Torque rod bushing replacement

[Djfreema]

Has anyone changed out the torque rod bushings in their duece? My truck looks like its going to need a t least 8 of them. Looks like a PITA. It should be something everybody goes out and checks for safetys sake. I have seen a 5 ton with rotted out torque rod bushings where the rear axle fell out while off road. To think about what could happen while at highway speeds makes me cringe. If anyone has experience doing this can you give some pointers. The cheapest I found was at Sam Winer motors for $30 per bushing which looks like a great price considering everybody else wants $50-60 per bushing.

 

[rizzo]

I had one changed on my M108 and they had to take the spring pack off.

 

[Hotshot]

Changed the front ones on mine not too much trouble.The way I did it was to take a ball joint fork to get them off the truck then find a large press to push them outof the torque rod

 

[MATT]

I made a big pickle fork and use a lot of heat. Dont use too much heat that you melt the bushing right out! heat hammer hammer hammer

 

[Djfreema]

Does it matter which way they get pressed in? I ordered 8 to do the bottoms. The top ones still look pretty good so I'm not going to mess with them yet. Looks like the spring pack has to come off to access those.

 

[73m819]

change out the uppers, if the lowers are bad, the top will be also,if not worse,. the tops keep the axles from rolling, one per axle(twice the load), the lowers keep the axle(2 per axle)in line, ive had two uppers let go , the first on my old m52, rolled the rear axle rear drive flange into the pentail hook bracket, the second on my 819 rolled the middle axle 4" just turning it around to pull it apart to fix it, i understand that there is one way for them to go together(i may be wrong), have them pressed the same way as thay are now.

rizzo, your 108 has a walking beam on top of the springs as the 2 1/2 and 5t wreckers, thats why that stuff had to be pulled so you could get to the upper frame mounts the same on my 819, a real pita. my m52 took me about 2 1/5 hrs to do the fix.

ill say again change out the upper, better safe then sorry.

some of these torque rods are orginal equipment on our 20+ year old trucks

and EVERYBODY climb under your truck and LOOK real close at the upper trouque bushing for dri rot, stress rips,or anything ealse thats looks out of the ordenary, if the tougue rod comes off the post at speed, a lot can happen real quick like broke drive line, NO brakes, truck going in its own direction just to name a few

 

[Brock Steel]

Amen, I checked mine and found one walking out so I decided to change all 12. I also found a leaking rear axle.

 

[cranetruck]

Good thread.
This is a test procedure for the torque rods published in the PS magazine twenty plus years ago...
For full resolution, right click on image and "Open link in new window".

 

[dittle]

Rear axle seal is easy to replace, did mine in about 15 minutes once I had the axle on a jackstand.

 

[SEAFIRE]

Two months ago we changed out all the torque rod ends in both of our deuces.

The rear axle top torque rod had a bushing fail in our M35A2 WO/W. The rear axle rolled a little and the drive shaft connecting the rear axles slipped out. Luckily we were driving slowly off-road and caught it before any major damage was done. The bad thing was that we had been religious in checking the torque rod ends every few months.

We did not have to remove the spring pack to do the top ones:

We jacked up the rear of the truck so that the weight was off the springs on the side the top torque rods are on. We found a thin wall small drive socket at NAPA that would fit in the two holes to take the nuts off. I wish we would have taken some pictures.

We got our torque rod ends from Boyce Equipment and had a local machine shop press them in, they charged us $200 total for all the torque rods for both trucks.

 

[2Deuces wild]

Tork rods

I went ahead and did all 12 better safe than sorry. P.S. it the axle moves enough the brake line will rip out and no brake lines no brakes.

 

[Unforgiven]

Can somebody explain the rods to me? Are these torque rods the same as the "dog bones" that are the same as the control arms that limit the rear axles with respect to each other?

Apparently, these really are true torque rods that recenter the axles when they shift laterally? In that case, lengthening them via cutting and welding would not be advisable since they are some kind of spring steel.

So are they a combination torque/control arm? If yes, does anyone know if 5 ton torque rods would bolt up directly to a 2.5 ton axle housing?

 

[gringeltaube]

......................
Apparently, these really are true torque rods that recenter the axles when they shift laterally?.....

Not so; the lower 4 are responsible for keeping the spring ends inside their perches, longitudinally, regardless of twist. Combined with the upper two they also control axle tilt/ axle wrap, to maintain the pinion shafts in horizontal position and a nearly constant distance between the two companion flanges, for the rearmost propeller shaft. So on each axle, one upper and 2 lower rods combined act as torque rods but they do not limit lateral shift in any way.

G.

 

[Unforgiven]

Fantastic information (as usual) Gringletaube.

 

[baxter]

If the torque rods dont limit the axles from shifting side to side what does? I seem to get alot of side to side movement on my rear end. When compared to a friends deuce mine seems excesive.

 

[gringeltaube]

If the torque rods dont limit the axles from shifting side to side what does? ...........................

Difficult to describe, easy to understand: on flat ground the inner edges at each end of the two lower (longest) spring leaves from the spring pack are (almost, within 1/8") resting against the hardened inserts riveted to the spring perches bolted to each of the tandem axles. The spring packs themselves are mounted firmly to the spring seats, each carrying two tapered roller bearing assys #3920/#392, one on each side. Newer models (or possibly after depot rebuild) may have the #3920cups + solid cone plugs replacing bearing #392. With all parts new and well adjusted the spring seats do pivot around the tandem center axle ends with NO play or lateral movement. So rear axles will stay almost perfectly aligned even during or after a turn!

Now, in your case if you still had the roller bearings they probably are pretty worn out already (we know it's a weak link...!), with the races looking like in the picture below... Suggestion: before simply replacing bearings check the seats (where the races or cups fit) for being perfectly round... you could be surprised...!
Solid bearings can also wear out, only problem could be how to re-adjust or replace them... see this other thread, pics in post #14, here: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce-...-axle-spring-seat-shaft-repair-upgrade-2.html

G.

 

[cranetruck]

Fantastic information (as usual) Gringletaube.

Yes, thanks Gerhard!
The Army does have a "textbook" on the general subject of automotive principles, TM 9-8000, so for illustrations and further descriptions, check it out (I'm not speaking to you G, but to rest of the troops)...

 

[baxter]

Thanks for the great info as always G. I am going to check my bearings to see how they look. It has bothered me for a while why my axles seem to move more than others.

Vaughn

 

[littlebob]

Anbody know if the replacements will work in the older style dog bones?

 

[SuperJoe]

Reviving an old thread for a similar question. This is the closest thing i could find in a search

I have reviewed the TMs and havent found exactly what im looking for. Could someone please tell me or point me in the correct direction on information regarding the acceptable ID of the dogbone, and the OD of the press in bushing please. I will be replacing a few rod bushings and would like to make sure the interference fit is still in spec. I see no reason to have it that far apart, and not check that the new bushing wont fall out under load due to the rust not holding it in, compared to the 30+ year old ones currently

thanks
Joe