>On Monday I took my 4Runner in to the dealership to have the left CV boots replaced. This is a not a big deal. It's a normal wear problem that one should expect to replace on any car eventually. It cost $263.

On Tuesday I decided to spend some time cleaning and doing regular maintainence. I vacuumed, cleaned windows, cleaned my air filter, checked fluids and even decided to rotate my tires.

When I had the left front wheel off, I decided to take a close look at the work Kendall Toyota did the day before. I looked down at the axle hub (that's what I call it) and noticed a nut was missing. I looked closer and realized the remaining five nuts were loose and ready to fall off as well.

This is a serious problem. Had I not removed my wheel, I would have never noticed this. On Sunday I'm driving over the Willamette Pass on my way to Mt. Bachelor. I'm certain I would have met some serious catastrophe. The entire axle and wheel assembly could have come flying off. The very least that would have happened is that the entire assembly would have been destroyed, leaving me stranded in the snow on the mountain.

I was very lucky to have caught this problem. I took the car immediately back to the dealer. They put a new nut on and torqued the rest. They gave me a free oil change for my trouble.

The next project will be fixing the rear brakes on the F250.