AMGeneral
Well-known member
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- Location
- Connelly Springs, NC
Folks,
With the masses of 5 tons and deuces of all series out there as well as the ones being surplussed,when you are checking/repacking you front wheel bearings take an extra 10 minutes to check/retorque those 20 odd spindle studs that are the main thing holding your wheel,hub and drum,brake backing plate(shoes,wheel cylinder,etc) and for all intensive purposes the axle itself to the axle housing.
While I was cleaning/repacking the front wheel bearings on one of the 5 tons today I noticed a groove cut into the back of the inner hub,upon further inspection I found the 5 of the spindle studs had been backed out of the housing on the last axle service and had been run up without the studs being seated properly in the knuckle housing.
The result was the studs themselves being almost 3/4 in too long and making constant contact with the back of the hub,wearing a groove into it,they barely had 3 threads holding them into the knuckle housing.
With the proper conditions,the studs could have been sheared out of the housing leaving 5 ea 5/8 x 2 in bolts rotating around in the brake drum,to say nothing about the added load the other 5 studs would have been under,most likely shearing off as well,causing a catastrophic failure of the front axle and most likely causing a wreck.
With the masses of 5 tons and deuces of all series out there as well as the ones being surplussed,when you are checking/repacking you front wheel bearings take an extra 10 minutes to check/retorque those 20 odd spindle studs that are the main thing holding your wheel,hub and drum,brake backing plate(shoes,wheel cylinder,etc) and for all intensive purposes the axle itself to the axle housing.
While I was cleaning/repacking the front wheel bearings on one of the 5 tons today I noticed a groove cut into the back of the inner hub,upon further inspection I found the 5 of the spindle studs had been backed out of the housing on the last axle service and had been run up without the studs being seated properly in the knuckle housing.
The result was the studs themselves being almost 3/4 in too long and making constant contact with the back of the hub,wearing a groove into it,they barely had 3 threads holding them into the knuckle housing.
With the proper conditions,the studs could have been sheared out of the housing leaving 5 ea 5/8 x 2 in bolts rotating around in the brake drum,to say nothing about the added load the other 5 studs would have been under,most likely shearing off as well,causing a catastrophic failure of the front axle and most likely causing a wreck.
