Bat Mobile, Lost a Wheel: SCARY S#&T

[rottiedog]

I had planned on taking 8 hours of leave today. thge ex wife gave me some trouble last night which made it so I couldn't sleep. Since I couldn't sleep, I might as well get paid for it and decided to go to work. Made it to the base and was on the rumble strips when BAM/SHUDDER/SCREACH!!! Made it to the side and expected to see that the new driveshaft broke. Very surprised at what I saw. I was almost driving a tricycle. Truck was being held up by about two inches of the axle.

More news to follow once my hands stop shaking. If that happened a few minutes earlier, I would have been going 60 mph. If it happened a few days later, my daughter would have been driving it to school!!!

 

[Recovry4x4]

Thats wild! I've never seen that happen on a Dana 60 before. The spindle nuts either backed off or the end of the spindle broke off. Have you had a close looksee at it to see the cause?

 

[rottiedog]

Thats wild! I've never seen that happen on a Dana 60 before. The spindle nuts either backed off or the end of the spindle broke off. Have you had a close looksee at it to see the cause?

Haven't been able to look at it. Flatbed came and we jacked it up, pushed the axle in and winched it up.

I had the axle installed from a local 4X4 shop and that is where it is going back to. Not too happy but it could have been a lot worse.

 

[m35tech]

Glad your OK

 

[otisroy]

Glad you came out of it safe. Gives new meaning to "gonna drive it 'til the wheels come off".

 

[doghead]

Jingle bells, batman smells,
Robin laid an egg,
Batmobile lost a wheel,
And Joker got away!


Hmm, wonder where Pontiac, came up with the idea of "widetrac"?

You are lucky! Be sure to say a prayer of thanks.

 

[Firefighter294]

Ouch !
Good to hear everyone was safe.
I am sure there is going to be an interesting discussion at the 4x4 shop.

RM

 

[11Echo]

Looks like it would if the C-clip had broke on a 1/2 ton Blazer axle. Odd sight for a Dana!

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Isn't that a 10 bolt under your M1009 Blazer? Probably just lost a c-clip. Crappy design + big tires = relatively common occurance unfortunately.



...or did I miss when you had a Dana 60 put in the rear?


I did miss the Dana 60 install!
Time to go bang some heads at that 4x4 shop and find out who screwed up.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Please tell me you didn't let Extreme 4x4 work on your Blazer!

 

[doghead]

He has swapped his axles, see this thread for more details. http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?p=294535#post294535


In the other thread, rottiedog said,

I am sure there is more but the thing seems a little more bulletproof now.

Hmm, spoke too soon, huh? Dang it!

 

[citizensoldier]

AJMBlazer is right.. If thats a GM corp 10 bolt thats what happened..C-Clip goe's bye bye and out she comes.. along with some grinding as it eats the ring and pinnion..
I had this happen on a 87' 1/2 ton Chevy going down the e-way at 70 mph.. looked in my mirror and the axle was hanging out 2 ft.. I was able to slow down and get off the e-way before she ground to a hault. .. It is a piss ass design and they hate big tires..

 

[85-m1028]

makes the case for a full float axle eh!

 

[AJMBLAZER]

It's a Dana 60...he had one swapped in. Can't tell from the pictures but most Dana 60 rear axles are FF...so maybe the hub bearings ground up and off it went? Friend had that happen on a 14FF while going down the freeway.

There are some semi float Dana 60's...and the infamous Dana 61...hope he didn't get one of those.

 

[Elwenil]

I had that happen to my '74 Dodge W200 with a rear D60. The locks that hold the spindle nuts were messed up by the previous owner. They have sheared off the tab that indexes the slot in the spindle and the forward rotation of the wheel backs the nuts off. You should be able to buy a new locking ring and put it all back together if the spindle is unharmed. Mine went back together fine with no further problems. I noticed mine before it hit the ground since I had an open rear axle differential and it felt like I have lost the clutch for a second since it freewheeled. I looked in the mirror and noticed the tire sitting about a foot off the side of the truck bed, lol.

 

[rottiedog]

Please tell me you didn't let Extreme 4x4 work on your Blazer!

Afraid to say but I did. Seemed like a good idea but now......

 

[rottiedog]

In the other thread, rottiedog said, Hmm, spoke too soon, huh? Dang it!

Yeah, wish I didn't say that........Not as bulletproof as I thought!

 

[dunedigger]

Wow, that is scary. The only time I saw that happen was when we robed the guts out of the rear and tried to pull it out of the driveway with a towstrap, same result. Glad it was at a slower speed.

 

[rosco]

Had an older GM pick up, years ago. It used a sealed ball bearing on the wheel end of the axle. If you loaded the truck much, the bearing would disintegrate, and the axle would come out like that. It happened several times to me. Once it happened doing sixty, but no traffic. got it slowed with the gearbox, & finally stopped. Terrible design - think that was on a 1958 model, 1/2 ton. Thought by now, they would have changed out that design. No wonder, they need a "bail-out".

Lee in Alaska