An interesting senero. I know of one person that was traveling on interstate 10 in Louisana who was stopped in a remote area by a car load of males pointing to the toad. When he pulled over to see what was happening, they robbed him. The end play I was referencing was side to side rotating play measured by the rotating the yoke, not trying to pull it in and out.
I'm with you on the u joints. Chuck B
Kenneth Molloy <ken@molloys.org> wrote:
--- In Diesel-RVs@yahoogroups.com, fred hengel <fjh1@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Phil and Mike,
>
> I really hate to be negative on mechanical issues as they can really
> surprise you sometimes. It seems to me any competent shop would
have already suggested replacing the U-joints when they saw zerks
missing and a dry condition. Especially when they diagnosed bad
pinion bearings. I too would change the u-joints and test before
pulling the rear apart. You are talking lots of labor $ verses
minimal labor $ to be sure.
>
This whole scenario reminds me of an incident which made it on one of
the television programs a few years ago. A couple in a motorhome
would be cruising down the freeway in Arizona when a pickup would
pull up alongside and wave them down, telling them there was smoke
coming from the rear end. The MH was then advised to take a nearby
exit and take it to a shop where the mechanic rolled under the rear
end and removed the differential cover, then came out with a greasy
rag full of metal shavings he said came out of the rear end.
The shop was able to locate a good used differential assembly for
about $500, and when it came, they would install it. Several RVers
had fallen into this same trap, and the television shop finally set
up a motorhome with a TV camera directly above the rear axle, and
then drove down that same stretch of the freeway. They caught
the "mechanic" taking a greasy rag full of shavings under the MH and
then opening it up and showing it to the RVer. Then the "used
differential" turned out to be the original one after it was all
cleaned up.
The Arizona state police arrested everybody who was involved and when
the differential was properly reinstalled, there were no problems.
They had been victims of a scam.
When I was a mechanic, I did a lot of rear axle work -- possibly
because I was the only mechanic in the shop who owned a dial
indicator. There should be NO END PLAY in the tail pinion! NONE!
Depending on the rear axle manufacturer and model, the preload on the
pinion bearings is usually set by torqueing the nut on the yoke to a
certain value, which crushes a bushing on the shaft. That "crush
bushing" has to be replaced every time the yoke nut is removed.
If there were zerk fitting missing from the U-joints, that alone is
good reason for replacing the U-joint. If you just screw in a new
zerk fitting and grease the U-joint, you would be forcing every grain
of sand right into the needle bearings!
U-joint kits aren't very expensive, and the labor to remove the drive
shaft, replace the U-joints, and reinstall the drive shaft shouldn't
exceed 3 to 3-1/2 hours.
More than 50 years experience as an automobile, airplane and RV
mechanic have taught me that when you have a problem like this, look
at the last thing which was done before the problem started. In this
case, the driveline was removed for towing. Apparently there was no
vibration before the driveline was removed, but now there is
vibration! Bingo! Eureka! Problem solved!
I still believe the problem will end up being that the two yokes on
the ends of the driveshaft are not aligned in the same plane. That
will very definitely cause a vibration.
Ken Molloy
'94 Allegro Bay 37' MH
Chuck & Mary Boros
04 Windsor 02 Ford Ranger
Shelby Dog, Miss Kitty, Mr Lucky Cat
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