SQOD Squad - Stupid Question Of the Day (5 Viewers)

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Was doing a bunch of work this past week on the truck, had all the wheels off, and I discovered that many of the button-head screws on my Rock Warrior rims were loose, barely finger-tight. Should I put blue Loctite on them? Red?
 
Was doing a bunch of work this past week on the truck, had all the wheels off, and I discovered that many of the button-head screws on my Rock Warrior rims were loose, barely finger-tight. Should I put blue Loctite on them? Red?

I would avoid loctite - blue doesn't seal threads well enough, and red is too aggressive. Hit the with a considerable amount of anti-seize and then hand tighten and check every thousand miles or so would be my recommendation.
 
All kinds of bad noises in my '08 with 172,000 miles on it. Did a full service when I bought it, back at like 115,000 miles.

Shop says all kinds of metal in the rear diff. Needs bearings at least. 6 hours of shop time, plus the bearing kits adds up to like $2k. Can't find any complete diffs to buy anywhere. Does this sound normal?
 
All kinds of bad noises in my '08 with 172,000 miles on it. Did a full service when I bought it, back at like 115,000 miles.

Shop says all kinds of metal in the rear diff. Needs bearings at least. 6 hours of shop time, plus the bearing kits adds up to like $2k. Can't find any complete diffs to buy anywhere. Does this sound normal?
Is it wheel bearings or pinion bearing? If it's the latter I would just have someone rebuild with new OEM parts as you're unlikely to spend less than $2k on the whole thing anyway.

As to whether it's the right diagnosis, we'd probably need more info as to what "bad noises" exactly means. Growling? Howling? Crunching? At all speeds or certain ranges? etc
 
Is it wheel bearings or pinion bearing? If it's the latter I would just have someone rebuild with new OEM parts as you're unlikely to spend less than $2k on the whole thing anyway.

As to whether it's the right diagnosis, we'd probably need more info as to what "bad noises" exactly means. Growling? Howling? Crunching? At all speeds or certain ranges? etc
Diff bearings / oil seal kit. It's the latter.

They mentioned something about the trailing arm on one side sliding around in its mount, which might explain what I've been hearing/feeling.

What happened is that I was reversing out of a spot, back and to the passenger side, then went forwards towards drivers side, on gravel. I heard a popping / somewhat of a boing sound like something in the suspension failed. When I was driving home (1 mile from that spot) the best way I could explain it is that the alignment was changing on the fly. Sometimes it would travel straight with the wheel at top dead center, sometimes I would be off to one side or another. It's about half a mile on dirt, half a mile on pavement, only a few easy turns. The alignment would shift.

I had thought the issue was in the front, but when I got it up and took eyes and a pry bar to the suspension parts, everything looked fine and didn't move more than expected with the pry bar. I didn't really look at the rear. I'm trying to get some pictures of what is going on with the trailing arms - they are trail tailor upgraded arms and I'm not exactly sure what's up just yet.

They quoted me using Schaeffler Differential Bearing And Oil Seal Kit - DB0253K - which is not OEM parts. I'm thinking of just paying the R&R fee with a diff fluid change, but not sure where to go from here. This is a shop where I get all my cars worked on, but they aren't exactly cruiser experts. Just a regular local shop.

As far as rear end noises go, there is some clunking when starting or turning sometimes, and maybe a little binding, but I don't know if it's enough to cause what I'm experiencing now.
 
YES! This happened to me on a recent trip to NC in June. GPS made an elliptical pattern about 100 mi west of our location. This lasted about an hour then it started tracking properly and has been fine since. I noticed the "GPS" letters blinking on and off. Is it the shark fin antenna? Something else? I assume that it will fail completely at some point. If/when that happens I'll probably velcro a tablet PC over the screen for nav and use the screen for the other functions as needed.:confused:
If the recurrence is random, and GPS accuracy/performance 'simply goes back to normal' after a while, the I would venture to guess that you were in range of an area impacted by EW. Could be exercises or MIL/VIP fly-over or aliens (It's probably aliens), or any number of tinfoil headgear issues common around secret government laboratories underneath Virginia. Could also be a number of other things, like slow TTFF on the GPS transceiver, where by sheer chance you were out of line-of-sight just enough (physical obstruction, etc.) during retry cycles, or you have some accessory installed that is causing crazy amounts of RFI (similar to Wi-Fi+microwave oven) like a little Charlie Brown (Snoopy?) rain cloud around the truck. Since the issue self-resolved, you could have probably fixed it right away with the IT help desk technique developed by the Egyptians: a power cycle by pulling over and turning it off and on again.
 
Diff bearings / oil seal kit. It's the latter.

They mentioned something about the trailing arm on one side sliding around in its mount, which might explain what I've been hearing/feeling.

What happened is that I was reversing out of a spot, back and to the passenger side, then went forwards towards drivers side, on gravel. I heard a popping / somewhat of a boing sound like something in the suspension failed. When I was driving home (1 mile from that spot) the best way I could explain it is that the alignment was changing on the fly. Sometimes it would travel straight with the wheel at top dead center, sometimes I would be off to one side or another. It's about half a mile on dirt, half a mile on pavement, only a few easy turns. The alignment would shift.

I had thought the issue was in the front, but when I got it up and took eyes and a pry bar to the suspension parts, everything looked fine and didn't move more than expected with the pry bar. I didn't really look at the rear. I'm trying to get some pictures of what is going on with the trailing arms - they are trail tailor upgraded arms and I'm not exactly sure what's up just yet.

They quoted me using Schaeffler Differential Bearing And Oil Seal Kit - DB0253K - which is not OEM parts. I'm thinking of just paying the R&R fee with a diff fluid change, but not sure where to go from here. This is a shop where I get all my cars worked on, but they aren't exactly cruiser experts. Just a regular local shop.

As far as rear end noises go, there is some clunking when starting or turning sometimes, and maybe a little binding, but I don't know if it's enough to cause what I'm experiencing now.
I highly suggest you only use OEM parts, especially for the pinion seal.
 
Diff bearings / oil seal kit. It's the latter.

They mentioned something about the trailing arm on one side sliding around in its mount, which might explain what I've been hearing/feeling.

What happened is that I was reversing out of a spot, back and to the passenger side, then went forwards towards drivers side, on gravel. I heard a popping / somewhat of a boing sound like something in the suspension failed. When I was driving home (1 mile from that spot) the best way I could explain it is that the alignment was changing on the fly. Sometimes it would travel straight with the wheel at top dead center, sometimes I would be off to one side or another. It's about half a mile on dirt, half a mile on pavement, only a few easy turns. The alignment would shift.

I had thought the issue was in the front, but when I got it up and took eyes and a pry bar to the suspension parts, everything looked fine and didn't move more than expected with the pry bar. I didn't really look at the rear. I'm trying to get some pictures of what is going on with the trailing arms - they are trail tailor upgraded arms and I'm not exactly sure what's up just yet.

They quoted me using Schaeffler Differential Bearing And Oil Seal Kit - DB0253K - which is not OEM parts. I'm thinking of just paying the R&R fee with a diff fluid change, but not sure where to go from here. This is a shop where I get all my cars worked on, but they aren't exactly cruiser experts. Just a regular local shop.

As far as rear end noises go, there is some clunking when starting or turning sometimes, and maybe a little binding, but I don't know if it's enough to cause what I'm experiencing now.
Diff bearings going out can happen but are very uncommon.

Personally I'd start with your trailing arm issue and see if your problems and noises go away. I'm suspect that you really have gear issues from the above description. If your trailing arm bushing had wear that would explain clunking when turning or starting up (or stopping). I would expect gear noise to have a very consistent pattern (always when turning might be a failed spider gear, a clunk off the line could be a loose pinion, a clunk every X feet would indicate a broken gear tooth, growling at highway speeds might indicate a bad bearing, etc)

BTW a shop swapped my rear gears which necessitated new bearings and seals and the Nitro kit plus the labor was maybe $1200-1500. $2k seems like a lot for just the rear.
 
Do our rigs have “clear flood mode”?

On my old truck, prior to starting you could push accelerator to the floorboard and turn the key (cue collective gasps) and the oil pressure would eventually bump to operational pressure without cranking. You could then release the pedal/key and start as you would normally. I ask as I’d like to make sure the oil filter, etc is as primed as possible following oil changes, etc. TIA
 
I highly suggest you only use OEM parts, especially for the pinion seal.
Agree, but I’d include pinion bearings.

Zuk showed the difference in his builds.. aftermarket often has a totally different race angle than factory and that can really change how the load is distributed in the parts.
 
Well, I got my cruiser back home. Really unimpressed with the amount of metal in my supposedly shot rear diff. I have an oil sample in a mason jar, but it's nothing terrible.

They did have an interesting finding - looks like a lower control arm is having some issues. I'll share results once I figure out how dumb I am, or the shop is...

But I'm not replacing the diff. It's not bad at all IMO.
 
I’m back with another SQOD ;)

Noticed today, that my rear wiper sprayer isn’t spraying anymore. (I’m sure it was working prior) I can hear the pump, just no spray. The fronts work.

Anyone have a diagram of where the hose line for the rear wiper sprayer runs? Any obvious things to check?

Couple things that might matter; might not. But I’ll just list them here in case.

1. Went up to Downieville/poker flat this weekend. Played around on some trails, little mud, some puddles.

2. At one point, ran over a large branch (approx 2ft long; driver front) and it got wedged between the ground and tire angled up into the under carriage drive shaft area. (Quick Look, everything looks ok)

3. I got stuck on a slippery hill and may have crunched/backed my rear bumper, driver side into a softish berm. (Bumper is fine, no damage)
 
I’m back with another SQOD ;)

Noticed today, that my rear wiper sprayer isn’t spraying anymore. (I’m sure it was working prior) I can hear the pump, just no spray. The fronts work.

Anyone have a diagram of where the hose line for the rear wiper sprayer runs? Any obvious things to check?
obvious thing to check: make sure the spray head isn't clogged with fluid residue or debris.
 
Well, I got my cruiser back home. Really unimpressed with the amount of metal in my supposedly shot rear diff. I have an oil sample in a mason jar, but it's nothing terrible.

They did have an interesting finding - looks like a lower control arm is having some issues. I'll share results once I figure out how dumb I am, or the shop is...

But I'm not replacing the diff. It's not bad at all IMO.
I’m my experience, a bad rear end will let you know it’s bad by any number of terrible noises. If you’re not hearing anything constantly, only sporadically, then I’d be thinking suspension.
 
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Luckily I had some tape on me that I could rig something to hold it open while i used a trim tool to open the door, but my door release is on the fritz. Sounds like there’s a spring missing from the door? Any write up on this?

Also — in the last week, at lower speed with brakes applied, when I release the brake I’m getting almost a pinging noise from the pedal. Any insight on this?
 
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Luckily I had some tape on me that I could rig something to hold it open while i used a trim tool to open the door, but my door release is on the fritz. Sounds like there’s a spring missing from the door? Any write up on this?

Also — in the last week, at lower speed with brakes applied, when I release the brake I’m getting almost a pinging noise from the pedal. Any insight on this?
The fuel door release clip has failed. Common problem. I keep a spare in the truck like others. It’s documented somewhere on here.
 

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