I wanted to pick your brains and see if you could help me with what could be a major

[Lonesome715]

Deuce trouble

I wanted to pick your brains and see if you could help me with what could be a major or minor issue with my 1987 deuce. I have only had to back it up a couple of times. Each time was a bit difficult but I just figured it was different from the older 67 Deuce I was driving. Now, it does not want to back up at all. It feels like the truck is backing into something and bouncing off. If I lock it in low it will back up but it really does not want to. At first I was thinking it might be a broken axle, but I should have trouble moving forward as well if it was. I pulled the rear drive shaft to see if that would do anything and it did not. This is a big problem I need this truck to drive back and forth from school. Do any of you know what I should look for or might this be a common issue?

 

[area52]

is it an air shift or sprague type t-case? If its a sprague then its probably binding up and not allowing it to turn in reverse.

 

[Lonesome715]

It is a sprag type. I was thinking it was somehting binding, but I do not know where to start. How can I reapir that?

 

[nk14zp]

Might be your parking brake return springs. To get the bind out off the T case jack up one front wheel.

 

[Lonesome715]

I just noticed I screwed up the title of this thread. I guess I pasted the main body into the title section with out meaning to.

Anyhoo, I did check the parking brake and it appears to be working fine. If I jack up the front end, how will that be a permanant fix? Do I simply rotate the drive shaft? Would it help if I simply removed the front drive shaft? What would happen if I enguage the front end?

 

[aspann]

If you jack up one wheel, stay clear of it as it might spin if it is binding.

 

[nk14zp]

If its a sprag type it engages on its own you have no control over that.

 

[aspann]

Go to resorces and check out PS mag. articles. There's one on the sprag.

 

[Lonesome715]

You all are kind of talking over my head on this one. i have no experiance what so ever dealing with a sprag set up.

Thanks for the heads up, I will see if I can locate the information.

 

[Bob H]

a sprag TC on a 1987 ??????????????

 

[nk14zp]

Thats what I was wondering too Bob.

 

[poppop]

If you remove the front driveshaft and it backs up OK then you know that is the problem. If so you can drive it that
way until you can fix it. Problem is if forward sprag is locked in when you try to back up the front wheels wanbt to go
forward. My guess is that a Duece of that year model should have an air shift transfer and if it does you should be able to disengage the front axle unless there is a problem with the airshift.

 

[area52]

A permanent fix is to adjust the sprag and make sure its working correctly. There are a ton of threads on here about it.

 

[Lonesome715]

I just did some reading and it has come to my attention that I have no idea what the **** I am talking about. I had thought all this time I had a sprague unit. But now I am thinking different. Appearently I have the wrong impression of what a sprague unit is.


Also, I read this:

Steel Soldiers :: Military Vehicles Supersite

And I have to say that is rather confusing. I will have to read it a few more time before I cna a good grip on it.

 

[badgmc56]

You could have a wheel locking up because of a brake problem. Stuck wheel cylinder or broken brake spring. Depending on which shoe is hanging up it could happen only when backing.

 

[Lonesome715]

Because the parking brake seems to be working fine, I did not think of that. I will have to try each corner to see if that is it. Thanks fo rthe idea.

 

[glcaines]

Just because the parking brake appears to be working fine, doesn't mean there isn't a broken spring causing the parking brake to hang up while backing up. I would recommend checking out the parking brake before you go any further. It is relatively easy to check out the parking brake. if it is not the parking brake, I would check for a brake problem on each of the wheels. It is very doubtful that you would have a sprag unit on a 1987 deuce, but I guess anything is possible. I'm betting on the parking brake as the problem.

 

[Lonesome715]

I see what you are saying, thanks fo rbreaking it down for me.

I thought the switch on my dash meant I had a sprague unit. It appears that I was wrong. I still have a lot to learn about these trucks.

By the way, is it sprag or srpague?

 

[Heavysteven]

I'm lost if you have a switch on the center of the Dash marked "in out" then it's air.

Can you post some pictures? Rebuilt 87 sounds interesting would
love to see.

 

[Lonesome715]

Then that is what I have. I will have to read up on how the air shift works. The truck is an 87 Air Force truck. The one with double brakes and other stuff that makes it a nice truck.