M342/M35 trunnion and suspension repair "Watch Wes Work"

[cattlerepairman]

Wes is not a military truck mechanic - but a very thorough and methodical general vehicle and equipment mechanic from Illinois. In his YouTube channel he is tracking down a rear suspension issue on a M342 dump truck - very neat and interesting! What started like a loose trunnion bearing quickly became much more involved!

Shoutout to Tactical Repair for helping Wes with his expertise!

 

[NDT]

Good video (for once!!) Probably 40 hours labor and $500 in parts. Ouch.

 

[GopherHill]

That was a difficult job. I have to hand it to Wes. He has some real crap to repair and he is pretty upbeat about it. The rust alone would make me throw wrenches across the shop in my younger years.

 

[topo]

I watched it and job well done I would like a bearing packer like his .

 

[V8srfun]

!!!

 

[M37M35]

I just came across that last night. He did a good job.
I'm going to have to do similar work on my deuce soon and will be referencing the video. My trunnion bearings have a little play, and the U-bolts and springs are badly rusted. I had new U-bolts made by a local shop, but I'm not sure what to do about the springs.

Does anyone have any info about what he was told about there being different spring packs with 10, 12, 15 and 17 leaves? I'd never heard that before, but there must be something to it because I've only seen 10 leafs, and the packs he's working with have 12.
If I could find a 12 leaf pack, I'd replace mine with it.

 

[Mullaney]

I just came across that last night. He did a good job.
I'm going to have to do similar work on my deuce soon and will be referencing the video. My trunnion bearings have a little play, and the U-bolts and springs are badly rusted. I had new U-bolts made by a local shop, but I'm not sure what to do about the springs.

Does anyone have any info about what he was told about there being different spring packs with 10, 12, 15 and 17 leaves? I'd never heard that before, but there must be something to it because I've only seen 10 leafs, and the packs he's working with have 12.
If I could find a 12 leaf pack, I'd replace mine with it.

.
Can't help but wonder if a real spring shop - Salem Spring for example would be the tight way to solve that problem. Years ago they were the place to go here in Charlotte. We would take sets of springs to be "rebuilt". They would disassemble and clean. Then re-tension to the specified "arc" for the leaves in the spring set, re-assemble, paint, and return to us.

We had "corner mount" derricks that had two extra leaves to level the truck to neutral too.
Thirty years ago, they were darn good at what they did.

Hate to say I have no idea what that kind of service might cost...

 

[M37M35]

Can't help but wonder if a real spring shop - Salem Spring for example would be the tight way to solve that problem. Years ago they were the place to go here in Charlotte. We would take sets of springs to be "rebuilt". They would disassemble and clean. Then re-tension to the specified "arc" for the leaves in the spring set, re-assemble, paint, and return to us.

We had "corner mount" derricks that had two extra leaves to level the truck to neutral too.
Thirty years ago, they were darn good at what they did.

Hate to say I have no idea what that kind of service might cost...

I've thought about that. The shop that made the U-bolts for me can do that. (I think) The new U-bolts were reasonable, cheaper than any of the surplus dealers. I have no idea what it would cost to refurbish the springs and make some new leaves.

The big problem with my springs, besides being sagged, is the bottom two leaves are heavily rusted/pitted since the seat on the trunnion holds dirt and water.

The simplest thing would be to try to find some good springs from one of the many bobbed deuces, if they haven't been scrapped.
But if I could, I'd like to swap in a spring pack that has a few more leaves, since apparently there was different ones used in different trucks.

 

[Mullaney]

I've thought about that. The shop that made the U-bolts for me can do that. (I think) The new U-bolts were reasonable, cheaper than any of the surplus dealers. I have no idea what it would cost to refurbish the springs and make some new leaves.

The big problem with my springs, besides being sagged, is the bottom two leaves are heavily rusted/pitted since the seat on the trunnion holds dirt and water.

The simplest thing would be to try to find some good springs from one of the many bobbed deuces, if they haven't been scrapped.
But if I could, I'd like to swap in a spring pack that has a few more leaves, since apparently there was different ones used in different trucks.

.
Yes sir.

Finding a set of springs from a "bobber" that would have gone to the scrap pile would be great. Adding more leaves would add more weight and adding load capacity. On the other hand, it will make the ride more harsh as well.

There is magic in a lot of things.
Springs are one for sure

 

[11Echo]

My M342A2 has 12 leaf springs.
All my M35's have had 10 except for one which had the 12 leaf set.

 

[M37keppy]

While watching that video I noticed the plates are Iowa and then zoomed in and dang it’s the same county as me. I haven’t seen that truck around before. Now I gotta keep and eye out for it. Haha. Thanks for posting the video I in joyed watching.

 

[Bulldogger]

Thought I'd watch a few minutes and ended up watching the whole thing. Quite an adventure, but it should be good to go for many years now.
BDGR

 

[11Echo]

With stock 9.00 NDT it was likely less noticeable.

It could have been worse.

 

[frank8003]

Wes is not a military truck mechanic - but a very thorough and methodical general vehicle and equipment mechanic from Illinois. In his YouTube channel he is tracking down a rear suspension issue on a M342 dump truck - very neat and interesting! What started like a loose trunnion bearing quickly became much more involved!

Shoutout to Tactical Repair for helping Wes with his expertise!

I love hard work. I could watch others work hard all day long.
(especially when they actually know what they doin)

 

[simp5782]

It obviously wasn't this Wes working and making a video. It would just be a video of cussing, yelling, and throwing stuff around the shop.

 

[Elijah95]

With stock 9.00 NDT it was likely less noticeable.

It could have been worse.

So many questions


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