I have a 1960 M37 that I bought when I was 16. I drove the @@@t out of it on my crawfish farm every day for years. Climb levees, running over trees, mudding, pulling fallen trees, uprooting trees, pulling trucks out of the mud, fording, crawling over things that shouldn't be crawled over and every other type of abuse you can think of..... That thing was famous in high school! It is bone stock and I love it. One day I was jerking chicken trees an willow trees out of the ground for fun and I got over confident... I hooked up to a hackberry tree about 20" in diameter and popped clutch! Hit it three times and it didn't budge. My buddy was with me egging me on so I backed all the way up to the tree and caught 2nd gear before the chain tightened. We both got whiplashed into the windshield and my buddy's head spider webbed the passenger windshield pane. At the same time I heard a loud PING come from the rear end. I unhooked, drove to the road pulled it into 2wd high and stomped it....and started rolling backward! I limped it in 4 low to the shop and soon realized the long rear axle was shattered! I pulled out 4 pieces and couldn't get the final stub out because it was jammed in the chunk. I also could't get the chunk out because the stub was locking it in. Here is the tip I figured out: I got my stick welder and found a piece of 1" flatbar and used the last inch of about ten welding rods to weld the flatbar deep inside the tube to the stub. I then welded another piece of flatbar to the end of the piece sticking out of the tube at a right angle. Then I hammered the broken piece out! It worked great!
So it took slot of torture to break mine. Maybe the metallurgy is inconsistent? Who knows. Good information on aftermarket replacements!
So it took slot of torture to break mine. Maybe the metallurgy is inconsistent? Who knows. Good information on aftermarket replacements!