Alrighty folks, one final update for y’all!
So I finished the final leg of my journey on August 30th, arriving in Eugene OR. However… I arrived on the back of a tow truck lol
I spent two days in Bend with an Aunt and her daughter, relaxing and recharging. They took me to a couple places in the area, and her daughter and her Bf have dirt bikes so they took me to some gravel roads and we made an afternoon of it.
Well…I think the off roading was the final straw. I get going on the final day to do the last 2.5hrs to get to Eugene. I get about halfway there and my right front wheel bearing shat the bed. I had been hearing a very slight rubbing metal type noise over the last day of driving but I had thoroughly searched under and around the Jeep shaking and wiggling things trying to determine where the noise came from, with no luck. It was an intermittent sound and only able to be heard at lower speeds, so I figured I’d worry about it when I got to Eugene. Well the noise got much worse, and as I made a turn, I could feel exactly where it was coming from…my right front wheel bearing. I pulled over, and within a few minutes a fellow wrangler owner pulled up and we quickly determined the bearing was totally shot. The whole hub assembly was very hot too.
Since I knew I couldn’t make the final 70 miles with how the Jeep was currently, I called AAA. Cue 3hrs of waiting, get it loaded on, we get 40 miles onto the trip…when the tow truck blows a fan belt. Cue another 1.5hrs waiting for another tow truck, and then another 1.5hrs to get to Eugene. So 2.5hrs of driving took me about 8 lol.
Anyway, finally get into Eugene, had the Jeep dropped at my hotel as I didn’t have a shop to work on it yet. Found a shop the next day, had it towed to the shop, and they tore it apart and confirmed and showed me that the whole internals on that side were ruined. I bit the bullet and replaced both sides as I know things in pairs should be replaced as such.
Because my Jeep has non stock axles, it turns out only one company(Yukon) makes the spindle for the exact year Wagoneer axle I have. Cue 9 DAYS of waiting for the part to arrive, and 4hrs to install, and I was finally back in my Jeep lol.
While without my Jeep I rented a uhaul to throw my stuff in, as well as have something to get around to interviews and such. Ended up lining up a job and an apartment all without my own vehicle. Certainly was a headache to say the least but it worked out! I’m working at a custom fabrication company that does a ton of different stuff so I’m pretty happy on that front!
