Haven't been driving the truck much, refueling about once a month since November. Filled her up the other day to take advantage of cheap E85 prices and already burned 1/2 a tank. Then yesterday took about an hour round trip drive to pick up some Mexican food for my wife's birthday. A rhythmic vibration was noticed on the highway, thought it was the inside of the tires which are wearing unevenly because its time to replace the ball joints. Picked up the chow and took the back roads back home. Vibration became more pronounced and soon felt it strong in the steering wheel. Let go of the wheel and you can watch it move back and forth! Felt like a belt broke in a tire!
Jacked her up this morning and the tires looked fine, wheels looked fine. Pulled them off and the tie rods were thirsty for grease but otherwise seemed ok. No play 12-6 or 9-3 on the hubs and ball joints. Then we spun the rotors and the driver's side was deemed the culprit. The lower piston seemed to be sticking out a little more catching a high spot on the rotor. Dial indicator showed .0012 run out.
So my daughters and I pulled the calipers, greased the shims and guide pins and put everything back together. The guide pins were low on grease, there was none left on the shims. Brakes were done a year and 17,500 miles ago. Drag Reduction Clips were still doing their job but are really rusty.
Put the GM factory molded mud flaps ( 19212819 ) on the front since the wheels were off, skipped the part of the instructions where it said to drill holes and put two screws into the running boards. Still have 4 screws to secure them. Factory packaging was sealed but was missing 2 speed nuts. A trip to O'Reilly Auto and $5 fixed that. Truck felt fine and stopped great during a 15 minute test drive. We shall see.
More work planned for tomorrow. Won't be on much as my wife will be working from home from now on.
