The garage said that the “carrier bolt” is broken. What is this and is it a harbinger of more death to follow? This truck is rowdy and distrustful to drive to begin with.
Are they looking in the rear axle ?
’‘the carrier bolt’’, singular, leads me to the differential spider gears.
The carrier being the steel shell that the ring gear bolts to which has gears inside.
There are two big gears on the ends of the axle shafts in the differential carrier.
Then there are two small gears which contact the big ones .
The two small gears are held in place by a big straight pin, about an inch diameter by 5 or so, which in turn is locked in place by a bolt with a pin looking long tip to it.
It’s that bolt I assume to be termed the ‘‘carrier bolt’’ when used in the singular.
If not there, or broken, can lead to the big pin working loose, the small gears coming apart and getting into the ring & pinion gear teeth and all hell breaking apart in the rear axle housing.
In this unknow year B3000 ( Ranger ) pickup ( you never said, except for the ‘tag’ ) the pin doesn’t cost much but in addition will need new oil, posi additive if needed, and gasket glue.
Plus labor of course.
If the shop found the carrier bolt broken they were in the process of dismantling the carrier for repair and the broken bolt has become a problem, and money is often the result of dealing with a problem. I feel sure that the shop has indicated that their initial estimate will not cover such a problem. In my opinion a shop should foresee such problems and allow for them in the estimate and reduce the final price if not encountered. But the pressure to give a low estimate is getting tough these days.
Thanks, Ken. Sounds accurate from the little bit I know. The Mazda is a ‘94, I believe. The truck went kaput with lots of shaking and noise. It was then only driven 100’ or so to get it off the road. The garage says the part is just over $100, plus labor, it should be about $200.Not a bad deal, for all the shaking of the breakdown. I’m just worried that more stuff might break, that this is the beginning of the end. But such is life for older trucks.
Since you were able to drive it off the road, albiet with a lot of shaking and noise, I’m inclined to think Rod might have got it right. The price would sound right too. The “carrier” Rod referred to is a bearing that supports the rear of the portion of the driveshaft that’s connected to the tranny tailshaft. When a driveshaft gets too long (heavy) or the centerline of the differential input shaft too low relative to the tranny tailshaft, an extra U-joint is added in the middle of the driveshaft and that area supported by a “carrier bearing”.
This by itself does not suggest the beginnning of the end, but the truck is at an age where ocasional parts failures should be expected. The ones that portend the ends of the vehicles life are ones that are either internal to the engine or tranny, or rot problems.