Rear Ends

doubtful. probably 20000 per axle. my 46 rears are rated at 23000 per axle.

 

Here's where your other senses come in. Sometimes they make a noise before they go out. Sometimes you can see something is wrong with the driveline because there's extra vibration in the mirrors. I've caught two drive shafts going out because my right mirror was vibrating more than normal. Plus when I stopped the vibration went away. Use all your senses because you'll be saving you money. Plus the company will save also. Your repairs just might be faster and you'll be out again making the money.

 

Unless your like me when mine blew up and have a head Mechanic in the shop that thinks Drivers are dumber than a box of rocks and refuses to think we can feel things in our seat smell things going wrong or hear issues before they become major. Here is a list of things I had to limp home with that I had complained about in the time I drove at that carrier before he was fired. Broken Main Shaft on a 9 speed Transmission from Alabama when I had been complaining of it hanging and popping out of gear all the time. Brakes on another truck camming over. The Drums where worn so thin that even with 3/4 of the linings left the shoes would cam over. How I solved that issue was very simple I slammed one of those drums on the floor and it Shattered. I got new Drums that he had been Sitting on for my truck for 1 year it turned out. The one that really pissed me off however beyond the brakes since this was on Rose was when I came in hot when my mother had just had a Heart Attack and well we found out why his Overhaul of the motor only cost the boss 2 Grand for parts. Yep you heard me he paid 2 freaking grand total in 97 for a supposed complete Overhaul kit for a 444 Cummins with 3 heads new Turbo 6 Injectors 6 pistons and Sleeves rods the whole kit.

Well on that day running hard and Yes I basically shoved a brick onto the throttle and left it there for 3 hours solid I managed to swallow 2 valves on #4 cracked pistons 2 and 3 turned that supposed new turbo into a hunk of slag and melted head 2 into junk. Yet the motor kept running to get me home. All the parts on the Kit that they where able to recover where stamped made in China when Cummins looked at them. Bossman put Rose aka 380 back together with parts designed for what He and I wanted out of her the Foreman was Banned from touching that motor or even Driving that truck. In fact these where his ORDERS from the boss if there is a Write up on this truck Fix the ISSUE regardless of WHETHER YOU THINK THERE IS A PROBLEM OR NOT this DRIVER KNOWS MORE ABOUT THIS TRUCK THAN YOU EVER WILL.

 

There are a few warning signs from a rear end going bad. At road speed when the drive train is not under load or running against compression (floating) a bad rear pinion bearing will cause a slight vibration. Also, a heavy 3-4 second pulsing vibration can indicate a bad ring or pinion gear or carrier bearing. But, the "Canary in the coal mine" is the magnetic drain plug. Check it on a regular basis for metal. Keep a spare plug & change it as often as needed. If you are quick,it can be changed with very little oil spill. Fine powder is normal. If you have chunks or shavings, check it again after 500 miles & keep doing so til its clean. If its full of metal time after time you are going to have trouble. Most rear ends inspection plug is magnetic also. I f there IS a lot of metal, change the oil & keep an eye on the metal accumulation. 1 example, I ran Eaton DT-461Ps, started seeing powder on the inspection plug, kept getting worse. Pulled the rearend & found a thrust washer going bad. Saved a huge expense had I NEVER paid attention to the warning signs..

 

Gas Hauler all the Trucks that were driven by me at this carrier had at lest 1.1 to 1.3 Million miles on them when I started Driving them. Boss was a Smaller Fleet owner that liked Older Equipment. Why did he like the older equipment called Cheap to get and CHEAP to repair for the most part. He would rather pay his Drivers an extra 10 cents a mile than have to spend that in Truck Payments. He got his Equipment from auctions fixed them up and ran them until the wheels fell off them REBUILT THEM and ran them til the cows came home again. The one that lost the Transmission started life off as an SMX truck then was bought by an O/O then my Boss. When it lost its Main shaft at 1.2 Million Miles the 9 Over transmission in it had never been removed the Clutch was still the Freaking Factory Original one and the Motor a Fleet 315 Cummins had yet to be Overhauled. Why did the Main Shaft let loose called a busted Bearing on the Shaft and it basically ATE itself nevermind the fact I was in Alabama when it let loose and limped home close to 800 Miles with a Broke transmission.

The other problems listed where with 380 or Rose as she was called in the Fleet. The Foreman of the shop hated that truck why did he she was the only truck the Fleet had ever bought new from the Factory and was given to the hardest running driver in the Company. He flat out hated that truck as she was different from the rest of the Fleet in Engine Cummins 444 instead of his Beloved Cats he hated the KW's also Spicer driveline instead of Eaton Fontaine instead of Holland 5th wheel and she rode on 11R24.5 rubber that the boss never would allow Recaps on. I was given Rose at 1.2 Million miles the Rear ends where still the originals the other Driver who had bought her OWN truck had also been #####ing for MONTHS about the Brakes and Rear End on that truck also. The engine why it melted down was my fault however the boss KNEW why and never said a word to me why. Try finding out your Mother has had 2 Major Heart Attacks while in the Hospital was Flown down to another one and your entire family is on the way to the house to go to possibly say goodbye to her. What would you do when your Boss tells you drop the Freaking HAMMER and GET YOUR ### HOME NOW. I dropped the hammer and got my butt home.

Hell my First Boss that I drove for 3 years for his NEWEST truck in the fleet was a 84 and this was in 1996. I started driving in 1993 when I was 18 for a Farmer hauling about anything that he could get me to haul Animal Feed for his cattle I hauled Pigs Cattle liquid Manure to spray on the fields in the winter grain all year to market. Hell I spent more time on I-57 going back and forth between Cairo IL and his Farm in upstate IL than I care to Remember. What did I drive for him the First Winter in IL Try a freaking 62 Emeryville IH Cabover that he had. The next Spring I was given and upgrade to a 71 IH Transtar NOT the Transtar 2 either the good old 4070 and I drove that sucker for over 2 years. 318 Detroit 13 Speed Hendrickson Walking Beam and I loved it. Grain season I took the Emeryville as it was lighter shorter and less Ground Pressure in the field. Driving THOSE ANTIQUES I never had any major parts break on me on the road. I never abused my equipment when I drove OTR as I knew it was MY Money if I broke down. I was trained better than that called I drove that truck like I OWNED and was making the Payments. Be amazed what happened when you pull into the Company shop and you have your Truck clean and you can tell the Shop what was wrong with it.

 

Lets just hope there's no one around you when the wheels do fall off. This is the time where you should be extra careful when driving and not running the truck into the ground. I've driven many trucks with a million or more and those trucks were taken care of. We kept up on the maintenance and took pride to see how many safe driving miles we could get out of the equipment. I guess maybe that's why we got top dollar on our trucks we sold. The down time was minimal and the trucks were reliable. I'll never see your reasoning and to me it's unsafe and very non-professional. So I agree to disagree and I'll still blow the horn when I pass the shop.

 

I'l had a driver make fun of me for sliding my tandems. He never slid his. Too lazy. He never checks tires or anything.

 

Only lost one Eaton DS power divider in all my years. Locked it in on level ground went up to dump..1/2 way, bang, done.
In respect to paying attention & checking the drain plug. PRICELESS. I say this as a 20+ years truck parts & service guy too. I'll tell you...THAT goes over real well with service tech's.. NOT. Oil is cheap insurance. Check & change.
Once had a tech order a front diff...@ 4.30 ratio. The one time I didn't double check myself. Truck came back 3-weeks later...stinking of fried oil & narfed up front drive tires. Well...DUH...you know the original ( & rear ) ratio was 4:10. Some peoples kids, I tell you. Tried to blame me...but I still had the order slip w/ratio written as ordered.

 

Since having my gall bladder out in June, my rear end goes out about once every two weeks, typically after eating something too greasy..................oh, wrong rear end.

Have lost two on the semi, first one the power divider blew out, limped from Colorado Springs to Denver with 40K in box. Tried explaining to the boss that I had a puddle of gear oil under the truck when I went to leave the customer. He couldn't picture it, and told me to drive home. Ok, limped into the shop, he sent me home early, nice for a Friday, came back Sat. morning and got rapidly promoted to the third sleeper and the driver that was in it got demoted. Next one was about 10 yrs later, no real warning, brought the truck in for PM and an inner axle seal. Apparently when he had it apart, he could smell the burnt fluid. Pulled the drain and found lots of filings, that was all she wrote.