[bikestuff]

Gang,

I am creating this thread to document what I suspect is going to be a long journey.....It started with my worst nightmare...being broken down on the side of a busy road late on a Friday afternoon.

Yesterday, I was leaving Vonore, TN on the way to Chattanooga.  As I accelerated from a stop light, I heard a loud bang, followed by a grinding noise.  Coasted to a stop on the shoulder of a busy four lane road.  I put it in neutral then drive again.  More grinding noise.  I knew that was not a good sign.  The engine was running fine, and there were no error codes on tranny.  A quick inspection of  the U-Joints and drive shaft told me that they were probably not the problem.

Called @"encantotom" along with some other gurus to get advice.  Obviously, I was going to need to be towed...and I will create a separate thread for that fiasco....[spoiler alert:  only go to that thread if the sight of twisted metal does not upset you].  I ended up at a local Prevost shop and am currently plugged in and plotting my next moves.

What I know up to now....The wrecker guy "pulled the axle" in order to tow the coach without affecting the engine / transmission.  He warned me that a lot of oil was gonna come out when he backed the axle out of the hub / differential.  As the axle came loose, there was very little oil.  (First clue).  For those that have not thought about it.  The inside set of bolts on the drive axle are what hold the axle to the hub. See picture.

The splines on the end of the axle were heavily warn to the point of not being able to engage the matching splines in the diff.  (Second clue)  See picture.

After the axle was out, I tried to put it in gear again.  This time no / little noise.   Of course we did not have forward propulsion with the drive axle removed. (third clue)

At this point, I believe that I have stripped the axle as well as the gear on the inside of differential.  The failure was probably caused by low oil in the differential.  (I always have maintenance done at the factory, but have not yet checked paperwork to see if that is something they checked)  

I briefly contemplated getting a new axle and jamming into the existing differential and hoping for the best, but Tom's bus guy said that was a really, really bad idea.

So my plan is to find a local (Knoxville) bus guy that can rebuild / replace the differential and install new drive axle.  Plan is to investigate replacing the U-Joints at same time for general purposes.  Will have coach towed again to that place.  Any suggestions on good shops in Knoxville would be appreciated.

I will post more information as it becomes available. 

Lessons learned so far:  1)  Just because a towing company has a big wrecker, does not mean they know how to tow a Newell.
2)  In order to disconnect the wheels from driving the engine while towing, you can remove the drive axle (albeit with loss of differential oil).  It is not necessary to remove the drive shaft.
3)  Dont assume that you have oil in your differential.  Since our coaches mostly don't have differential temperature gauges, you really have to pull the plug and check.  Obviously with the coach properly cribbed for safety.

Cheers,
bill