whats up with the front?
ok, here is the long and short of it.....
I'm a bonehead... pure and simple...
I went back and checked, double-checked, even triple checked in most cases all the vitals of the car before its maiden voyage..
on paper everything looked good, mental lists checked out and I even torqued the lug nuts...
My first few miles of driving were pleasurable... no issue or odd noises.. truck ran great..
by the time I got to Perrinton I was hearing some rattling from the T-case.. Unsure of what it was I pushed on.. I was actually thinking it had something to do with a loose shifter or
Had a very successful customer event in Farmington and spent the afternoon with Cora.. an absolute pleasure... Ride home was very similar to ride out… all quiet and fine until Constellation HQ on 96.. I said F-it and jumped on 490 to Brighton… Had some noise, but the tire and open air muffled some of the screams.. the real fun didn’t happen till I got off at Linden Ave.
As I turned on East Ave and was on the home stretch I was soon engulfed by a cloud of burning oil.. several expletives and g-d damn its came flying out and next thing I knew my steering column was 6 inches closer to me that before (it’s not a telescoping column) I had no steering and was heading toward the curb. Jumped out and popped the hood … My $15 Rock Auto power steering pressure line failed, didn’t break, FAILED.. The metal separated from the rubber due to a bad crimp.. oil smoke was PS fluid on a nicely coated exhaust manifold. Called Scotty’s and had one of the guys run out with my MJ and a strap to drag me the mile home. As I pulled into the driveway I swore off my Jeep for a week.
1 week later and a few calls to SVE I started addressing the issues:
- T Cases need oil to stay cool and quite.. this would be mandatory, not a suggestion
- Speedo gears need oil to stop from melting
- Steering shaft U Joints should be checked several times after install/alignment/miles
- Lack of power put added stress on above joint
- Good things aren’t always cheap and cheap things aren’t always good
- Even if your to do list is crossed out.. double check fluid levels before doing something stupid
Front of the vehicle was up on jack stands to aid in bleeding the PS system. I also had the rear up so I could manually manipulate the drivetrain without any lockup. I drained all fluids in the drivetrain to check for metals and whatnot, that is when I discovered the lack of oil in the Dana 300.. I still don’t know what I was thinking.. I was very well away they didn’t share the same oil reservoir and I really recall filling it with the recommended 3qts….
D300 appears to have survived the ordeal… there really aren’t many bearings in these cases and the intermediate shaft and all 48 needles were slathered with Molybdenum disulfide, … I think this helped keep things alive.
I resealed and FILLED this time around all drivetrain components… Ran in gear without the rear driveshaft and I have 100% quiet operation. The attached video give an idea of the sounds I was hearing while driving… just imagine amplification and increase speed!!!!
Finally was able to road test last night... up and down the block reveled a working speedo, no drivetrain noise, smooth shifting in all ranges (once the oil started splashing around)
I'm going to give it a week of grocery runs to bring drivetrain up to temp and flush Tcase.
Also noticed the oil pan drain plug is seeping.. going to get a nice molder rubber one instead..
Video:
