brengl1942
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2015
- Location
- Hurdle Mills
Last weekend I took my 96 Chevy K2500HD up to Pisgah (Edgemont area) for some camping and fishing with a couple of buddies. On Saturday it was cold and rainy so we decided to just ride up some of the forest roads and see what we see. We took my truck... about an hour from anywhere up the national forest roads we crossed an area with some rocks and washboarding, and I heard a metallic clink. Continued on a little further and I kept hearing something kind of rattling/banging around so I stopped and got out to take a look. I discovered that the driver side front axle had lost ALL of its bolts attaching it to the front axle housing and was just dangling free! Thinking back on it we did recall hearing some 'dings' as something hit the floorpan of the truck. I thought it was just rocks in the tires, but at this point I realized those were bolts flying off the front axle.
We started deliberating on what to do. The truck still drove fine, but I didn't want to go too fast and risk the axle banging around in the front suspension. As it was it just seemed to rest on the LCA and happily turn along with the tire without much drama. I was NOT going to be able to drive it the 4 hours home on the highway like that, and I had no tools or bolts that I could repair it with at the campsite, which was a good 30 miles from the nearest town. We had not seen another vehicle in a long while, so the chances were slim that someone would just happen by with a bunch of GM axle bolts and a wrench in their truck
.
Fortunately we were up on the high ridge at this point and had a slight cell phone signal. I was able to search and find a gregarious fellow named Phil who has a little repair garage behind his house near Blowing Rock, about 20 miles from our current location. He was also one of the only garages open on a Saturday afternoon. I called him and he said he was very familiar with those trucks and could easily reattach the axle for me. He graciously waited for us while we limped the rest of the way to the paved road and all the way to his garage at about 35mph. 10 minutes later we had some bolts in the axle and were good to go! Thanks Phil! Surprisingly there is very little discernible damage other than a little to the CV boot where it was rubbing on the LCA. I drove it 4 hours back home Sunday morning without a problem. I consider myself very lucky to not still be sitting up there in the woods trying to find someone to come tow my truck out.
I'm guessing that I must have been loosing axle bolts for a while before this happened, and the rough dirt roads just finished the job. The previous owner of this truck had replaced that driver side CV axle, and apparently whoever did the job did not tighten the bolts properly. I had no clue, and although I am pretty observant with my vehicles I had never noticed. Moral to this story if you have one of these trucks, make sure those axle bolts are tight!
We started deliberating on what to do. The truck still drove fine, but I didn't want to go too fast and risk the axle banging around in the front suspension. As it was it just seemed to rest on the LCA and happily turn along with the tire without much drama. I was NOT going to be able to drive it the 4 hours home on the highway like that, and I had no tools or bolts that I could repair it with at the campsite, which was a good 30 miles from the nearest town. We had not seen another vehicle in a long while, so the chances were slim that someone would just happen by with a bunch of GM axle bolts and a wrench in their truck
.Fortunately we were up on the high ridge at this point and had a slight cell phone signal. I was able to search and find a gregarious fellow named Phil who has a little repair garage behind his house near Blowing Rock, about 20 miles from our current location. He was also one of the only garages open on a Saturday afternoon. I called him and he said he was very familiar with those trucks and could easily reattach the axle for me. He graciously waited for us while we limped the rest of the way to the paved road and all the way to his garage at about 35mph. 10 minutes later we had some bolts in the axle and were good to go! Thanks Phil! Surprisingly there is very little discernible damage other than a little to the CV boot where it was rubbing on the LCA. I drove it 4 hours back home Sunday morning without a problem. I consider myself very lucky to not still be sitting up there in the woods trying to find someone to come tow my truck out.
I'm guessing that I must have been loosing axle bolts for a while before this happened, and the rough dirt roads just finished the job. The previous owner of this truck had replaced that driver side CV axle, and apparently whoever did the job did not tighten the bolts properly. I had no clue, and although I am pretty observant with my vehicles I had never noticed. Moral to this story if you have one of these trucks, make sure those axle bolts are tight!
