Truck, Snow and Life

Well I have my truck a 1997 Ford Ranger 4WD back. It cost me $1,591.33 (Labor - $776.85; Parts $696.60 and of course Tax $117.88) and I had just paid off my VISA bill...sigh. That is the way it goes I guess. I took it into Greeley’s in Nedrow on Tuesday evening and got it back Friday afternoon. They worked on it for two and a half days.

Last Tuesday I was due to take Thelma to a Doctor’s appointment, but when I left the driveway I knew something was seriously wrong and heading up Seneca Turnpike and heading towards Jamesville it only got worse. Vibrations and noise in the front-end, I had been noticing a steering problem, tightness and a vibration which I attributed in part to having improperly inflated tires as when I filled them the ride got better. But late last week I put her into four wheel drive and she bucked and made a lot of noise and thereafter things just did not feel right. Turns out my intuition was right, had I not taken it in, I most likely would have found myself stranded, unable to move with a broken Axle, Differential or worse.

They repaired or replaced the outer and inner Axle Shaft assemblies on the right side, the Differential and Universal Joints. I also had them do an Oil Change/Lube and a Tune-up – the truck has never had an “official” tune-up in the ten years that I have owned it, well in June it will be ten years. It has platinum plugs which are good for 75,000 to 100,000 miles and the truck only has 58,029 miles on it, but still being almost ten years I figured it was due.

In talking with my mechanic it seems that there is a bracket that holds the Differential and through that bracket and into the Differential there is a bolt which keeps the Differential in alignment with the Transfer Case – that bolt was sheared off and the bracket bent. Consequently the Differential was not aligned properly with the Transfer Case and was one reason – there are more – why the steering and vibrations were being felt in the front end.

The Axle Assemblies, well they were just shot as were the Universal Joints. The time consuming part of these repairs was the Differential as that had to be removed and then sent to another shop where repairs etc were made and the Shaft assembly was rebuilt and a new connecting end to the Transfer Case installed via a special machine designed for that purpose.

Seems ten years ago when they built trucks such as mine, parts of the Axle Assemblies, Differential and Universal Joints were exposed to the elements. Today’s trucks etc now have either rubber shoes/boots or thin metal guards that protect and in some case (Universal joints) allow the areas to be lubricated. My truck now has some of these protective measures thanks to advances in technology and replacement parts.

There was also nothing I could have done that would have prevented this – essentially it was just old age, wear and tear after ten years of ownership...unless of course as my sister is fond of telling me I’d bought a Toyota instead of a Ford.

She called the other day having seen the stories about the snow that has been plummeting Central New York for the past seven days. Unfortunately I had to disappoint her as I told her that the snow that everyone was talking about was about 30 to 40 miles north of Syracuse. Oswego has gotten 70+, Parish 90+, Pulaski 100+, Mexico 100+ and north Redfield 122+ inches of snow. It has been a week of persistent and heavy Lake Effect, so much so that the State of New York has declared Oswego County a disaster area. Yet, aside from the occasional road closures we just keep plugging along, nothing seems to stop us hardy Central New Yorkers. News Channel 9 has a whole bunch of pictures on it’s website that people have been sending in etc. Some are pretty amazing.

Then Friday the Lake Effect bands moved south giving Oswego County a breather. We got around 7 inches yesterday and thus I have been shoveling and will probably have to do so again Saturday morning. All this though, is due to change for the better over the weekend. We are supposed to have more lake Effect through Monday and then colder and drier air moves in for much of next week and will effectively end the snow, though we will remain cold with highs in the teens and lows in the single digits.

My shoulder continues to bother me and I did talk with my doctor towards the end of January and he of course wanted to send me for x-rays and therapy, but I said no, no insurance no tests, no therapy. I just wanted an idea of what it might be and he said “frozen shoulder syndrome”. My right shoulder/collarbone aches and pains me, plus the right arm doesn’t have the mobility of the strength that the left does. And after shoveling, or carrying groceries or doing a number of other things it gets worse. He doesn’t think it is a rotor cuff problem, more likely to be a ligament or muscle or cartilage problem. Demonstrated a few exercises to do, but when I do them it is aggravated after wards...sighhh. And then there is my foot, my right foot. Back in the 80’s I had an attack of neuritis in the balls of both feet just behind my toes. Very painfully to walk or stand and at the time I worked in Distribution and was on my feet all them time. I remember wearing sneakers and double socks to cushion my feet as well as taking pain medication. Eventually it went away. Now it is back big time in only my right foot. I don’t know, tough to grow old and maybe I’ll just have to bite the bullet and get those x-rays etc. But first I’ll pay off the VISA bill, once I figure out where THAT money is going to come from.

Well, I just heard the plow come down. So I know what that means, more snow in the driveway.

Winter's Grip and a Truck Repair

Its COLD...very, very COLD brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Seems like Winter after taking a vacation during December and January arrived in full force in February. It is 16 degrees as I type this with wind chills making it feel like 6 below zero. The typical start to our days of late, cold temperatures, high winds and wind chills in the sub zero range. At least, we have so far avoided the snow – the lake effect snow bands – that have been hitting Oswego, Pulaski, Parish, Mexico and other points. They have in the past few days received well over 6 feet of snow!

Today though things will start to wind down, as the bands of snow head for Syracuse and seemingly will continue south over the upcoming weekend ending their grasp on Central New York. Predictions are for 2 to 8 inches in the Syracuse area today.

The other news is I don’t have a vehicle. My truck is laid up at Greeley’s Garage being worked on. After 10 years (I will have had it in June 2007 for ten years) and only 58,025 miles on it, my front axle (outside hubs both sides) are shot. I knew that something was wrong and last Thursday when I put it in 4WD to get out of Travis’s driveway, I suspected something even more. A definite vibration in the front end and steering wheel and now that I have a diagnosis I realize that it has been coming on for a long, long while. Things I thought were due to low tire pressure or in need of a lube job etc I now realize was the axle hubs going as well as the front end’s differential. Yeah that too.

I was supposed to take Thelma to a Doctor appointment on Tuesday, but when I drove the truck I knew that something was wrong so instead I dropped it off at Greeley’s and walked home (1.5 miles) – through snow, cold and wind. Then Wednesday they called to tell me the news and said that both front axle hubs were shot and the differential was rusty, but that they hadn’t pulled it out yet...I told them to go ahead and check it too, and they were going to call me back if they found anything else. They didn’t – call to tell me it was ready or they found more problems - but since they didn’t it appears that the differential needed repair as well and that would require them sending it to another shop to be fixed and if that was the case then I probably was looking at Thursday afternoon for when repairs would be complete. I’m probably also looking at a $1,000 to $1,300 repair bill.

Front Axle, Differential, Universal Hub, Brackets/Bolt, Oil Change/Lube, and a Tune-up - never really had a tune up in all the years I have owned the truck. It has platinum plugs that are good for 75,000 to 100,000 miles so I guess there was never a need, but I said I wanted one done so that I would know that the truck would last several more years and hopefully not experience any serious repair needs and so forth., in short so that the truck was “Good to Go” for a few more years.

I can’t really complain as aside from brake jobs etc this is the first major repair it has needed and I guess after ten years one would expect things to go. I’ll have to ask them what I ‘could have done’ to avoid this if anything.