Saturday evening Feb 14th my 91 year old step father passed away in Dayton, Ohio. Arrangements were made for burial the coming Friday so I decided to leave Thursday morning for the 650 or so mile trip. My 04 Dakota was making some front end noise which I attributed to worn pads that I hadn't taken time to change. At about 7:30 in the evening a half mile or so from the east 5 mile marker on I-70 In Ohio all hell broke loose. I'm running about 70 in the left lane when the steering wheel jerks to right and as I slowed and moved into the right lane the left front wheel assembly broke loose and put the left front end on the pavement. the truck wanted to go left left so I guided it to the right shoulder at about a 30º angle finally stopping close to the guard rail. Fortunately there was no traffic either in front or behind me for a quarter of a mile or so, so the only thing damaged was my truck and my pride.
I have Allstate insurance and they assured me a tow truck was on the way. After an hour or so of waiting an Ohio State trooper pulled behind me and informed me that they had been contacted by Allstate since they couldn't locate a tow truck in the area.They found one out of Englewood, Ohio which was my destination. After a bit of chit chat the trooper found my errant wheel assembly and even loaded it the bed for me. A true professional and credit to the Ohio State Patrol.
The truck was taken to Seibert Automotive in Englewood and the owner, Brian Seibert Sr., is an ASE Master L-1 Technician and a competent, honest individual to boot.
I picked the truck up Monday and the bill was just a tad over $1100 with most of that in parts since I was charged $144.89 for labor. I was expecting to pay more and they also did a 10 mile test drive'
I forgot to mention that the left front wheel bearings seized which caused the problem.
Quite a harrowing experience and I guess my guardian angel was looking out for me.