mountainexplorer
1/2 ton status
Farewell to Brutus. Finally. In a way I hate to get rid of it... in another way it was becoming a money pit but even moreso a labor pit.
It now has become a project and may be seen over at http://www.4wheelingplus.com/ getting a bigger lift, and bigger tires.
The plan was tow it over 3/4 of the way across the state and drop it off, then continue to the Seattle area to pick up another truck I had got like 3 months ago but not physically gotten yet.
Loaded was Brutus on the trailer, with a little excess tongue weight so it wouldn't overhang the rear, a bunch of parts, 36" Swampers, and a 14-bolt rear end in the '81 1-ton flatbed.
It was driving and towing great. I just had finally mounted 4 matching wheels and 4 matching tires onto it. Aluminum rims... which I had already driven 100 miles on continually re-checking lug nuts to ensure they didn't come loose.
It did give me a strange wandering feeling at 3 different spots along the way. At a rest stop, about 15 miles away from where I was dropping Brutus off at, I did a walk around check. No loose lug nuts, nothing vidually out of the ordinary. I take off again and get 1.5 miles down I-90 and BOOM, and then the truck jerk violently and the the rear drivers side drops. I immediately know the rear tires flew off and just concentrated on keeping the truck and trailer straight and slowed down from 60mph, and over to the shoulder. It was about 11pm and dark.
5 studs left, threads kinda stripped, and all bent. The others broke off in the hub assembly. I found the tire way back on the road. Sidewall of the tire had a huge hole in it, and the rim was cracked and also garbage. All other lug nuts on all other wheels on the truck were still equally tight.
I had a spare tire... and spare lug nuts, but the studs were toast. Oh wait- I have a whole other 14-bolt rear with me. A couple guys stopped to make sure I was ok, and I sent them on their way after I figured out I had a way to fix it on my own.
I'd just swap out the hub assembly and drum from the rear end in the bed, put the spare tire on, then be back driving again. So I started. Pulled out the jack... noticed everything stayed tied into the flatbed, but shifted from the shock of impact. The swampers all moved, and the round plate that sits atop the floor jack was gone. It flew up in the air during the ordeal and I found it way back on the opposite side of the road.
Swapped it all around and went again... with a bouncing almost clunking noise that sounded like it was from under the truck or underneath. Nothing was visually wrong. I kept driving. I still did the weird swaying/floating feel as it had 3 times before.
Dropped off Brutus at about 2am, drove to the next rest stop and slept.
Next morning drove to Mikes (TrcksR4me) place in Bothell, to put the rear end under the truck I was getting and load it on the trailer. Mike helped by putting some used studs he had into the other hub assembly so I could put it on the rear end and put it under the truck and got it on the trailer and was ready to head home. No more incidents.
It now has become a project and may be seen over at http://www.4wheelingplus.com/ getting a bigger lift, and bigger tires.
The plan was tow it over 3/4 of the way across the state and drop it off, then continue to the Seattle area to pick up another truck I had got like 3 months ago but not physically gotten yet.
Loaded was Brutus on the trailer, with a little excess tongue weight so it wouldn't overhang the rear, a bunch of parts, 36" Swampers, and a 14-bolt rear end in the '81 1-ton flatbed.
It was driving and towing great. I just had finally mounted 4 matching wheels and 4 matching tires onto it. Aluminum rims... which I had already driven 100 miles on continually re-checking lug nuts to ensure they didn't come loose.
It did give me a strange wandering feeling at 3 different spots along the way. At a rest stop, about 15 miles away from where I was dropping Brutus off at, I did a walk around check. No loose lug nuts, nothing vidually out of the ordinary. I take off again and get 1.5 miles down I-90 and BOOM, and then the truck jerk violently and the the rear drivers side drops. I immediately know the rear tires flew off and just concentrated on keeping the truck and trailer straight and slowed down from 60mph, and over to the shoulder. It was about 11pm and dark.
5 studs left, threads kinda stripped, and all bent. The others broke off in the hub assembly. I found the tire way back on the road. Sidewall of the tire had a huge hole in it, and the rim was cracked and also garbage. All other lug nuts on all other wheels on the truck were still equally tight.
I had a spare tire... and spare lug nuts, but the studs were toast. Oh wait- I have a whole other 14-bolt rear with me. A couple guys stopped to make sure I was ok, and I sent them on their way after I figured out I had a way to fix it on my own.
I'd just swap out the hub assembly and drum from the rear end in the bed, put the spare tire on, then be back driving again. So I started. Pulled out the jack... noticed everything stayed tied into the flatbed, but shifted from the shock of impact. The swampers all moved, and the round plate that sits atop the floor jack was gone. It flew up in the air during the ordeal and I found it way back on the opposite side of the road.
Swapped it all around and went again... with a bouncing almost clunking noise that sounded like it was from under the truck or underneath. Nothing was visually wrong. I kept driving. I still did the weird swaying/floating feel as it had 3 times before.
Dropped off Brutus at about 2am, drove to the next rest stop and slept.
Next morning drove to Mikes (TrcksR4me) place in Bothell, to put the rear end under the truck I was getting and load it on the trailer. Mike helped by putting some used studs he had into the other hub assembly so I could put it on the rear end and put it under the truck and got it on the trailer and was ready to head home. No more incidents.
