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First, a status report, and then my question:
After three months of intensive repairs, I think I finally have my
1986 former-USMC M998 HMMWV almost road-worthy. In theory, I just need
to balance the tires, and I plan to do that tomorrow. I took Wed-Fri
of last week off to work on it, because I just couldn't stand being so
close to being done!
During the last four days, I've replaced the lower coolant pipe,
replaced some of the radiator hoses and scraped out the rest, flushed
the cooling system, installed the radio shelf, mounts and wiring (the
radios and the remaining whip element that I need are on the way, and
should just drop in... I hope they work, because I'm to tired to fix
another piece of equipment for a while!), replaced a radius rod,
adjusted the wheel alignment, and did all sorts of other miscellaneous
repairs. I ran into a hitch when I couldn't budge the radius rod end I
needed to replace, or the other end either... hours of torching,
pounding, Liquid Wrenching, and cussing moved one end less than a
turn. I decided I'd rather waste money than blood and skin, so I just
ordered a whole new radius rod from George Pretty and had him
next-day/Saturday-delivery it. That was a pain in the pocketbook! That
new rod got plenty of anti-seize on its threads. Ironically, that rod
was almost the right length when I popped it in, and the other rod
needed most of the adjusting. Luckily, some Liquid Wrench, a few taps
with a hammer, and all of my weight on a pipe wrench popped the sleeve
loose. The new one turned by hand.
I took my truck for a test drive about a half hour ago, and noticed
that there seems to be a LOT of gear noise coming from the rear of the
truck. Except when I accelerate fairly hard, the gear noise is louder
than the engine at moderate speeds (20-40 MPH). I've changed the oil
in both diffs and all four hub gear boxes, but I haven't touched the
transfer case yet.
Now, the only other time I've driven it on the road, I had the 4-door
passenger top on, with the rear curtain in place, and the bed was
open. This time, I added the cargo cover, and removed the curtain at
the rear of the passenger area. Maybe that made the sound more
noticeable.
Is it normal for an M998 HMMWV in this configuration to have a LOT of
gear noise coming from the rear end, or should I start wrenching on it
again?
If the answer is "yes, that's normal", and I manage to balance the
wheels tomorrow afternoon, I think I'll drive the beast to work on
Monday. Hee-hee! :-)
-- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://pgp.ai.mit.edu/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/ DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE
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