A Hillbilly Crawls Under His 5 Ton And . . .

[arkansawn]

Gentlepeople of the Forum,

My M923A2 recently threw a torque rod after skidding several oak logs. It was great fun trying to figure out what was happening at the time.

Here is what popped out: the driver's side, frontmost part of the backmost lower torque rod. The truck is now stranded in an odd position in one of my fields (on a hill and leaning a bit).

Never removed one of these things before and getting it back to the shop while not impossible isn't going to be easy. My question is: is there enough clearance to remove both castle nuts so that I can remove and fix it without removing tires or other components of the truck?

Thanks!

Arkansawn

 

[simp5782]

Gentlepeople of the Forum,

My M923A2 recently threw a torque rod after skidding several oak logs. It was great fun trying to figure out what was happening at the time.

Here is what popped out: the driver's side, frontmost part of the backmost lower torque rod. The truck is now stranded in an odd position in one of my fields (on a hill and leaning a bit).

Never removed one of these things before and getting it back to the shop while not impossible isn't going to be easy. My question is: is there enough clearance to remove both castle nuts so that I can remove and fix it without removing tires or other components of the truck?

Thanks!

Arkansawn

Yes. There are several toque rod replacement threads. You can chain a tire to the front steer axle then turn the steering wheel to pull it back in line. Or a chain fall from the axle to something stationary behind the truck to adjust it back into spot.

You can do all the torque rod nuts with the tires on.

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[tobyS]

Can you work it into position and get it back on with jacks and blocking? Then use a ratchet strap to keep it on, back to the shop.

 

[arkansawn]

Can you work it into position and get it back on with jacks and blocking? Then use a ratchet strap to keep it on, back to the shop.

Possibly but the fact that it's listing and on a hill makes this a bit sketchy. I can probably pull the middle axle forward with a chain hoist. I was mostly wondering whether or not I could simply remove the torque rod by getting access to those nuts and then running into town to have a new end pressed in it.

Arkansawn

 

[74M35A2]

Those two are easy access. 2-1/4” end wrench for the rear, and same or socket for the front. Use wood splitting wedge to apply seperation force, smack the bracket with a hammer it will come off. You may need a second end wrench to extend the first for increased leverage. Don’t bother trying to pull cotter keys, just rotate the nut and shear them off.

I have used the large ratchet straps to pull and hold axle back into place to drive home, then repair, twice.