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The CJ leaves me stranded - tuesday\'s trip to work
Thought you guys might enjoy my story from tuesday. I decided to drive the Jeep to work. It seemed to have a slight vibration that I hadn't noticed before, but I figured I had lost a wheel weight or had a clump of mud stuck in a wheel throwing it off balance, so I kept going.
About 3 miles from the office, I hit big stick in the road. About 5 seconds latter, I the truck starts shaking and I hear the awful "clunking". I knew I had lost part of the drivetrain, so I coasted into the nearest parking lot.
So, I get out and find the rear driveshaft just hanging there from the back of the T-Case about 4" off the ground. I had lost the rear U-Joint. It didn't snap in the middle tho, it ripped the little retainer straps off the pinion yoke (I'm probably darn lucky it didn't break the yoke in half). Best I can tell, the bearings locked up and wouldn't allow the U-joint to flex. I guess it was already half gone and the stick finished it off. Good thing it's lifted with big tires, or that driveshaft would be toast [img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Anyway, I didn't have a single tool with me - not even as much a pocket knife. Luckily, I had a cell phone, so I was able to call home, tell Mom where the socket set was and have here bring it to me. I removed the driveshaft with plans to limp home in 4WD.
Got everything ready and went to lock the hubs. The driver side hub is missing one bolt (guess I lost it in the last mud hole) and the other are pretty loose. I wasn't about to drive it like that for fear of breaking the hub and being really stuck. Autozone was a mile down the road, so I went and got new bolts, tighted the hub, and made it home.
I jumped in the Zook, ran down to the parts store and got new U-joints, had some fun with the easy-outs on the broken retainer bolts, and finally, the old CJ was rolling again. I finally made it to work about 8:30 that night (I originally left the house at 2:00 and it's about 15 miles) [img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Sadly, I don't think this makes me a real Jeeper, 'cause I should have been carrying the tools I needed. [img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
-Derek Schwab
'97 Sidekick Sport
'83 CJ-7