Tonimus
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2024
- Posts
- 174
- Reaction score
- 334
- Location
- Phoenix
- First Name
- Tony
- Truck Year
- 1978
- Truck Model
- C10 Suburban
- Engine Size
- 454
I'll start with story time. Sunday, I'm driving home, doing 75 on the freeway. Suddenly I feel a slight vibration, like a tire going down. Throw the signal on and I get the hell over and work my way to the next exit. The slower I get, the worse the vibration gets. Then it seems like the tire is coming apart the vibration is so bad. Thankfully there's a neighborhood RIGHT off the freeway. Pull over and walk around the truck. All the tires are fine. Am I losing a wheel bearing?? Nope. All seems good. U-joint blowing up? Get under the truck, grab the driveshaft, shake hard, everything is fine. At this point I'm worried the rear end lost some teeth. I look at the map and I'm just a mile away from a NAPA. Get in the truck and roll down there and the shaking is like the worst washboard road ever. Get to NAPA, go to buy a cheap bottle jack and they're $60. Nope. Not until I figure out what is actually wrong.
I get back under the truck. I feel the diff and it's warm, but not hot. I'd think if I chunked the gears, there'd be some heat. Checking the u-joints again. Nothing. Center bearing is also fine. Out of the corner of my eye I see a shiny spot on the yoke at the trans. What the heck? There shouldn't be anything shiny. I get closer and I can see the bolt that holds the yoke in has come all the way out of the threads. The vibration was the bolt falling between the gaps around the u-joint, and as the driveshaft spun around and the gap closed, the bolt was getting mashed and popping back in.
Popped the straps and used a big screwdriver to pry the u-joint back far enough to get the bolt out. Wiggled the yoke on the trans and it didn't move. The center support bearing keeps the driveshaft from moving far enough to let the yoke come out anyway. Put it back together without the bolt and drove it home.
Damage assessment: The bolt is toast. Gotta find a new one. I think all that vibration pretty much killed the tailshaft yoke support bushing. It's sloppy. I'm going to replace the whole tailshaft housing, as they're only like $50. The u-joint is still tight. I hope the yoke will actually come out of the trans.
Is there anything else I should be checking for? I'm still fairly naive when it comes to transmissions. There seemed to be a little more vibration when I drove without the bolt, but I don't know that's indicative of an actual issue other than the bearing.
Pics or it didn't happen:
I get back under the truck. I feel the diff and it's warm, but not hot. I'd think if I chunked the gears, there'd be some heat. Checking the u-joints again. Nothing. Center bearing is also fine. Out of the corner of my eye I see a shiny spot on the yoke at the trans. What the heck? There shouldn't be anything shiny. I get closer and I can see the bolt that holds the yoke in has come all the way out of the threads. The vibration was the bolt falling between the gaps around the u-joint, and as the driveshaft spun around and the gap closed, the bolt was getting mashed and popping back in.
Popped the straps and used a big screwdriver to pry the u-joint back far enough to get the bolt out. Wiggled the yoke on the trans and it didn't move. The center support bearing keeps the driveshaft from moving far enough to let the yoke come out anyway. Put it back together without the bolt and drove it home.
Damage assessment: The bolt is toast. Gotta find a new one. I think all that vibration pretty much killed the tailshaft yoke support bushing. It's sloppy. I'm going to replace the whole tailshaft housing, as they're only like $50. The u-joint is still tight. I hope the yoke will actually come out of the trans.
Is there anything else I should be checking for? I'm still fairly naive when it comes to transmissions. There seemed to be a little more vibration when I drove without the bolt, but I don't know that's indicative of an actual issue other than the bearing.
Pics or it didn't happen:
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