I'll post about the fun at Paragon on the Paragon post, but I had to share this story on how I got home, since it was basically an adventure in itself.
Well, first, I had a lot of carnage at Paragon. Basically did the "M" trail and the "M" trail extension. (tough trails!)
Bent one main rear leaf spring built by ORD/Alcan.
destroyed almost every greasable poly bushing I had. Expecially on my front springs.
So, I'm towing this 4x8 trailer with my jacks and 5 - 39.5" swampers in there to Philly, which was suppose to be 2.5 hours from Paragon. Almost every bump I hit on the road I would get THE most crazy and scary Death Wobble ever! Now I know how yall with death wobble feel, but I don't think yall ever had it this bad. The steering wheel will shake violently from left to right in my hand. I can't control it. I tried throttling through, but it made it worse, so I basically had to stop the vehicle to stop the wobble. I can't even steer off to the shoulder of the road. There were a lot of pissed off people on the road that day /forums/images/icons/smirk.gif Honking and yelling...
Anyhow, so this goes on for 60 or so miles. I finally found a Truck stop rest area with a huge parking lot to pull in and see what's going on.
While Fran (my g/f) goes and buys fresh fruits and stuff, I'm under the truck meditating on how I'm going to fix this "bushingless" problem. The thing is, the bushings at the shackle were completely shreaded where it left maybe a 1/2" gap on each side. This was for both of the front shackles. Each bump I hit made the shackle slide left and right. Caused major play in the steering as well.
First thing to pop in my head was, "Could Duck tape fix this?" /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif Nah!
So I'm searching and my g/f is searching the parking lot for something, anything. We found some old shreaded tire rubber on the side. I figure I could use these as the bushings.
I took them back and cut them up to size and cut a hole in them for the bolt to stick through.(poking a hole through old rubber was a pain!)
Had to use some rocks in the area to put on my jack to help jack up the frame to remove the shackle (floor jack doesn't reach up to the frame). Crushed a rock in the process...scary!
Replaced the crushed rock with another rock (all there was in this lot) Put the old tire rubber in there and bolted them tight.
This took me about two hours.
Finally got her back on the road and amazingly, the freaking tire rubber was holding up! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
I started bracing myself for every bump on the road (and these road has some bumps!), but the truck would try and jerk a little but nothing like before.
Finally made it into Philly to pick up my sister. The streets of Philly SUCK for driving /forums/images/icons/mad.gif . Potholes everywhere.
Try to find parking, but everyone wanted $30 or $20 to park for an hour. So, I said the hell with it and just told my sister to jump in and we'll roll.
So, I'm out of Philly and back on the bumpy highway road.
All of the sudden, death wobble is back /forums/images/icons/frown.gif .
Something must've jarred loose in that pothole infested city they call Philly.
So I do an almost complete stop and then pulled on the shoulder of the road...pissing more people off.
I go under the truck to try and tighten down the shackle some more. Burned my hand on the exhaust pipe during the process... /forums/images/icons/mad.gif
Jump back in and I'm off again. Basically, every bump I hit, I just slam the brake right before and the truck will only wobble a tad.
Hours and hours later, I finally make it home. It's suppose to take 2.5 hours to get from Philly to home, but....
The whole trip took over 10 hours.
Truck will be parked until I can get some bushings and a new main leaf for this rear spring. Hope Watson at ORD will work with me on this...the springs were brand new!
All in all, I was basically "That Guy" on the road yesterday. "That Guy" that was going 20 below the speed limit with his hazards on the whole way. "That Guy" with his hands clenched so hard on the wheel, that it would go numb after a little while. "That Guy" that everyone blows by and beeps and curses at!. "That Guy" that was leaned up on the seat and staring at the road cautiously. That was me! /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif
Glad I'm home and alive.
One Positive thing to come out of this is, It convinced Fran that having a tow rig as a daily is not a bad idea.
At this point, if I can't get my truck trailered somehow to Tellico for the Dixie, then there is no way in hell I'm driving it down there "suppose to be" 13+ hours one way trip, b/c I'm sure I'll get some major carnage down there just like up here.....Thanks for listening.
Boss
Well, first, I had a lot of carnage at Paragon. Basically did the "M" trail and the "M" trail extension. (tough trails!)
Bent one main rear leaf spring built by ORD/Alcan.
destroyed almost every greasable poly bushing I had. Expecially on my front springs.
So, I'm towing this 4x8 trailer with my jacks and 5 - 39.5" swampers in there to Philly, which was suppose to be 2.5 hours from Paragon. Almost every bump I hit on the road I would get THE most crazy and scary Death Wobble ever! Now I know how yall with death wobble feel, but I don't think yall ever had it this bad. The steering wheel will shake violently from left to right in my hand. I can't control it. I tried throttling through, but it made it worse, so I basically had to stop the vehicle to stop the wobble. I can't even steer off to the shoulder of the road. There were a lot of pissed off people on the road that day /forums/images/icons/smirk.gif Honking and yelling...
Anyhow, so this goes on for 60 or so miles. I finally found a Truck stop rest area with a huge parking lot to pull in and see what's going on.
While Fran (my g/f) goes and buys fresh fruits and stuff, I'm under the truck meditating on how I'm going to fix this "bushingless" problem. The thing is, the bushings at the shackle were completely shreaded where it left maybe a 1/2" gap on each side. This was for both of the front shackles. Each bump I hit made the shackle slide left and right. Caused major play in the steering as well.
First thing to pop in my head was, "Could Duck tape fix this?" /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif Nah!
So I'm searching and my g/f is searching the parking lot for something, anything. We found some old shreaded tire rubber on the side. I figure I could use these as the bushings.
I took them back and cut them up to size and cut a hole in them for the bolt to stick through.(poking a hole through old rubber was a pain!)
Had to use some rocks in the area to put on my jack to help jack up the frame to remove the shackle (floor jack doesn't reach up to the frame). Crushed a rock in the process...scary!
Replaced the crushed rock with another rock (all there was in this lot) Put the old tire rubber in there and bolted them tight.
This took me about two hours.
Finally got her back on the road and amazingly, the freaking tire rubber was holding up! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
I started bracing myself for every bump on the road (and these road has some bumps!), but the truck would try and jerk a little but nothing like before.
Finally made it into Philly to pick up my sister. The streets of Philly SUCK for driving /forums/images/icons/mad.gif . Potholes everywhere.
Try to find parking, but everyone wanted $30 or $20 to park for an hour. So, I said the hell with it and just told my sister to jump in and we'll roll.
So, I'm out of Philly and back on the bumpy highway road.
All of the sudden, death wobble is back /forums/images/icons/frown.gif .
Something must've jarred loose in that pothole infested city they call Philly.
So I do an almost complete stop and then pulled on the shoulder of the road...pissing more people off.
I go under the truck to try and tighten down the shackle some more. Burned my hand on the exhaust pipe during the process... /forums/images/icons/mad.gif
Jump back in and I'm off again. Basically, every bump I hit, I just slam the brake right before and the truck will only wobble a tad.
Hours and hours later, I finally make it home. It's suppose to take 2.5 hours to get from Philly to home, but....
The whole trip took over 10 hours.
Truck will be parked until I can get some bushings and a new main leaf for this rear spring. Hope Watson at ORD will work with me on this...the springs were brand new!
All in all, I was basically "That Guy" on the road yesterday. "That Guy" that was going 20 below the speed limit with his hazards on the whole way. "That Guy" with his hands clenched so hard on the wheel, that it would go numb after a little while. "That Guy" that everyone blows by and beeps and curses at!. "That Guy" that was leaned up on the seat and staring at the road cautiously. That was me! /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif
Glad I'm home and alive.
One Positive thing to come out of this is, It convinced Fran that having a tow rig as a daily is not a bad idea.
At this point, if I can't get my truck trailered somehow to Tellico for the Dixie, then there is no way in hell I'm driving it down there "suppose to be" 13+ hours one way trip, b/c I'm sure I'll get some major carnage down there just like up here.....Thanks for listening.
Boss
