4WD/hubs question

From : paul johnson

Q: finally got the electric back after being off since wednesday. we got about 3/4 of ice that brought down every piece of wood more that 7 ft off the ground followed by about 6 in of snow two days later. talk about a friggen mess. denny hope ya have a gen. we got it thurs snow no ice. guess that furry suit kept ya warm. g roy nope. i think theyre called long johns. g we have gas and city water at the house. the gas heater in the family room kept the house livable the gas water heater kept us from stinking too bad and the gas stove kept us from loosing too much weight as long as there were matches to light the burner. but damned if i didnt miss that clock on the microwave.... but i gotta say there is gonna be a ton of money spent to clean up this mess. ive never seen so many busted up trees in my life. i really feel for the people that dont have the means to clean up their own. denny .

Replies:

From : paul johnson

apparently there is a issue with gms northstar engines and oil consumption. the eldo i sold to my sister in law is going through a couple of quarts within 1500 miles. looking for any info or tsb regarding excessive oil consumption.the car is under warranty but not for much longer the dealership has alluded to a problem but is being kinda non commital. anybody roy .

From : mike simmons

roy wrote denny wrote finally got the electric back after being off since wednesday. we got about 3/4 of ice that brought down every piece of wood more that 7 ft off the ground followed by about 6 in of snow two days later. talk about a friggen mess. denny i feel your pain. went through one here christmas of 2000. eleven days without power or heat. assholes gouged us to death for kerosene to use in the heaters. had a generator but getting out for gas was a pain in the ass. nothing like hearing exploding trees all around you at night while wondering if the next one was coming through the roof and when you have several 70 foot trees around you it can keep you on your toes. watch out for soft ground as ice can soften the ground up over a foot deep and you dont realize it until you drive or rather attempt to drive on it. jerry the wife and i were talking about a generator. yes it would have come in handy but do i really want to spend $600-$1000 to get one get it wired up and then it set there for years till its needed i can see the arguments either way but i dont know what im going to do yet. denny at this house im going to use a couple of quad boxs on extension cords and be done with it. nope i havent used it much but when i needed it it was nice to have. kinda like insurance you pray you never need it.......... thats pretty much what ive done here. the thing is on wheels so i just roll it along side the house fire it up plug it in and then run cords through out the house for what i want to operate. sure beats sitting in the dark with hot beer........... jerry .

From : tom lawrence

fittings or such. am i looking at a big bucks shop job here or is this something i can tear into and fix i have fair mechanical ability and average tools but i have never torn into automatic hubs and stuff. first you need to determine whether its the hub bearings or the u-joints that are worn and making the noise. jack the wheels up and spin them backwards and forwards while theyre straight. then turn them to one side and spin both again. if the noise only occurs when turned then its just the u-joints. if they make noise when straight ahead its the hub bearing. the labor is roughly the same in either case but the parts cost will vary from maybe $30 for a set of u-joints to a couple of hundred bucks a piece for the hubs more if you have 4-wheel abs. to repair remove the wheel then remove the cotter pin from the big axle nut then remove the nut. wedge a big screwdriver into the anes of the rotor so it jams against the brake caliper. this will hold the rotor/hub while you back the nut off. next remove the caliper two 3/8 allen head bolts. tie the caliper up to the frame with some wire - dont let it hang by the hose. remove the four 12-point 14mm bolts from the back side of the hub. actually only back these out about 1/4 or so. the hub will most likely be stuck to the knuckle. you can hammer on these for bolts alternately to help free the hub from the knuckle. once free remove the bolts completely and pull the hub off of the axle a hub puller can help here. note the order and positioning of the spacer ring and brake dust shield so you can put them back the same way. if you dont have a hub puller you can remove the whole assembly hub/rotor/axle shaft as a unit - just be careful to support the axle shaft is you remove it so it doesnt damage the oil seal inside the housing. if the axle shaft is still in the hub support the hub/rotor on some stands and gently tap the axle shaft out have someone to catch it or a piece of plywood for it to fall on - dont want the splines to get damaged. now that thats apart if its the u-joints youre going after youll have to remove the inside snap rings from each of the bearing cups these fit into a groove in the cups inboard of the ears of the yokes and can be difficult to see - spray them down with some parts cleaner if you need to. the new u-joints will come with new clips so dont be afraid to trash the old ones during removal ive sometimes cut them in half with a dremel then chisled the pieces out. once all four rings are removed you can press the u-joints out. best bet here is to rent a ball joint/u-joint press tool from an auto parts store. with the old joint pressed out clean out the holes with a bit of emery cloth then press the new joint in place securing the cups with the snap rings. pay attention to the little shoulder on the yoke ears - the snap ring fits around this itll make sense when you look at it. if its the hub bearing youre replacing pound out the wheel studs and separate the hub from the rotor put the new hub on the rotor re-install the wheel studs tap them lightly with a hammer and drift to seat them - just enough so they dont fall out when you flip the rotor over. to pull the hub/rotor together just run your lug nuts down the studs and tighten them up hopefully you have an impact gun to do this - otherwise youll have to figure out how to hold the rotor while you tighten the studs. once that operation is done just re-assemble the parts the way they came out. slip the axle shaft back into the axle tube make sure its cleaned off first and put a little grease on the splines that go into the differential - this will help to protect the grease seal nice and easy so you dont damage the oil seal. once you feel the splines engage with the differential youre set. preferably with some help put the hub/rotor spacer ring and brake dust shield back on in the proper order install the four 12-point bolts and torque to 125ft.lbs. re-install the brake caliper and install the axle washer and nut. using the screwdriver-wedged-against-the-caliper method torque this to 175ft.lbs. then install the cotter pin. if the holes dont line up tighten the nut more until you can fit the cotter pin never loosen a castle nut to align it. thats about it. oh yeah - repeat this procedure for the other side if necessary. good explanation tom! cept you fergot the part about the six-pack. ;^ mike .