What a day Yesterday, we went for BBQ to a private land on the hills of patriata overseeing kashmir mountains, Awesome gathering and good BBQ.
Well the story begins on our way back on Murree highway, Hassan & my family stopped for a cup of tea, started off again, started noticing a sound from the rear when the Fj was going down hill and the speed was higher than the Throttle pressed, like something was getting loose. I stopped and checked underneath and all looked ok. Well started off again and with a clunk the rear wheels locked up and the car would not move forward, i tried reversing and that worked for a few feet, but when i try to go forward it jammed.
Shockingly now when observed the underbelly the rear axle shaft was halfway out of the rear diffs. So took out the tools and on goes Sam; removed the rear shaft and tried to move the vehicle with 4x4 engaged to forward assuming that the rear shaft was the culprit and removing it would enable me to move forward but it would not move an inch. Tried reversing and it would move, but would not go forward for more than a few inches then would jam.
While all this was happening our families were in the corolla waiting for us to figure out what was going on.
Then i observed the rear diffs closely and sat that the pinion gear that drives axles was not straight but was crooked and was in the diff almost all the way. Then it hit me that the ghucha has been damage quite et bad on the rear diff and the pinion was out of place and shoved inside the the diff almost all the way.
1st places a few rocks in front of the wheels (as the handbrake cable got loose while travelling), and used the cable as a backup hooked to the Corolla. Then we decided to remove the Pinion gear, which became a pain the the Behind... So opened the axle cover, dropped all the oil and found metal pieces in the chamber. At this point of time hell broke loose as i found pieces of round metal and i thought 'Holy **** My aussie lockers are screwed'. On observation the lockers seems to be fine 'Thank God'. then came the hard part to remove the pinion gear. had to open the whole assembly, remove the front side connecting side to the shaft of the diff, and finally was able to remove the Pinion gear. Then re assembled the diff, again, without the pinion, closed the Diff cover and installed the front end, tighten up the screws. Added some oil ( has a new pack of diff oil) to constrain further damage to the diff through the pinion hole. Prayed to All Mighty and engaged the 4x4 and Alhamdulillah the FJ Moved :):). All this ordeal took almost 2 hours and my Friend Hassan Barlas who with me got mustered with Diff oils and patience of our families; we were able to drive like a front wheel drive.
With the Aussie Lockers installed in the front and high 4x4 engaged it was a nightmare to handle the vehicle.. gradually learnt the trick to keep the 3rd gear engaged and pressed the clutch all the way, unless needed to rise uphill. Took me 2.5 hours to reach back home Safe and Sound with a somewhat intact FJ.
So a couple of things learnt:
* when you hear a noise from the rear when your take ur foot of the pedal, have a thorough check of the rear driveshaft and differential... Something is wrong there.
* Always keep proper tools in your car, u never know when you need em.
* try and keep all kinda oils with you, u never know when you need em
* learnt how difficult it is to drive a fj as a front wheel drive, specially with auto lockers installed.
All in all good fun at the bbq & happy that i didn't had to pay the darn tow truck a sum of 6,000 rupees for a haul back. Felt good about myself that i got my puppy back home.
btw Motorway police came for help in towing; we denied. Motorway Mechanical vehicle came to help; we denied. A local Mechanic from nearby came to help; we denied. Alhamdulillah we were persistent and with some good luck, we reached back home around 11:00 pm.
NUIC-RYDS Here i come with my half open diff and a Pinion Gear in One hand and the Drive shaft in an other.. Be prepared :p