Last Saturday I was using my 46 2 ton to haul household goods as my son moved from an apartment to a house. It was fun to be able to use the truck to haul something. Since I can't do any physical work, I was just hanging around the truck to monitor things while it was loaded and unloaded. Naturally, people who were interested in the truck stopped to talk and I had at least 8 guys spend some time with me. One fellow was a mechanic who, I could tell, was very experienced. He really had a genuine interest in the truck and spent nearly an hour going over it from stem to stern. He got down on the ground and looked it all over underneath. He mentioned that my pinion seal was leaking and I agreed it was. It had been changed last year but started to leak again very soon thereafter. I thought it was because the axle vent had been plugged and I just freed it up after the new seal started to leak again. This mechanic checked out the whole drive line and pointed out that the middle hanger bearing seemed to be worn. He said that was more than likely what caused the pinion seal to leak. The bearing could be moved around in the bracket. A couple of days ago I bought a new bracket containing the bearing and proceeded to take the driveshaft off. When I got the hanger bearing off it turned out that there was nothing wrong with the bearing but it was loose in the bracket. The service manual shows a rubber type ring around the bearing but none existed in the bracket. Turned out the new bearing and bracket were incorrect and there wasn't a replacement available. My friend and I took the old bearing and wrapped some electrical tape around it then pressed it back into the bracket. Going down the road now is like having a brand new truck! All the vibration and chatter at a speed around 30mph had disappeared! It was smooth as a baby's 'proverbial'. If this doesn't hold up we think we'll give some 'expanding foam' a try. No reason I can think of at the moment that this won't be OK for quite some time though.
What a treat it is to drive this truck now that problem is solved.
Regards, George
