GreaseDrive

On my seemingly endless journey a great deal of things have happened,  both good and bad.  This is some bad news.   I think I mentioned having trouble with my CV joints on the rear half-shafts before.   Well it is turning into major trouble now.   On I40 heading through Arizona I started to have some trouble with my drivers side rear Axle making a awful knocking noise.   I stopped and put more grease into the joint with my small grease gun and that worked for a hundred miles than it started clicking again.  I repeated the process and it seems okay for now.   I am leaving New Mexico tomorrow on my way to Denver.  Its 500 Miles and I could not find these axles anywhere.   It seems that there is only 3 pairs of them in the whole country or something crazy like that.

Send me luck that this joint lets me make it into Denver!   I am most likely going to have to buy some rebuilt axles since they seem to be more highly recommended than the cheaper Chinese ones.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I also seem to have a air leak in the veggie system and I can’t quite track it down.   So that has been giving me troubles again.  I will post again soon.  Hopefully not while stranded!

I have just today completed the last major leg in my coast to coast trip entirely on Dumpster-Fill WVO. I have a dozen articles I wanted to write on this blog before I even get to what is happening now. However after 3,300 miles (just highway) I am just excited to say that I made it! Only a couple veggie related issues. Specifically I switched to veg to early after sleeping at a rest stop in northern Colorado and sucked a huge air-bubble into my Injection Pump which took a while to clear. Besides that the only other trouble I experienced had nothing to do with WVO. My rear CV joints started to squeak and chatter. After closer inspection I discovered they have ripped/torn over the 24+ years of use. Most of the oil/grease has leaked out and the joints are dry!

Unable to afford the price of new Axel’s ($1000) I decided to do the worst thing and that is put a band-aid on it. I know the joints will get louder and more prominent before they break apart and shred my car. So I have filled the boots with grease as best I can and will keep a close eye (and ear) on them until I can fix the issue.

For reference I did a calculation today. Fully loaded carry over 500lbs of oil (70 gallons) going 65-70mph maximum. I averaged 26.6 MPG today. This is with a rear-mounted bike rack with bike in tow. Pretty good numbers for a 300D I am told!