REAR Trunnion

[G-Force]

About a month ago maybe more I was washing my truck at where I store it (Well, if you call two 5 gallon pails out of the stream behind the truck and a scrub brush washing then I guess I was). Anyway, I was taking a break and sitting on the bumper of my car and just happened to look over at my driver side trunnion. And what did I see.....well take a look at the picture and see if you can figure it out......

 

[ODdave]

Ha, Might want to address your lost nut !

 

[G-Force]

Well ODdave.....the nut wasn't LOST.....the U-bolt was broken.
And the front nut in the picture I THOUGHT was loose because I could fit my finger nail in between the nut and the lock washer.....then I took it apart last weekend and what do you think I found.....the front one was also broken.......and my truck is a 1989......
So now I'm in the middle of rebuilding my trunnions. Driver side first and passenger side after that (how many of you have done this?). The reason why I'm pointing this out is because the u bolts I pulled out were severely rusted and a real pain to take out do to the trunnion housing design. There is a hollwed out space in the housing casting that on mine was full of sand on both the inner side of the housing behind the spring and the outer side where the cover bolts. No drains are there for water to drain out..well there weren't but there are now.
How many of you have put a wrench on your u-bolts and given the nut at tug to see if they were tight. The torque is only 150 to 180 ft lbs. This might be something you might want to look at on older trucks...and again.....my truck is a 1989.

 

[ODdave]

Yea, I know the bolt was broken, Its VERY common for them to rot through.

 

[Goose2448]

It seems to be a common issue. One of the former members I know from around here has broken 2 in the last 6 months or so. We were discussing upgrading to a larger U-bolt.

 

[gimpyrobb]

If you need parts, let me know.