When we experienced the rear tire problem a week or so ago, I asked the technician to look at my front tires as they appeared to be cusping on the outer edges; very severe on the passenger side. His diagnosis: out of alignment. I also concluded I needed to carry a spare as noted in the Disaster Averted post. So, here was my plan:
- Have the front end aligned as soon as possible.
- Replace both steering axle tires with new Michelins.
- Replace the off brand rear tire installed in our emergency a week ago with the driver side front Goodyear, discard the badly cusped front passenger Goodyear tire. Result is matched Goodyears on the rear and the off brand tire becomes a spare.
So, before we left McCall, I arranged to have the front end aligned at the nearest Freightliner service dealer which happened to be in Lewiston, Idaho. I also arranged to have the new Michelins available in Coeur D'Alene, our next stop.
Arrived at the Lewiston Freightliner dealer this morning (Saturday). After an intitlial inspection, the service technician reported discovering two problems: the passenger side axle had a loose bearing and the driver side axle had a wheel seal leak. His opinion was the loose bearing was causing the severe tire edge cusping. Also, he recommended that the front end NOT be realigned until after the new tires are installed ... good point. They had time to tighten the loose bearing but did not have time to investigate the seal leak as they were only open until noon. He advised to simply check the hub oil level frequently and keep it topped off until I could have it repaired.
The wheel seal leak was disturbing news as Las Vegas Freightliner had diagnosed and supposedly fixed this two years in a row when I had them perform routine annual service. The most recent "fix" just occured in April; just two months ago!! Also, the Freightliner service manager alerted me to the front tire cusping but only advised that we keep an eye on it. Why did they not detect the loose bearing? Good question.
Current dilemma: Find a convenient Freightliner dealer to have the remaining repairs done without interfering with our "Northwest Tour" currently underway with our close friends; Rod and Betty from Sacramento.
Note: with the bearing tightened, it is amazing how much quieter the ride is. Maybe this should have been another clue something was wrong.
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