Inane ramblings to avoid thread jacking

[scott_araujo]

Feeling pretty good today for the first time in a long while.  My job has sucked for months and sucked even more since three months ago when the senior engineer quit and I had to take over everything.  I've been doing multiple late night web deployments every week for months now with no plan in place for relief.  There were some very nasty e-mails from my boss and others last week about my 'negative attitude'.  This is after months of long hours and late nights with no raise in 2 years.

I resigned on Monday.  I got a new job with fewer hours, no late nights, and better pay.  I'll get to see my family and pay the bills, neither of which was possible for a while now.  AND it's only half a mile down the road from MotoCorsa and Vespa PDX

So I resigned to my boss on Monday and did a little social experiment: I didn't tell anyone else and wanted to see how long it would take for mgmt to spread the word.  Well I told a few people who had to take over my job but no one else.  It was my own little perverse social curiosity.  As of yesterday only the managers knew, the team that is taking over my job, and one or two other people.  Kinda sick, I serve about 80 people every day and they don't even tell them what's coming.  So I announced it publicly today.

Anyway, I can't wait to get out of here and have been feeling better every day since Monday.

Scott

[ryandalling]

Rock on Scott!!  Good for you. Good luck on the new job, sounds like a great step for you.

[duc_fan]

The only real bearings on the rear of a Durango will be axle support bearings inside the axle tube. Were you checking for play with the brake drum still on? If so, you're going to have boatloads of radial play because of drum engagement with the studs, and all straight axles have some axial play where they engage the differential. On the chance that you did remove the drum and were checking at the hub, there shouldn't be a ton of radial play beyond a few thousandths. Changing the bearings involves pulling the axles, removing the axle seal, and yanking out the bearings with a slide hammer or something to that effect--reinstalling in reverse order. Pulling the axles will be the most tedious part because the mate shaft has to be removed from the diff for you to push the axles far enough in to remove the retainer C-clip on the spline end. I'd be looking elsewhere for something that more commonly causes vibration issues, though. Driveline, pinion, pinion bearing, lost wheel weights, et cetera.

Well, that's useful info.  I had pulled the drum off to check play (the drum is only held onto the hub by the wheel lugs, so it slides off easily when the wheel is off).  Figured out real quick that the drum was wiggling around w/o the lugnuts holding it in place.

So yeah, it was the hub itself that was moving radially, and way more than a few thousanths.  We're talking 1/6"-1/8" (0.0625"-0.125").  Also, the passenger side had a lot more play than the driver's side, which passes the sanity check (when driving, it feels like the vibe is coming from that corner).  I did check for lost wheel weights when I rotated the tires (that would've been an easy fix)... no such luck.  All weights were still in place.  Also after the rotation, if it was an individual wheel/tire, the vibe would have moved.  It didn't.

The driveline probably needs to be checked as well.  I'm sure after 140k miles the u-joints are toast, and even if they were externally lube-able, I'm sure nobody has ever touched them with a grease gun.  The average suburbanite just doesn't think about that kind of shite (and I met a lot of them while working at the auto parts store).

The job of pulling the axles and yanking the bearings with a slide hammer sounds straightforward, but something I don't really have the time to do.  Fahdge.

No vehicle is immune to mechanical problems, trust me.

I know, I own two VWs and rode a Ducati for 9000+ miles.    I wasn't referring to the rear end vibe when talking about trading for something else.  Everything needs wheel bearings replaced at regular intervals.  What I concerns me in the case of the Durano is poor suspension design.  Everything needs maintenance, but suspension components (particularly ball joints) should not catastrophically fail at 60k miles on any kind of regular basis, regardless of maintenance.  The Durango has way too many reported instances of this for it to be a fluke.  GM's problems with the 95-00 Suburban are pretty much limited to the POS plastic interior switches.  When one of those fails at 70mph on the freeway, it generally doesn't result in injury or death.  However, when critical suspension components fail at speed... this I take issue with.  My winter commute involves driving I-84 in snotty weather alongside a lot of semis.  A front ball joint failure and subsequent loss of control would not be pretty in that situation.

[duc_fan]

Before I forget... Congrats, Scott, glad to see you improve your situation!    

[scott_araujo]

Thanks for the good wishes guys.

There's a chill in the air and the spider population outside my condo is exploding.  Alas, I have put the liner back in my jacket which means today is the first official day of fall on my calendar.  Still, it's sunny so that ain't really too bad.

Scott

[krolik]

Wassup homies.

[ryandalling]

i am up and awake and on a call and drinking coffee and it is 5 am and wow maybe I need another cup of joe.

[scott_araujo]

Dude, you have way too many early morning meetings.

Scott

[ryandalling]

It's daily. I am sorta getting used to it.

[Bendy]

I want to know who put the morning people in charge. I'm going to find that person and shove her into a wood chipper feet first.

[ryandalling]

Officially down to two bikes in the garage, the 999 & the monster. Had the knee surgery and will see if I am allowed to race again next season. May try the senior super bike class.  I can walk on the knee, but limping.

[scott_araujo]

Just because you're limping doesn't mean you can't be fast or high tech:
http://www.fashionablecanes.com/Superlite_Carbon_Fiber_Walking_Canes.html
I have the green one.

Good luck on the surgery healing well.  Glad I bought a slower bike.

Scott

[ryandalling]

Just because you're limping doesn't mean you can't be fast or high tech:
http://www.fashionablecanes.com/Superlite_Carbon_Fiber_Walking_Canes.html
I have the green one.

I went on to the website and was about to buy one... then I realized that I would probably never use it anyhow. Still a cool thing. 

[scott_araujo]

They're cheap now too, only $40.  I think I spent $70.  And if you go back to racing you'll use it

There was a titanium one a while ago too, only 3.5 oz.  I don't see it now.  It was too expensive for me anyhow.

Scott

[krolik]

I've run into 2 DMF members so far on this trip. One in the Phoenix and one in Royal Oak.