I spent today with my personal car. This all starts about ... 2004.
Back then the Festiva needed a brake job and I was unusually flush, so I offered the job to our warehouse manager. I sent along the shop manual as a reference. I'd seen some of his work on his own vehicle, and had confidence that he could manage. OK, so I was wrong. As I was driving the car back I noticed that it was handling pretty badly. The rear wheels were going to fall off. This calls for some explanation.
On most cars the wheel bearings typically are hand tightened, then a castle placed over the axle nut, then a cotter pin to keep it from coming apart. It's a little different on the Festiva. It uses an aluminum axle nut torqued to 22 foot pounds while spinning the brake drum. Then the nut is peened into a ridge in the axle shaft. No castle, no cotter pin. So by the time I got home the rear bearings were pretty screwed up. I found the axle nuts never peened. When torqued and peened it was quite a bit better. That was 2004.
So it's been getting louder and louder, to the point where I can't hear the radio. I don't drive this car much anymore. This is the vehicle that I transport sheets of plywood, bags of cement, and most anything else. If it makes some noise I'm not bothered that much.
On my way home the other day the noise stopped, so I knew I was in trouble. I pulled over at the nearest flat patch of asphalt and sure enough, those right rear bearings were done. It must have chewed up and spit out one of those cylindrical bearings. The last 10 miles took an hour as I crept home, wobbling all the way.
Today it got four bearings, two seals, and alternator belt, and a new-to-me tailgate. That should do me until 2020. =^..^=
Back then the Festiva needed a brake job and I was unusually flush, so I offered the job to our warehouse manager. I sent along the shop manual as a reference. I'd seen some of his work on his own vehicle, and had confidence that he could manage. OK, so I was wrong. As I was driving the car back I noticed that it was handling pretty badly. The rear wheels were going to fall off. This calls for some explanation.
On most cars the wheel bearings typically are hand tightened, then a castle placed over the axle nut, then a cotter pin to keep it from coming apart. It's a little different on the Festiva. It uses an aluminum axle nut torqued to 22 foot pounds while spinning the brake drum. Then the nut is peened into a ridge in the axle shaft. No castle, no cotter pin. So by the time I got home the rear bearings were pretty screwed up. I found the axle nuts never peened. When torqued and peened it was quite a bit better. That was 2004.
So it's been getting louder and louder, to the point where I can't hear the radio. I don't drive this car much anymore. This is the vehicle that I transport sheets of plywood, bags of cement, and most anything else. If it makes some noise I'm not bothered that much.
On my way home the other day the noise stopped, so I knew I was in trouble. I pulled over at the nearest flat patch of asphalt and sure enough, those right rear bearings were done. It must have chewed up and spit out one of those cylindrical bearings. The last 10 miles took an hour as I crept home, wobbling all the way.
Today it got four bearings, two seals, and alternator belt, and a new-to-me tailgate. That should do me until 2020. =^..^=
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