Torque rod/dogbone mod and removal

[Stretch44875]

This is an idea I stole from the Canada deuces. Trimmed the rubber off the side of the torque rod ends, drilled and tapped 1/2-13 thread, then bolted on a plate with a spacer washer. Now if I lose a torque rod end, I don't lose an axle. I can get underneath with a prybar and see if any went bad, then replace later on, leaving the truck trail worthy.

Did all 12 ends on the M108, since I was replacing the dogbones anyways.

Had to trim the corners of the plates on some. Where the rods bolt to the center, there isn't much room.

Also added how I removed them, on the ones that you can't swing a hammer at. Log splitting wedge, piece of wood. Hammer in the wedge and most of them pop loose. Then if still stuck, a little torch heat would pop them.

Dennis

 

[davesgmc]

GREAT idea! I have actually seen somone weld a pice to he center in a pinch to get it back up and going. I saw it on a truck at auctions more than once actually. I though also of doing the same but using round plates where yours were bar stock. Either one will do the job. Give an extra piece of mind if the rubber starts to fail, ddont want the dog bone falling off to the dogs!

 

[Brock Steel]

dang good idea..

 

[JDToumanian]

That's a nicely done mod, as opposed to this one:

 

[Recovry4x4]

Jon, the idea behind yours is that it still lets the torque rod to twist in an off camber situation. I'm not sure how much movement one can get out of the plate arrangement. I patched the rod arm on the tractor in the same way, with the bolt.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

The dog bone does seem to be a bit of a weak spot. I was thinking of that type of mod myself.

 

[Stretch44875]

Didn't think about the off-camber idea. I believe it will be okay, but I'll put the truck thru some angles and see how much the torque rods twist. There is a gap under the plate, of 1/8-1/4 of an inch. I will get some pics up when I find the camera.

Went out today and ran the truck up on some angles, and plates didn't touch.

 

[tm america]

my friend did that on his truck. i was planning on doing it to mine when i get timeor when they break i guess ill make time then

 

[gimpyrobb]

Unless Dennis used 1" plate, wouldn't it "give" a little? Lots of length (torque) on that dog bone in comparison to the plate.

 

[Dominican Driller]

Quick fix

Easy now, welding a piece of rebar across to hold the dog bone on will work (for quite a while I might add). I inherited an old deuce for a drill supply truck for working in the Dominican. All of the torque rod ends look like to one pictured above with the rod welded and so far I have not had any problems but over the past few months the rubber bushings have just about disappeared.

 

[Alredneck]

THis might get some flak but I just chained mine up like they taught us in recovery school in the Army. You got to play with it to get the axle back in line and the chain tight enough to not give up to much slack but enough to give a lil. It took me two trys on the M54 when the dogbone broke slap in half when that jeep hit me. A highlift jack make quick work for moving axles back n forth to by the way. Handy jacks they be though I wish it was big enough to pick the truck up sometimes eh!

 

[littlebob]

In another thread I have one coming apart and trying to figure out how to remove the old one. thanks for the pic's with the wedge! I also like the idea of making a temporary restraint, since I don't have $500 to spend changing all of the bushings right now.

 

[Alredneck]

If they been there awhile they can be a pain to remove. The chain method was just for self recovery since I had to drive it back a couple hundred miles. I wouldnt suggest anybody try this as it is only a temp fix to get you to the proper place for the proper parts. If you do chain it up then check it regularly for axle movement and be prepared to eat some rubber off the tires from them not being aligned and able to move more than normal.

 

[OPCOM]

There is a PS mag on this.

 

[tbrenner]

I've always whttp://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/64127/10002/-1ondered if you could make your own dog bones with rod ends of this style.

 

[Heath_h49008]

A heim joint would work... but that would transmit a lot of shock to the mounts without the giant rubber bushing.

If all we are doing is retaining the "bone" in the case of rubber failure, and the heat of welding doesn't cause an issue, the rebar/bolt should do fine.

 

[FireFighterHill]

Check this out http://www.hotpart.com/shop/images/...ower_Control_Arm_3_Piece_PolyBall_Bushing.jpg made for the lower control arm on a mustang. The design would fit the bill, just need to be bigger maybe a denser poly.

 

[TJP]

Thanks for the insight must take a good look at mine.

 

[JOEDEUCE]

dogbone

I like the plate idea. Here's a quick question for y'all. Why do ya suppose they put upper and lower dogbones on the driver side and only lowers on the pasenger side. I was looking at my truck yesterday and if I got brackets for the axle and drilled out the bracket , it seems as tho I could install upper arms on the passenger side.

 

[plym49]

The various threads on torque rods and their inspection, replacement and (like on this thread) modification got me wondering about the design.

At first I was paranoid that the torque rods in my own Deuce might suddenly decide to go on strike.

That was followed by the following insights, which I share here for validation since you all know a lot more about Deuce suspensions than I do:

Conclusion #1: There are two expected failure modes for a torque rod. One is chronic and the other acute. The first (chronic) is due to the rubber deteriorating over time. This does not happen all at once, so regular inspections will catch it. The second (acute onset) is physical abuse delivered at a tangent to the axis of the rod - for example, the dreaded GL forklift, or maybe some unusual and gnarly off-road event.

Conclusion #2: The slipper spring/torque rod design is incredibly elegant. There is no way otherwise for a big, heavy truck with close-coupled axles and major stiff springs could articulate the way it does. The engineers who designed this should have a statue in the park.

Conclusion #3: There is no way that the rubber bushings can deflect enough to accommodate the huge amount of articulation we see. These bushings are quite thin, and stiff, too. I'll bet a night of drinking Guinness that the torque arms deflect (twist) as the suspension articulates. This would explain their cross section, which will twist quite well. If this is true, anyone making their own torque arms out of Heim joints and DOM tubing had better account for this twist, as otherwise the suspension will not articulate as easily, and likely you will eventually fatigue and break something else.

My uber-conclusions are that there is no reason for me to be paranoid about them, that I need to inspect them at appropriate intervals, that I need to immediately stop and inspect if something weird happens out on the trail, and that I don;t have to worry about 'improving' something the Army got right in the first place.