Vic Harder said:
great story, pictures and writing! I love hearing about good and kind folks too.
The missing bolts are a bit disconcerting. Did you have the truck serviced some time ago, and someone "forgot" to install 2 out of 4 bolts? Or was this possibly even a factory oops? Have you checked the other side???
Vic, you picked up on the source of the problem: missing bolts. We found there were only two out of four 17mm bolts on the drivers side and three out of four on the passenger, where the lower control arm bolts to the steering knuckle. I kick myself for not noticing.
But, to blame others, I can say I had the front Bilsteen shocks were replaced just before this trip, however the mechanic didn't notice the missing bolts, possibly due to the fact they did not want to put truck/camper combo on the overhead rack. Previous to that, it's been 50k miles since the first Bilsteen shocks were in stalled in 2010, when it's possible the bolts were missed.
The third option, which I suspect, is that the first set of Bilsteens were cranked up to level 5, which gave a very rough ride when dropping over a compression, like driving off a curb. The shock would "top out" and it was a hard hit. If I were more expert, I might have readjusted the shocks, but instead adjusted my driving. Since those bolts only torque at 43#, it's possible the hard hits loosened the front bolts. New shocks are at level 2.5, and I don't have any rubbing, even with 18" wheels.
I now have eight new bolts, two new lower ball-joints, one upper ball joint (on the side that broke) and new CV boot on the side I didn't replace. I'm also nine hundred dollars lighter.
And, I'm now carrying four extra bolts in my mechanics kit.