I took the front of the rear drive shaft (That I got at the junk yard, for my ZF swap) out of my truck yesterday, to put a new carrier bearing and U-joint in it. I could not get the inner race off of the shaft. Even having Kanyonkitty standing on the other end of the shaft, I couldn't beat the inner race off. I decided to go ahead and replace the U-joint. Turns out, that I had been given the wrong joint! No big deal.. I had an easy day at work and got off at 3:30, plenty of time to get the right joint.

Just wait, it gets better....

I got home and modified my friend's puller, so I could pull the race from the shaft. It took about 10 minutes, but she came off. I got the new carrier and U-joint on, so it was time for a test drive.

My job today was to watch some road construction equipment, to be sure they didn't get hit by the trains. I decided to go by there, to see if they had done any damage after I left. Finding everything okie dokie, I tried to leave.. Key word being "Tried"

As I drove through the field and by the track hoes, I heard a noise coming from under the truck.. I stopped and looked, only to find a bunch of fence wrapped around the rear of the drive shaft! Since I keep my tool box in the truck, I had some tools for fence removal.

The whole removal process took a half hour to complete and There is some minor damage to the seal, where the yolk goes in the diff. It's still sealed and not leaking, so I'll have to keep a close eye on it. There was also no vibration in that area, on the way back home.

Once I got home, my daughter pointed out the small tree, that had gotten itself wedged above the transmission cross member.. It got dragged home with me...

I did learn something from the ordeal... When you test drive your vehicle, keep it ON the road!

 

LMOA or at least off the fences.

 

Fence wire is a pain.

Bad enough when it is wrapped around a driveshaft on your truck, but you should try to get it off of a dozer or excavator after it gets wrapped around the drive sprockets.

 

My Dad told me when he was in the Army, he watched a guy run a M1 A2 MBT through a huge ditch full of constitina wire (that razor wire spool stuff), and said after 3 miles of carnage of getting trapped in the the road wheels and the bearings the tank came to a screeching halt cuz a road wheel came off due to the fact the bearings got completely ate up, then wedged itself in the track destroying 4 torsion bars and 4 more road wheels.

So the moral of that is that nothing is immune to wire.

 

I had a motor in a 9 die and came off a steep mountain in a hurry backwards spooled up about 1/8 mile of a brand new 5 wire fence. When I got to the bottom it was time for a torch. And Dave the reason I didn't use the breaks is only one worked and I wanted to stay on the tracks they were sure singing to me though I would have bailed if it hadn't picked up speed so fast.