Towed broke down

[TomC]

Friday came down from Groveland, Ca (for Yosemite) on hwy 120. It is so steep and twisty, I had my wife drive the Mercedes down the hill following me. 15-25mph the whole way (5 mile hill) but luckily, my Jake brake did just about all the braking work-and that was just running on half setting. My wife had said there was some sort of grinding sound, and I had heard it too. But it came and went away. Got down the hill and pulled over on a wide turn out to hook the car up again. Continued for another 2 hours. Was coming from Stockton on hwy 4 west bound through the Sacramento delta region almost to Brentwood when a car pulled up besides me and says my car is smoking bad. Conveniently there was a big turn off right before a bridge and went back to inspect-sure enough my left rear wheel bearing had let go and you could see the wheel had negative camber to it (leaning inward-rear suspension independent). Luckily I have AAA premium tow that gives me free towing up to 200 miles. I was on my way to visit a friend in Pleasant Hill, so about an hour later when the tow truck showed up, I had the Turbodiesel taken to Walnut Creek Mercedes. Monday I'll find out how much to repair the car. It has 517,000 miles on it. If it weren't for having it modified for towing, I'd probably just junk the car. But I'll probably get it fixed.
As to the bus-it's running just fine. I'm parked in front of my friends house with 15amp cord to my bus-enough to keep batteries up. Still have to run generator during the day when it gets over 80. Sometimes break downs turn out OK. Good Luck, TomC

[Boomer]

Lucky you didn't lose the wheel Tom.  I did once, the car sure fishtailed and the wheel/tire passed me going down the freeway, lol.

[TomC]

Yes I agree, Boomer. I was hauling my men's barbershop chorus trailer (Masters of Harmony) that is a 3 axle 5th wheel and strangely had the same right rear wheel start to smoke. It too lost the wheel bearings. But in that case, I just took the wheel, brake drum and hub off-had about 2 inches of clearance and went on down the road on 5 wheels. Was rather humorous. Good Luck, TomC

[Dreadnought]

What kind of Benz?

[Iceni John]

Would a TPMS detect heat from a seized bearing, and would it do so quickly enough to be helpful?   Maybe we need hotbox detectors like the railroads use  -  I wonder if a small IR detector could be positioned near each hub to warn of sticking brakes or bad bearings?

John

[TomC]

Yes my bad for not having the pressure/temperature sensors on the tires
My Mercedes is a '84 300 Turbodiesel.

[Scott & Heather]

Crazy. I almost lost my toad once...crazy story of its own I'll tell again sometime, but I do sometimes wonder if all is well back there. Did your backup camera pick up the smoke? Mine is clear enough I'd see smoke on the screen


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[TomC]

I can only see the hood and windshield of the car.

[Geoff]

Too bad I moved from California 12 years ago.  If I was there I could of taken care of you cheap.  I used to have the same car and I always did the major repairs.  I am surprised you still have it.  My toad is a 2005 4wd Canyon.  Oh, if it becomes a serious repair, there is a MBZ wreaking yard in Sacramento (when I lived in the North Bay).

--Geoff

[TomC]

Thanks Geoff! We'll see tomorrow what the estimate to fix is.
Is your GMC Canyon gas or Diesel? I'm thinking of buying a Chevrolet crew cab Colorado. Can't decide on Gas or Diesel. As much as I'm a Diesel head, I'm actually leaning towards the gas since Diesels are so complicated and with having to use DEF. Good Luck, TomC

[Dave5Cs]

Walnut creek will be about 40% higher than sac. Wish I was home in Sacramento area Tom but we are in Ohio right now.

[pabusnut]

Goeff,

I don't think any of the Canyons with Auto Trans are towable, and they don't offer the diesel with a manual trans.  Last time I looked, even the 4wd was electronic, and has no neutral position.

DISCLAIMER: I could be wrong!(since I looked at the info on the Chevy website)

[Iceni John]

Tom,
Just out of curiosity, does your Mercedes' transmission have two fluid pumps, allowing it to be flat-towed?   I used to have a 1870 280SEL with the K4C-025 transmission that has one pump on the input and another on the output, and it could be not only be flat-towed (or at least for short distances) but also be push-started according to the owner's manual.
John   

[j.m.jackson]

I bet he's got a 300d, with a manual transmission. I don't think a 300sd was available with a manual.

[Dreadnought]

Good ol' tough W123s!