Truck is back together

Saturday didn't quite work out, got it up on jackstands, but ran out of time. Sunday morning pulled it apart, went to put the new unit bearings in only to realize that the old studs were way to rusted in to be removed from the old ones and reused. None of the autoparts stores had 'em, had to wait until today for Ford to be open. 8 new M14x1.5 studs later and a couple o-rings for good measure, the truck is rolling again. And the howling when rounding a corner is gone.

I need a garage. This working in the dark with a headlamp in the gravel is getting old. But maybe I'm still building character?

I love my truck, but....

I do have a few choice words for the engineers that designed parts of it. Specifically the front wheel bearings:

This is a unit bearing. They cost hundreds of dollars each, you need two. The package weighed in at 52 lbs. The bearing is really a small part of this assembly. Normally, a 1 ton truck would require just the bearings and races which might cost up to $50 a side. And all the other metal (which never goes bad) would be re-used. Just look at all the splines they had to machine into this new "unit". You can also re-lubricate traditional bearings. While these are supposed to be maintenance free (ie, you cannot lubricate them), I'm not even at 100k and they need to be replaced. Heck, it even comes with a new integrated ABS sensor.

And Erin's upset that I scratched her countertop opening the package. It weighed so much I thought maybe they had sent me a whole new axle.

Nate.....

... no using your hands!

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