Holy Crap!  Scared the **** outta me!  Not just once but several times...  when you're not expecting it.  Yeah, our camping trip week.  I left wife setting up the tents!  I had a big dose of yellow pine pollen & seasonal allergy response...  an immune response.  Multiple Sclerosis is an auto-immune disease.  So my symptoms are increased right now.  I'm not well enough to camp. 

 

I was planning to commute to camp...  day tripping for me...   towing my landscape trailer each day with my big scooter on it...  so I can really get around camp...  especially hauling a cannon...   

To salvage the vaca, I am borrowing the inlaws F word Explorer.  I will need the truck to pack up camp but that's a single round trip, not 5 trips. 

 

I can't get the Dodge into the shop until wife is home for transport.  I expect a tie rod end or something has sh*t the bed.      

Edited August 2, 201410 yr by Mopar1973Man

I wondered if the repair to the spring seats had damaged/stressed something else which subsequently failed.  I'm also waiting to hear how bad my news is! 

......control arm brackets come to mind......  if  your  spring cups  rusted out,  (quite thick btw)  There may be  other issues  on the horizon..

I just talked to the shop.  The front problem is still pretty much as it was a year ago...  there is a problem with the Right side rear spring perch & U bolts...  basically shot.   Tom gets the Prize!     

 

I may need tires to get it inspected...  He didn't like the look of the tires...  we'll see. 

Edited June 9, 201410 yr by flagmanruss

    well,  ok then.

 

rust?

Yes, it is a rust problem, like the front spring cups.  Rear axle is reportedly moving & not in a good way.  I'll be stopping by tomorrow for visitation.  Shop owner understands that I need this to be safe & dependable.  I just hope I have some nuts left when I get it back. 

Yes, it is a rust problem, like the front spring cups.  Rear axle is reportedly moving & not in a good way.  I'll be stopping by tomorrow for visitation.  Shop owner understands that I need this to be safe & dependable.  I just hope I have some nuts left when I get it back. 

 

Just to  clarify,  are you referring to the  6 cornered  threaded  fastener  'nut'?

 

I'm  glad you found it  before it  put you or a loved one  in the ditch, or worse!

Oh hey Russ,  I'll have a rust free  rolling frame  available around here  this summer...    it's  the  1998's   extended cab,  w/8 foot box.  (long frame)

 

I gotta clean up some of my junk.. and  you sure can help yourself   

I appreciate the offer...  kind of far & my frame itself seems good.  It's just the components hung on it...   I'm getting the worn tie rod ends replaced too...  before the alignment.  The TR adjuster sleeve is in pretty poor condition.  My plan is to be more aggressive about repairs & not waiting until they are "very bad".   

Registration, Taxes & Insurance  are high here...  but I pay it so I can have some recreation.  A cheap 1/2 ton will not tow a 30' camper (not legally or safely anyway).  So I have to get in or get out. 

I stopped by to drop off paint & undercoater for the new parts...  my truck was outside waiting for parts.  I stuck my head in the Right Rear wheel well, over the tire.  I expected the failed plate was on the bottom.  It was NOT, it was on the top, over the spring.  I suspect there was a stamped lip there...   which is now gone.  The top of the front U bolt has shifted forward a couple of inches!  Surprise!   

So, you are saying the rear axle was moving around?

Yup, that's what the Shop told me.  I don't see how the axle could "come out" completely since it was still captive (U bolt over the spring) but I imagine under power the axle could walk forward & back.  sort of a vargue "alignment".   

 

OK, got some pictures during visitation today> 

Right, Passenger's side (Oh, crap!  What's holding the axle in?)

Sorry the underside picture didn't come out.

 

Left, Driver's side (What it's supposed to look like)

Edited June 12, 201410 yr by flagmanruss

one of the many evils of the northeast...RUST!

Well, at least now you know! That doesn't look too bad to fix, just a couple of new U-bolts and another top plate.

Holy RUST Batman!!

 

Are you replacing parts on both sides?

My opinion has flip flopped again...  and I couldn't really see under the axle to access those parts (& my photo was pitch black & of no use).  Although the top is the part which has moved, I'm back to thinking the bottom plate "must have" failed because the top plate seems to be all there...  so the bottom failed, the nuts pulling up into the plate thereby loosening the U bolts allowing them to jump the groove. 

 

Yes, we are replacing plates & U bolts on both sides.  Yes, good old New England road salt.   Lucky I limped home without losing the rear axle.

Edited June 13, 201410 yr by flagmanruss

Wow!

 

My truck looks factory fresh to that. I've got barely even some surface rust specs starting om my truck with all the winters and salt covered highways and mud.

That's the difference between high humidity and almost no humidity

That's the difference between high humidity and almost no humidity

 

Every winter here I see 90-95% humidity with tons of salt laid on the highway. It's the difference of washing the truck. I typically rinse my truck weekly to knock the mud off and rinse the salt off everything. If I'm lazy I'll place a sprinkler out under the truck and turn on the hose. This works really good on getting most of it off without getting wet in the cold of the winter.

Is salt a Riggins thing? I was pretty sure ITD didn't use salt, at least I have never seen it. All I have ever seen ITD use is liquid de-icer, they even talk about why they use de-icer vs salt on their website.

The northeast uses the green stuff, which eats away metal faster than regular calcium chloride.

Is salt a Riggins thing? I was pretty sure ITD didn't use salt, at least I have never seen it. All I have ever seen ITD use is liquid de-icer, they even talk about why they use de-icer vs salt on their website.

 

New Meadows ITD mixes salt with the road gravel. Usually truck in few tons of salt and mix with the gravel. This why they have a big shelter covering the road gravel to prevent rain and snow from rinsing the salt out. Rarely use liquid de-icer. Even that isn't liked much up here since the liquid deicer eats brass and copper wiring parts.