My M923 - front Axle failure

[romanservices]

On my way home today from picking up a truck load of stuff I had a front axle failure. Was chugging up a hill and felt like I was loosing power started to smell something burning so I pulled over(smoke caught up with me by now). My first thought was did I loose a coolant hose? something wrong with the engine? Got out and saw my front passenger tire leaning in an odd direction. I'm no mechanical genious but that's not supposed to happen. Cool thing is my roadiside assistance picked up the tab for the tow home. I have been waiting for the weahter to warm up so I can replace a bunch of parts and do a quick scuff and paint, guess the wait is over

Pictures to share

 

[Vintage iron]

Looks like bad bearings. They are big so they are probably fine. The bearings are easy to find too.

 

[73m819]

a good chance the spindle WILL need to be replaced, there is a 50/50 chance the hub also

 

[aspann]

Who do you have roadside assistance with?

 

[porkysplace]

When was the last time the wheel bearings where serviced ?

 

[romanservices]

Who do you have roadside assistance with?

Nationwide

 

[romanservices]

When was the last time the wheel bearings where serviced ?

Not done by me so not sure. Completely my fault for not checking

 

[romanservices]

a good chance the spindle WILL need to be replaced, there is a 50/50 chance the hub also

I'm getting another complete axle to put under there, i WILL completely service the replacement before nstall

 

[romanservices]

truck is back on the road now. Ended up not needing the complete axle, Once I got into it all I needed was some new wheel bearings. The inner bearing was completely gone it was riding cone to race no beairngs in the middle. Next time I'm gonna pay some one to do this for me... parts are just crazy heavy

 

[emr]

Like vintage iron said, it takes allot to ruin those spindles and hubs, sounded like you pulled right over , good thing you did , could have been so much worse in so many ways, re packing all wheel bearings is a must on these used older trucks, Diffs too, No one ever re packs the trundle bearings though, thats on my to do list this year, I pulled the covers and they are still packed nice, but I will pull and re pack to be sure ... Nice truck all the best

 

[Tracer]

When you check the other axle bearings, also check the axle nut torque. Hi-way breakdowns are my nightmare, because Nevada has so many hi-ways in the middle of nowhere. Nice that you didn't have a lot of damage.

 

[dmetalmiki]

Glad you had the problem solved with minimum damage, Result of a prompt pull over. The last job with my wrecker recovering a deuce the owner tried "to make it home" ( despite noise and smoke!) and then required Major work and relacement parts.

 

[simp5782]

I second the roadside assistance. When they asked if I wanted it when I insured my 5 ton I said "by all means I want roadside" They understood how heavy the truck was. Heck the tow bill would probably be more than my premium.

 

[rhurey]

I'm curious, had you been checking hub temps at all before this failure?