Big Blue gets a new rear end

A noise emanating from under Big Blue has been growing worse since leaving Washington. Once we arrived in the greater San Francisco Bay Area (San Rafael to be exact) it moved past the “hmmm” stage and well into the “oh shit” stage of noises. I was sure it was the transmission on the brink of total failure, which is an extremely pricey item to work on. Now, I am pretty proficient with any repairs on this van, but if there is one component that I want nothing to do with (on any vehicle) it is the transmission. Other than a standard transmission oil and filter change, I gladly hand anything more off to the professionals. One thing the severity of the sound made clear; this was not going to be resolved with a simple filter change. This is BB’s first major mechanical issue in the nearly 10 years I have owned him. Heck, I’ve put over 100,000 miles on him in my time with nothing more than normal consumables needing attention, so it was going to cough up a lung or two at some point, it was just a matter of time. And that time is now.

After a night of moochdocking in a friends driveway again, I ever so cautiously limped Big Blue to the shop down the road. Over the course of the next few hours the problem became more evident. It was the rear axle making the majority of the noise, so the cover was removed off the ‘pumpkin’ and out poured a silver-ish liquid straight out of an alien movie. I know that oil should not be anything but a thick-black and I questioned it to the mechanic. He agreed… the silver could only be the complete destruction of the all the bushings inside the rear differential. It would require a complete rebuild. It’s a big job, and one I could do if I had a location to do the work and the time, which I would have had in 200 more miles at Kerri’s parents place. But not here. Not in the driveway of someone I do not know that well and had already inconvenienced long enough. It was too big a job for that.

Kerri and I chose to let the pros tackle it right there, with a hopeful 24-hour turn around time, which turned into a 48-hour job – nope, make that 72 hours. Kerri’s friends put us up for another night, but once the job turned into a multi-day ordeal we moved into a local hotel where we were not in the way. This is our first time we have had to rely on a hotel during all our travels and we were not happy about it. It drizzled the entire time we were there and we had forgotten any rain clothing back in the van. There was no place to eat nearby, so we relied on Uber-Eats for dinners and ate what little snacks we brought from the van. To make matters worse, the coffee situation was one of those silly Keurig machines – bah!

It wasn’t until the third day, after the work was completed, that hindsight would make things clear. I’ve grown accustom to a swishing sound always coming from under Big Blue – all 10 years I’ve owned him he has swished while driving. It’s been normal, so I’ve never thought much of it. Well, that was the rear diff bushings being slowly worn away. How it lasted 10 years before a complete failure I do not know, but the ol’ boy kept going as long as he could before picking a pretty damn good spot to drop to a knee. He has always taken care of me that way, breaking down (usually much smaller breakdowns) in damn good spots. All considering, he did well by me again. It is so quiet driving down the highway now. Weirdly quiet.

All in all we are fortunate. Fortunate not to be stuck on the side of the road miles away from a shop. Fortunate to be able to afford the repairs, although it still hurts. And fortunate to not be going through this all alone. Things really aren’t that bad; we were dry, well fed, and had friends nearby. Sure, it is costing a big hunk of cash, and we lost a few days from our schedule, but that’s it really – just time and money. We have already come out the other end unscathed and made it out of San Rafael.