After work, I ran by the carwash to get the latest round of tree sap and bug guts off the Xterra and then dropped down to Uhaul to pick up the dolly. The first dolly they gave me had a short in its wiring harness that only reared its head after I had passed inspection — always check the gear yourself. Luckily they had one more left and swapped it out.
Back at the apartment, driving the truck up onto the dolly wasn’t too bad, but then I had to drop out the driveshaft because the truck is rear-wheel drive. The trusty Haynes manual suggested that this would be easy. And in truth, it wasn’t too bad, even if some of the bolts back there are super old and difficult to get a wrench around.
After freeing the driveshaft from the rear diff flange, what I’d wanted to do was disconnect the center u-joint, but that’s not what it says in the manual. So I removed the bracket that holds the joint in place, which was all that was needed to release the front of the driveshaft from the transmission output. The manual offered a vague warning worded something like, “if the shaft is removed from the differential or transmission, keep them covered.” What it did not say was, “the second you pull on this thing, the entire liquid contents of your transmission will spew out onto the street. Also, it will be sticky and slimy and it will get all over you.”
So I called up Evan.
Evan: Uh oh, what happened?
Me: Why do you assume something bad happened?!
Evan: In the long history of our friendship, I don’t think you’ve called me on the telephone.
Me: Oh. Well something bad happened.
We decided that the “bad” had already happened and was not going to get much worse. But “finish the transmission flush I started on accident” is now the top to-do list item.
So I wrapped up the diff flange and the transmission output with plastic and zipties, took a shower, noticed that the daylight I was counting on had left without me, and departed.
The drive was slow and a little tense, but ultimately not too bad. I pulled into Ardmore, just north of the Red River, a little after midnight and decided to shelter from the incoming cold front at a hotel here. Thankfully this makes tomorrow’s drive fairly short, assuming my caravan of rattles holds together through Oklahoma City’s rush hour.