removing front drive shaft

[hotrod31]

pos mounty: how did you kill your vc?

 

[my pos mounty]

pos mounty: how did you kill your vc?

You seriously should not have asked!
Go get a drink, sit back, relax and prepare to laugh at this very long sad story!
What killed it was probably what kills 90% of them, and will give some insight as to how I arrived at my screen name. The death of it is a long story, but the moral is invaluable.
My wife had the truck, and drove it to New York City (about 4 1/2 hours from here) to visit her family. When she was on her way back, she got a flat tire (tires that were just days old mind you). She did not want to "worry" me, so instead of calling me she called an uncle that was closer to where she was.
No, I did not have a spare on the truck. Her uncle owns a tire shop.
Now, one would think that someone that owns an automotive related business would know about the AWD system and how sensitive it is. Basically, you can not run tires of a different circumference anywhere on the truck. Doing so would cause the VC to absorb the difference in rotational speed and quickly heat up (and seize). You can see now where this is going, right?
So, uncle shows up with a "spare" that is a 15 inch, I have 16's. Uncle tells wife (who points out the difference) and he says it will be ok. Naturally she believes uncle because he owns a tire shop and should know better. She then thanks uncle, gets behind the wheel and attempts to make it the remaining 4 hours home. She made it about 2 hours. Thats when I finally got the call. Towed truck home on trailer, replaced both wheelbearings and three Front CV axles as I tried to fix that weird noise. Three because one was a defective unit from Autozone.
Thought my issue was gone, again drove truck to New York City. Stopped in the twilight hours in Connecticut at a 24 hour diner. Came out to find some drunk kids that were in the parking lot must have thought it would be funny to stab the sidewalls of two of my now 3 week old tires. I see they are low and make a mad dash across the street to a gas station, put air in them and hit the highway thinking I will continue to add air along the way home (it was 3:30 am on a Sunday, no tire stores open on Sundays). I make it all the way to western Mass, where I got off the highway to fill them at a station I can see from the highway. Well, the air pump (the only one for 15 miles) is out of order. I try the "fix-a-flat" as they had 2 cans, no dice. (The connectors actually break, what luck!) About an 1 1/2 hours later, some guy driving a service truck offers to add air to my tires. Thank you George! I had searched using my GPS and found a tire store open on Sunday 30 miles from the highway, opens @ 8! I make the dash, inquire about my brand of tire and am told by the recent high school graduate that the Goodyear tire is EXACTLY the same circumference as the Michelins I have. Put 2 new tires on the front, "old" tires on the back, and off I go. This is my own stupidity for believing that kid. I drove the truck for a month this way, thought those noises were from when the wife had her mishap. Then it was while I was replacing all 4 of the brakes when it hit me that those tires were NOT the same size! Called the tire store where I bought the Goodyears (like that was going to help). Like talking to a stone wall. I pull my front driveshaft at this point. Pretty much falls apart. (I am unemployed, and broke)
Again, I have not learned my lesson, and I drive truck to NYC. As I return home, I exit the main highway to a rest area/gas station. I hit the brake pedal with confidence in my new brake job, and BOOM! The right front drops to the ground, steering wheel shaking like a **** and it pulling HARD right when I use the brakes! WTF NOW?? I get it stopped, white knuckles and adrenalin pumping. Get out of the truck and look at the right front. The damn thing is FLAT AGAIN! Still no spare, no cash. I call a truck service company. $300 later, he tells me thanks, but your rim is cut most of the way around from the caliper slamming into the aluminum rim. One of the bolts that hold the caliper bracket to the knuckle is among the missing. He of course does not have a rim and doesn't know where to get one either.Takes my credit card number and signature and leaves me where I was two hours ago. I wake a friend up (it is now 7AM Sunday morning) and he will be at the local yard to get me one and drive it to me. Damn I have good friends! He gets rim, buys me a new tire (the right brand/size), gets a new bolt and brings tools. I owe him many many drinks for that one.
Drive truck for a few more weeks. Replace upper/lower ball joints on both sides and outer tie rods on both sides as well as the front sway bar links. Front end WAY out of alignment, make appointment, drive in, they put it up on the rack and tell me my outer tie rods are junk! (AUTOZONE parts suck!) I go buy a set of real outers and replace them again, get it aligned.
Drive a week, get one real bad stench coming into the truck. Investigate, find the pinion on the front diff is spewing oil. Removed both new CV shafts, cut them at the outer joint to keep a stub shaft in the wheel bearing and totally remove my front differential.
A few days pass, and my rear driveshaft is showing signs that the U-joints are toast. I replace both of those, but that weird whine is getting louder by the day. Yep, you guessed it, my rear differential is now gone as well.
It is exactly one week to the day after I had major back surgery and I am replacing my rear axle assembly. Six hours or so later, and with my wife doing some of the work for me, we are driving the truck again.

So, in conclusion to my long sordid tale, that one trip and my subsequent stupidity cost me (Parts only):
1) 2 brand new CV joints
2) Both wheel bearing/hubs
3) front driveshaft
4) Front differential
5) 2 U-joints for rear driveshaft
6) May have caused upper balljoints premature deaths??
7) Also lower balljoints deaths?
8) contribute to both outer tierods death?
9) bought 8 brand new tires and 2 rims (I have a spare now)
10) rear differential/seals/fluid/friction modifier
11) my transfercase is junk and still makes a "laughing" noise at slow speeds. I think it is laughing at me for what it has put me through.
12) Alot of drinks to my friend, as well as a crap load of free work on his 2 Harleys

Lessons for all:
A) Always carry a spare tire/rim the proper size to what you are running
B) Rotate your tires and spare frequently to ensure they are all the same size
C) Do not believe what others tell you (2 instances of that here)
D) Carry the proper tools to change your own damn tire
E) Show wife how to do it too
F) Tell wife that no matter what happens, call me first
G) Real friends are an invaluable resource
H) NEVER, EVER run a different sized tire on an All Wheel Drive Truck, EVER, under any circumstances
I) "Hands on" education is the only way to really understand the mechanics of the truck.
J) Sometimes, when it rains, it POURS for a long long time
K) NEVER buy suspension/mechanical parts from Autozone unless the part is a known brand name, no "duralast" does not qualify. That name signifies "cheap" and I do not mean inexpensive. Cheaply manufactured to the minimum standard and should never go on your trucks.
L) Always, always, always use the torque wrench and blue loctite when doing brakes on these trucks.

 

[KRWebster]

My head hurts from that one. Amazed you aren't locked up in a psych ward after that escapade.

 

[hotrod31]

pos mounty thats quite the escapade, sorry to here about all the problems! but are still running the truck with no front drive shaft and axles? does it still work fine? Why would you bother removing the front diff if you removed the front axles and drive shaft(you can just replace the front pinion seal)

 

[my pos mounty]

Still going with no front diff, no cv/axles (except the stubs so that the hubs do not collapse) and obviously no front driveshaft. No issues at all.

Well, after that lucky streak, I just had had enough and removing it and being done with it all just seemed like the better choice. One less thing to go wrong.
I still have the front diff sitting in my friends garage and can replace the pinion seal at my leisure, but the smell of the oil tells me that the diff had overheated and burned the oil. Possibly damaging the bearings and all the other seals. Since I can get a diff at the junkyard for less than $100, I figure why even bother? Once I get another job, this truck may be getting retired or at least it will be seeing alot less use.

 

[97sprt4x4]

were the tires the wrong size ie 265/70R16 vs 255/70R16 or were they two of the same sizes with a different Actual size meaning both were 255/70R16 but the tires measure out to be 30.1 vs 30.2.

Justin

 

[my pos mounty]

were the tires the wrong size ie 265/70R16 vs 255/70R16 or were they two of the same sizes with a different Actual size meaning both were 255/70R16 but the tires measure out to be 30.1 vs 30.2.

Justin

I don't know if that question was directed at me, but I am going to respond to it anyway and I am assuming you mean the Goodyear/Michelin difference?
They were both labeled 265/70R16, however the Goodyears were substantially taller than the Michelins. The Goodyears were run on the front, Michelins on the back, the difference in circumference had to be absorbed by the viscous coupler in the transfercase. (Remember I have AWD, not A4WD) That constant "slipping" created a ton of extra friction/heat in the transfercase and cooked the VC.

 

[97sprt4x4]

I don't know if that question was directed at me, but I am going to respond to it anyway and I am assuming you mean the Goodyear/Michelin difference?
They were both labeled 265/70R16, however the Goodyears were substantially taller than the Michelins. The Goodyears were run on the front, Michelins on the back, the difference in circumference had to be absorbed by the viscous coupler in the transfercase. (Remember I have AWD, not A4WD) That constant "slipping" created a ton of extra friction/heat in the transfercase and cooked the VC.

This is really interesting, I never realized the case was so sensitive, do you know what the actual measurements of the tires were?

 

[drothgeb]

If I were to remove the front driveshaft on my 4x4 97 (Not AWD) would there have to be any special things done besides putting the stubs of the CVs in the hubs?

 

[Vargas]

If I were to remove the front driveshaft on my 4x4 97 (Not AWD) would there have to be any special things done besides putting the stubs of the CVs in the hubs?

If you just remove the driveshaft and leave the front differential in place, you don't need to do anything else.

 

[my pos mounty]

This is really interesting, I never realized the case was so sensitive, do you know what the actual measurements of the tires were?

No, When I noticed it I was doing brakes and had both tires off of one side of the truck, and noticed the difference. I would say it was close to 1/2 inch in height, and yes, the AWD is very sensitive.
Look at it this way, 1/2 inch times how many revolutions that tire makes in a mile times how many miles you are driving on the specific trip. That difference will have to be absorbed by the Viscous Coupling in the transfercase, and that slipping will cause heat. Heat that will literally cook your transfercase.
Again, this is specific to the All Wheel Drive and does not apply to the Auto 4 Wheel Drive.
Well, it does, kind of apply to the A4WD system, just that it is not nearly as sensitive.

 

[97sprt4x4]

I realize this i'm just getting verification because of the fact that i work at a tire shop, and i have had customers come and specifically request 2 tires on a v8 explorer. and when they come in for rotations they do not have this said problem. Of course we have a waiver on the invoice to have them sign when it's 4wd/awd to release us of liability, but you're the first case i've seen of someone having the same "size" tire mess thier truck up if it was the same type of tire.

Justin

 

[my pos mounty]

Labeled as the same sized tire by different manufacturers and they had different circumferences.
I may have also had underlying problems before getting the mismatched set of tires on the truck. In that looooong story I wrote about the events leading up to that, the problem certainly could have started when my wife drove the truck for almost 2 hours with one VERY different sized tire on the front. I do not recall the exact size of that tire as I tossed it out, but it was a 15 inch rim, and substantially shorter than the other 3 on the truck. That event is what started the "dominoes falling" so to speak.

 

[99awd50]

Without the front driveshaft, the vehicle can still move with the transmission in PARK.

I am removing mine today in preps for a dyno tune friday and I am going cross country in that ***** and need all the MPG i can obtain... i have 2 big rubber chop blocks for security when parked.. CHEERS

 

[99awd50]

Removing the driveshaf was easy..... i also put the explorer on an alignment rack and straightened out the TOW, both wheels were tracking left.... i put all the driveshaft hardware in a old (but clean) sock that way nothing gets lost...

Dyno tune tomorrow at 10am!! KILL