Hey all,

Question for the hive mind. When do you know when to throw in the towel?

My wife's 2001 Durango may be nearing the end of its run . Last weekend we took a road trip from Reno, NV to Oakland, CA for the 50th Anniversary show of Judas Priest (EPIC show at the historic Fox Theater , https://thefoxoakland.com/, highly recommend if you're in the area and a show catches your eye, go for it). It's about a 440 + mile trip (220 direct each way plus goofing off mileage) and while on the trip we found 2 significant issues with the Durango: 1 there was a "grinding sound" coming from the front end (not sure how long its been going on for, as the only real way to hear it was with the windows down and Reno hasn't been cooperating with weather for the last few weeks) and 2 a "fading brake pedal".
Thankfully we made it home safely Sunday night and she was able to take me '00 Durango and use it this week.
For item 1, I was thinking that perhaps I had a bad CV joint or even hub bearing. I raised the vehicle and pulled the front drivers side wheel off....all looked good on the surface, no torn boot on the CV joints and no apparent rattle up and down when trying to duplicate the noise. I did find that the inner and outer tie rods a basically shot (knew the inners were on way out and was waiting for spring) and the outer tie rod end boots are split and shot. Brakes look good as do the rotors. I did find a rather substantial leak on the power steering so that needs to be addressed as well. But there was nothing obvious causing the grinding sound. My advisor suggested that it might be in the front differential and not the wheel bearings but how to rule out one or the other ???
Found out that my mechanic advisor was home finally and he came of over last night and we tried to take it for a test run. I say tried as item # 2 REALLY reared its ugly head.....NO BRAKES and the fading pedal is pretty much mush. Visually checked the fluid level on the brake reservoir and it appeared full. It looked like there was leakage on the outside of the brake booster so my guru confirmed that it was most likely the master cylinder.
Add on top the summer project of tearing the dash out to fix the blend doors it seems that the $$$$ is really starting to add up.

Worst case scenario, the following parts need to be replaced:

1. Master cylinder
2. Differential
3. Inner and outer tie rod ends (upper and lower ball joints replaced in about spring of 2017 along with the hubs)
4. Power steering lines (hard to find the leak but will keep looking)
5. Power steering pump (if it proves to be the culprit on the leak)
6. Rack and pinon if the inner tie rod ends reveal the leak coming from the rack

So with close to 300k on the odometer is it still worth it put parts and money in to her? Any suggestions on what I have may overlooked?

So what say you all? I really don't want to give up on her but need to keep an objective perspective on this.

Thanks in advance

​​​​​​​Steve

 

To test wheel bearings, go someplace where there ain't a lot of traffic, that you can move along at 25-30 mph, and use the whole road safely. Get it up to speed, with conditions that you can HEAR the noise, and then change lanes, HARD. Go back and forth a couple times, and pay attention to what the noise does. If it gets louder turning one direction, more so than the other, that is likely a wheel bearing. A bad bearing will be loudest when you load it, I.E. it'll be the one on the outside of the turn. So, if it gets louder when turning left, it's the right side bearing that is bad. etc.

Unfortunately, gonna need to fix the brakes before you can do any more testing.

Is it worth fixing?? That is gonna be a hard one to answer. With 300K on it, EVERYTHING is reaching End Of Life. If it's just a wheel bearing, then yeah, I would say it's worth fixing. But, if the differential is going out, that's a whole 'nother kettle o' fish.... and I would be tempted to start looking for the replacement vehicle.

 

Fading brakes but full of fluid is a bad master cylinder. As for the grinding, I'd get a large ceramic magnet and stick it to the fill plug on the front end.Any metal particles will stick to the magnetic field and when you remove the plug, will be on it.

The main thing to consider is the shape of the chassis. If it's a rust buggy, it may be time to park it. If it's in good shape, replacing bad components are cheaper than car payments.

 

Been hitting the phones this morning.....found a replacement front diff at a Dodge Recycler for $250 and only 105k on the unit. Still researching and thinking....but used cars are freaking expensive and there is no way in hell I'm buying new, unless I hit the lotto

 

Indeed... I don't even wanna have to buy a car at this point, new or used.... I went a'lookin' when gas hit over 4 bucks a gallon, as my truck just got REAL expensive to drive.... but, even crap beaters I used to pick up for 500 bucks, are now 5000.... It's insane.

Be sure and find out what you really need before you spend money.

 

I've got an old Furd I was going to sell for $2500. I'm seeing trucks in worse shape and with a bad transmission for more than that. I'll wait until it's in better shape then it goes up to $4000. I even gave if a "Farmer Chic" paint job. (I used a roller and the rest of the paint from when I painted my Dodge.)





I'm in no hurry. It'll be a good driver when I'm done. I have to admit, it's starting to look pretty bad a$$.

 

Olive Drab?

 

Yep, total paint job cost on the Dodge was $72.57. The Furd was painted with leftover paint and primer at an additional cost of around $12 for some more brushes, rollers and tape. Painted both trucks for under $100. Olive drab machinery paint will cover many different colors.




The red truck behind the pre-paint Dodge was painted with Rust-O-Leum Safety Red.

 

It actually looks like it turned out fairly well.

 

Steve, my personal opinion on throwing in the towel is.... it depends. Depends on...

Affordability of parts and availability of junkyards near you. All new parts would be a no no. Cheap parts raises the feasibility quite a bit.
What is your time worth?
Do you have the patience?
What else is going wrong soon? (hard to answer but sometimes you suspect things...lol)

On the last point, I've got 330K on mine and am fairly confident I could hop in, drive it to Canada and back right now. I've also got fairly easy access to junkyards and parts.