Last night I was driving down a dirt road that was fairly bombed out after a rain storm in 4Hi. In fact, there were some swimming pool sized puddles that were deep enough to throw a little water over my hood. In the midst of this I began to hear grinding and squeaking and feel a hammering vibration from the driver’s side front-end. Oh crap! I’m losing a CV-joint boot and/or the whole joint’s failing.
On a high and relatively dry spot I cranked the wheel to the left and tried to get a look behind the wheel but it was too dark. So I proceeded on experimenting with engaging 4Lo and 2Hi. The noises and vibration did not improve. I made it to a highway and hoped that I could limp along until I reached a gas station or parking lot with enough light that I could see enough to diagnose something. After 100 yards or so on the highway in 2Hi the noises and vibrations unceremoniously stopped and it began driving as well as ever.
When I got home I rinsed her off and shined a trouble light up underneath the front-end and saw nothing out of order (i.e. the boots looked fine). I didn’t get her up in the air for a thorough examination, but she continues to drive perfectly well. For a little background,
that CV joint was replaced after it broke when it had fewer than 30K miles on it. My rig now has 76K miles on it.Does anyone have any theories as to what happened here?
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William C Montgomery
The Truth About CarsThe Truth About Guns'05 Sport 4X4, 3.7L - Black | Frankenlift II Premium, JBA KJ Lifted A-Arms 4.5 | Cooper Discoverer A/T3 - LT245/75R16, Load C
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