It can be done......a road trip experience

[B-train]

So, on a family trip to New Orleans......

The day of, I went over the Yukon. Tires, fluids, quick detail, etc. All checked out good. Hit the road and headed south. The Yukon is running well, returning almost 21 mpg at 75 - 85 mph. I'll take it!

Fast forward to the last leg of the trip and we stopped in a small town in LA. Pull away from a stop sign and it sounded like a flock of birds making noise under my truck. Hmmmm... Quick inspection shows nothing. Get to New Orleans and in slow traffic I hear the tell-tale sound of a dry u-joint. Had my daughter move forward and backwards at our destination and it is indeed the rear u-joint. (Crappy Moog part apparently, replaced about 2 years ago....)

The next day, after a sleepless night of brain running through options, and I head to the nearest Autozone with my buddy who was traveling with his family as well. "No working on vehicles in the parking lot" signage is what I'm met with. So......like any good person in a pinch, I parked in the back parking lot where there were no signs. LOL. So I suited up in coveralls and flip flops and went to work.

I needed a vice, which I don't carry. I had 1 4x4 with me. God provided (2) 1x4 boards right next to the dumpster (I don't believe in coincidence, just Devine help when needed). So, with the tools in my Murphy Kit, 3 boards, and a hammer I changed it out in the parking lot with the help of my friend.

Now it's as loose, and flexible, as a $2 ******. The old one was so tight it couldn't be moved by hand, and all the needles bearings fell out when the caps were removed (some broken in half). I was pretty close to a VERY bad experience on the side of the road, 1000 miles from home.

So, it pays to have some basics with you on a trip, and some ingenuity goes a long way. Thankfully it all worked out and we can continue on. WHEW!!!

 

[Airman68]

Some people laugh when I bring LOTS of tools with me on trips but it's just my experience of being a field tech for so many years. Never want to be caught without tool for that unknown situation.

 

[OR VietVet]

Not in a back lot or alongside the road, but I have used a flat blade screwdriver, hammer, 2 blocks of wood and some spare sockets, to change a u-joint when I was not close to my tool box. Good job @B-train

 

[swathdiver]

So, on a family trip to New Orleans......

The day of, I went over the Yukon. Tires, fluids, quick detail, etc. All checked out good. Hit the road and headed south. The Yukon is running well, returning almost 21 mpg at 75 - 85 mph. I'll take it!

Fast forward to the last leg of the trip and we stopped in a small town in LA. Pull away from a stop sign and it sounded like a flock of birds making noise under my truck. Hmmmm... Quick inspection shows nothing. Get to New Orleans and in slow traffic I hear the tell-tale sound of a dry u-joint. Had my daughter move forward and backwards at our destination and it is indeed the rear u-joint. (Crappy Moog part apparently, replaced about 2 years ago....)

The next day, after a sleepless night of brain running through options, and I head to the nearest Autozone with my buddy who was traveling with his family as well. "No working on vehicles in the parking lot" signage is what I'm met with. So......like any good person in a pinch, I parked in the back parking lot where there were no signs. LOL. So I suited up in coveralls and flip flops and went to work.

I needed a vice, which I don't carry. I had 1 4x4 with me. God provided (2) 1x4 boards right next to the dumpster (I don't believe in coincidence, just Devine help when needed). So, with the tools in my Murphy Kit, 3 boards, and a hammer I changed it out in the parking lot with the help of my friend.

Now it's as loose, and flexible, as a $2 ******. The old one was so tight it couldn't be moved by hand, and all the needles bearings fell out when the caps were removed (some broken in half). I was pretty close to a VERY bad experience on the side of the road, 1000 miles from home.

So, it pays to have some basics with you on a trip, and some ingenuity goes a long way. Thankfully it all worked out and we can continue on. WHEW!!!

Should have just driven over or called Chris, he's in Baton Rouge! @iamdub

I bet the replacement was a 1410 and the original is a 1415 series, there is a difference. AAM or Spicer or GM OE for the win!

 

[B-train]

Looking at the map of forum peeps was my fall back if all else failed. And, being that it was a Sunday, options were limited.

 

[OR VietVet]

Looking at the map of forum peeps was my fall back if all else failed. And, being that it was a Sunday, options were limited.

Yea, Sunday is the "sleep off the hangover" day.

 

[89Suburban]

Yo your rear tires look like the next thing keep an eye on that haha

 

[adventurenali92]

Always a good idea to keep simple tools in the truck for a road trip. lol. My buddy made fun of me for having a torque wrench in my tool kit last summer when I went up to visit them in Utah. I’m like “hey if I gotta change a wheel on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, you can be damn sure I’m torqueing them lug nuts down…. “ lol.

 

[justchecking]

So, on a family trip to New Orleans......

… I head to the nearest Autozone with my buddy who was traveling with his family as well. "No working on vehicles in the parking lot" signage is what I'm met with. So......like any good person in a pinch, I parked in the back parking lot where there were no signs. LOL. So I suited up in coveralls and flip flops and went to work…

I heard Wo ody Guthrie singing while I was reading your experience:

“There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said "Private Property"
But on the backside, it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me”

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Way to go MacGyver!!

Unusual for a U-joint to show signs of imminent failure so rapidly, but you got it done and saved your trip.