Hello. Although I do not have any pictures, and this may disqualify me from ya'll's contest, I still wanted to send you my story. I hope you take the time to read this because it is a good story although at the time that it happened, it kinda sucked.
I work for a company called Coastal Transport. I am the engine builder for the whole company. Based out of Houston, TX, I travel throughout Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California building truck engines. I was working in a little town called Big Spring, TX, which is about 2.5 hrs west of Abilene. I had been there for 2 weeks and I was trying to go home on Friday. First thing Friday morning a camshaft, that weighs 130 lbs with a large, very sharp gear on the front, got dropped on my right hand nearly taking a couple of fingers off. I spent most of Friday in the hospital and when they released me I had absolutely no use of my right hand. I am extremely right-handed. I always make the joke that I am right-sided and my left side is just here to make me look normal.
I left as scheduled and started my 8 hour trip home. I didn't pack my toolbox because I knew that when I got better I would have to go back and finish the job. I was halfway between Abilene and Ft. Worth when I heard a horrid whining noise coming from the front end. I stopped to check it out and as soon as I got to the shoulder the driver's side bearing lock up solid. Having had troubles with the hubs before and hearing other peoples horror stories, I always traveled with a spare in the back seat. It was midnight and I had to change a unit bearing with few tools, a jack, 8" crescent wrench, a pair of linesmen pliers, assorted stubby screwdrivers, a pair of vise grips, a breaker bar with a 3/4 and a 13/16 socket, and use of only one hand.
It took nearly 3 hours to do the job that I have done in 20 minutes. I also learned, or invented, a colorful new vocabulary. I had no Allen wrenches so I had to "hammer" a screwdriver into Allen screws that hold the locking mechanism on the hub . I used the tire to hold the screwdriver and hit it with the breaker bar. Using my left hand as a swing hand was not very productive. I had no metric sockets so I had to put small rocks in the socket to make them fit the 4 nuts that holds the hub to the knuckle and it took some colorful language and the better part of an hour to swap the studs from one bearing to the other.
I ended up leaving the axle shaft out because I was gonna be on the highway for the rest of the trip and I figured I wouldn't need 4 X 4. After some surgery my hand eventually healed and I now carry the proper tools to change a bearing on the side of the road.
Thank you for your time,
Troy Huber
Note: Mr. Huber did not have photos but the story says it all by itself.
