What did you do to your GMT today?

[galacticfuzz]

Sorry for the delayed response. It was the rear passenger spring. There appears to have been a crack that was about halfway through a coil. At least that's what the rust build up shows. And sadly I can't say it was off road. Was in the parking lot at my school going over the speed bump.

[Trail X]

For a torsional failure like that, the evidence is normally at the tip of the point of the failure. Hard to tell from my view, but I see a jagged edge?

[galacticfuzz]

Tried getting a different angle but yes the rusted portion looks to be slightly jagged. The break wasn't far from where it would sit in the spacer according to the auto service teacher.

[v7guy]

Those pictures are much better. It almost looks like there was a gouge in it.

[Jrgunn5150]

Or a grind mark...

[galacticfuzz]

Been a fun couple months. Had a U-joint go right before thanksgiving. One of the nubs (can't think of a better word for them) broke off. Battery Jan 2nd and then rear brakes and then this. Hopefully that will be all. At least the brakes were a planned service.

[HARDTRAILZ]

The wife did it...




Well it was an accident. I pulled grill to repaint it and left the hood unlatched yesterday morning. Wife hopped in it last night and about 45 mph...kaboom. luckily she handled it well. Got it stopped n then pulled into safe spot without further incident.

Hopefully I can get it fixed in morning.

[DirtyBacon04]

holy hell! Glad she's alright.
I've gotten on the turnpike once and at 70 mph, noticed the hood wasn't latched all the way. Luckily it stayed put, but it was a bit of a pucker factor until I could safely pull over.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Lucky...really. The cowl hit the glass so hood didn't flip all the way back into roof. My buddy owns a dealership and says that's far more expensive fix. Lucky the hood is OK as well. Hinges are bit off but Regulator is helping there.

Could have been far worse.

[Jrgunn5150]

Glad to hear you got off fairly lightly!

[ErikSS]

Wow! I'm glad she's ok! The truck doesn't look too bad. Obviously a windshield and hood hinges. I'm really impressed there isn't more damage to the hood.

[Grimor]

Drove in the yard, it helps relax me. I got forced off the highway by a semi driving home from dropping my kid off and had to cut across the median @ 50mph in over a foot of snow. Wonderful day. I didn't realize the front bumper and body move that much in relation to each other.

[BC backroader]

Took it 20 km up a logging road on this grey and rainy day, went for a 1 hour hike with my buddies, and drove home again.

[Trail X]

Nice shot Brad! Glad your wife handled it well Kyle.

[Regulator1175]

Not my truck, but I solved a 4x4 issue with (Fort Wayne) Mike's Trailblazer. In the process I found a missing step in the 4x4 diagnosis flow sheet. After going completely through the flow sheet we determined that the issue was the splined disconnect. We stripped it all down, opened the disconnect, cleaned out the old grease and inspected everything. Visually it all looked good. Checked the actuator and it functioned correctly. So we reassembled everything put it on the ground and went through the flow sheet again. Once again, the result was the disconnect. We got it back up in the air and gave it a complete look over the entire drivetrain. It turns out the drivers side half shaft had popped out, which gave the same results as you would see with a bad disconnect. We got it reseated and all was good again.

[Trail X]

Interesting Matt. I'm not sure its a missing step since that's such a rare case. Its also possible that a broken intermediate shaft or a broken diff could give you a false positive for a bad disconnect.

[HARDTRAILZ]

I do not see why giving the CVs a quick check would not be a simple step to add in. Seems that it is an easy check and a possibility many may never consider. Since we tend to lead people to the flowchart, I would think all possibilities should be included.

[Trail X]

Fair enough, I understand where you guys are coming from. Instead of updating the flowchart itself, I added a block quote that covers exactly this. I don't think we could ever cover every contingency, but I agree that people need to be better informed that there may be other issues at play.

[Shdwdrgn]

I *still* haven't had the opportunity to take my truck up in the mountains with the new gears, but we've had a bit more snow than usual this year and it really seems to handle better. The difference allows me to have more control over my speed by feathering the throttle rather than going between throttle and brakes. Another storm moving in overnight, will probably have snow coming down on my drive to work. Unlike many people, I really enjoy driving in the snow, assuming there aren't idiots around me that I have to watch out for. I've found a back road with much less traffic, lets me avoid the stop&go on the highway, and when the weather is bad I get to work much faster than the highway route (no reason for a little snow to slow me down ).

Wish I could say I've done something to my TB, but I haven't... too busy shuttling sick pets to the vet.

[Moots1288]

Swapped in new rack and pinion