Sunday, October 25th. Shake down cruise.

Took the dog on a short country loop on Friday. Saturday, drove into town for wiper blades and supplies.

Sunday, figured to take the road up the hill into Westmoreland and then on to Lafayette for breakfast. Didn’t quite make it. Coming over the top of the climb into Westmoreland from Bethpage, experienced loud grinding sound from underneath. Then something let go, sounded like I drove over the muffleras or a small metal trashcan. Total loss of power.

As I coasted into the Hardee’s parking lot, I could see the rear drive shaft laying in the middle of the road. Not good. Coasted mostly into a parking spot and went back for the drive shaft. Too hot to pick up, so I just kicked it to the side of the road and called for a tow.

Grabbed it when it cooled down and got towed to the house. Taking it over to Clinard’s now to have a new end put on it. Looks straight. Universal joint still on the rear xfer case. Looks like I lost a couple things at the transmission side. Still goes into front wheel drive in 4by mode, but “Park” doesn’t lock up. Looks like all new u-joints for me.

Oh well, almost made it 100 miles!

Here’s to hoping it’s just a U-Joint, the old one doesn’t look like it ever met the grease gun.