. Just couldn't see larger, or longer payments for a similar year used high mileage diesel. The more mileage the rattier, broken down, the cab interiors were.
A 24' tandem axle firewood delivery flatbed to carry pallets, and the piggyback lift is going to have to wait, a long, long time.
But...my girl is well worth it.

And, I think we found a good truck. Checking out scissor lift kits for the 5500. I had a rear axle seal go out on that truck last fall.
 
Been there done that before. Mine was a Ford 250 with a 10.25 sterling axle. I did brakes then took it outside and parked it on a hillside both ways to let the hubs fill. Evidently one didn't get full and blew out a month later pulling a skidsteer on a trailer. Whole spindle was wrecked and the axle slid out.

Funny thing, I did the brakes 2 weeks ago. I've done several loads since and all seemed fine. I had packed the bearing with grease like I always do.
Not too sure what went wrong. The ring gear sort of "pumps" oil into the tube so should have filled the hubs in just a few hundred feet anyhow.
 
14 bolt...I'll bet the housing is shot. Bearings that are that screwed usually destroy the spindle. I've done that to both a street dump truck and an offroad truck.

Yeah, I'm hoping the spindle is ok. If it is I can fix it pretty cheaply.
 
The real fun too is I still have to deliver the wood. Have to put it all in another truck. -15* this morning, can't say I'm too excited to head outside just yet.
 
Corporate 14 bolts have oil bath bearings..you don't put grease on them.

Yes oil bath, but packing the bearings is SOP. Keeps them lubed before the hubs fill. The oil washes the grease out after a while, no harm aside from a bit of grease mixed in the gear oil.

I've been doing it for years on everything from pickup trucks to semis. Not sure what the books say anymore, but how I was taught in school anyhow.
 
When I was in school we where taught to dip all bearings designed for oil bath systems in the oil they're gonna be running in. The instructor said the additives in grease aren't ideal for gear mesh...said the particles that should end up stuck on the magnet end up adhering to the ring gear face.

Grease is just messy and unneeded but it's your truck.

When the bearing failed on my dump and the wheel leaned in that much the race had spun so bad a Speedy-sleeve couldn't even fix it...I hope that's not the case for you.
 
Unless the spindle is bent or worn darn bear through I can fix it.

Axle from junkyard would cost more than another truck.
 
My brother forgot to prelube a bearing like that once and got about 30 mi before it melted to the axle, not sure why it does not go in there easily but we fill the space between the bearings with oil before we slide hub on axle too.
We always usee oil to prelube it.
Chad
 
Spindle is trashed. Broke the axle shaft too.

Gonna put a new axle under it tomorrow.

20170216_181117.jpg
 
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