Tag axle detaching from the frame!?
Yahoo Message Number: 113408
OK, CC folk. Had one today that I've not heard of, and nobody on the FaceBook forums seems to have experienced. So - beware the missing Tag bracket bolts:
We arrived yesterday in Willits CA after a 220 mile slog down US 101 from Crescent City. Looking over the rig, we were concerned that the right rear quarter was covered in an unusual amount of black "stuff" coming from the tag wheel - more than the usual crud from a day on semi-wet roads. Pondering overnight, I decided I had either 1) a blown axle seal and therefore potentially a dry tag axle bearing, or 2) a dragging brake. Either could not be ignored, so we located a truck repair shop in Willits and went over there first thing this AM.
Turned out the problem was totally unrelated to either of my diagnoses. (DUH)! When we pulled the tag wheel, we found that the bracket which attaches the tag pivot to the frame by a half dozen hefty bolts, had lost two of those bolts. This had allowed the bracket to rotate rearward, putting that tag wheel about 2" out of alignment with the drives. The consequence as you can imagine was loss of almost all that tire's tread from "scrubbing" on the pavement at an angle to the rest of the rig. I'm at a total loss to imagine how those two bolts went missing, but there you go - they were flat GONE. We have had NO events of any magnitude that might have loosened or broken those bolts, and had noticed nothing like that before yesterday.
So: we replaced the missing bolts, and pulled the bracket forward until at it's extreme travel the wheel was "almost" true to the drives. It's still very slightly out of alignment due to bending of the bracket, but it's as good as it's going to get without major straightening. We pulled the opposite tag wheel, which still has almost all it's tread, and switched sides so the slightly misaligned tire is the one with plenty of tread left to sacrifice. The nearly bald right tag is on the properly aligned left side, so further wear will be minimized. We'll continue our snow-birding in So Cal this Winter (only have maybe 1500 more miles of travel planned) then will stop in Grant's Pass on the way home at Henderson's Line-up and get the damn thing straightened out, then we'll replace both tag tires.
I have to say I'm REALLY glad we stopped today. The consequences of losing that tag tire when ALL the tread had scrubbed off are not pretty to think about. So: have a look between the drives & tags from time to time, and make sure everything in there is as it should be. There are no guarantees! I would never have imagined this happening.
Don Hutchins
'08 Allure 470 #31613, 40' tag, Cat C-9 w/ Cat tranny
Kingston, WA
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