Working on high mileage vehicles

Working on high mileage vehiclesSorry for the lack of an update yesterday.  I have been working on our truck the past couple of days.  After replacing the ball joints, we found out it needed a front wheel bearing, and there was a noise coming from the back that turned out to be the rear wheel bearings.

The front wheel bearing was pretty easy.  The rear wheel bearings wouldn’t have been too bad if the parts store had the attachment for the slide hammer to pull the old bearings.  Apparently when the last person rented it, they didn’t return it and the parts store didn’t order a replacement.

So this morning, I had to bike to another parts store (Napa) and buy a slide hammer.  At first I wasn’t sure how well it would work since the bearing puller was the jaw type that you flipped the arms around for grabbing the inside.  After I got it opened, I realized there was a conical collar that would force the arms open, and it worked good, once I got the bearing races and rollers out so I could get a good grip with the puller on outer lip of the shell.  A couple of good whacks with the slide hammer, and out it came.  It took me longer to bike to the store and back than to use the hammer.  It came with a nice metal case, the only thing I didn’t like was it had a Styrofoam piece inside to hold the parts in place.  It was already crumbling when I opened it, but the tool worked with no issues.

The biggest thing I learned, is that if you are going to be working on a higher mileage vehicle, in this case a 1997 Expedition with 252,000 miles, be prepared for things to go wrong, and make sure you have all the tools and parts you think you might need before you start.  Especially if like me, you only have one vehicle in your family.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *