Tranny about fell out of my Deuce

[WarCloud]

Here's one for you guys.
I fire up my M35A2 today just to move it across the yard and give it it's periodic warm up (got real cold up here over the weekend.) In first gear low, I'm creeping across to my outbuilding and suddenly the whole truck starts shaking itself apart, making horrible banging nasty racket, so I shut it down. I crawl under it and the transmission has unbolted itself from the bell housing and is now 3/4" away from the mating surface. My jaw is still hanging limp. I've never seen such a thing. This truck was depot overhauled in 91, all the bolts in the drivetrain look new (no paint on them and shiney) So either I've been bangin around for two years with loose tranny / bell housing bolts and they finally hit their last thread (all at once??) or I have a clever gremlin or saboteur afoot out here in the foothills.
Anyone ever had a tranny fall out? I'm speechless.

 

[maddawg308]

My money is on a prankster. I've never heard of all the bolts backing out by themselves all at once. Solution, put a fence around your property, get a dog, get some cameras, and go to your local gun shop and buy a M1A. Best rifle money can buy. Make sure it comes with a scope. Next time your dog starts yelling, grab the rifle and look outside. If there's a dumba$$ under your truck that doesn't belong there, drill him.

 

[dm22630]

Re: RE: Tranny about fell out of my Deuce

My money is on a prankster. I've never heard of all the bolts backing out by themselves all at once. Solution, put a fence around your property, get a dog, get some cameras, and go to your local gun shop and buy a M1A. Best rifle money can buy. Make sure it comes with a scope. Next time your dog starts yelling, grab the rifle and look outside. If there's a dumba$$ under your truck that doesn't belong there, drill him.

no more sneakin through the woods near your house!

 

[WillWagner]

Unless something catastophic happened and all of them sheared, like way fast, i'd suspect a gremlin. Who'd you PO lately?

 

[gringeltaube]

Very strange, but there is always a first time...!
Did the adapter ring come off too? MF bell housing is aluminum, and if the studs/bolts holding the adapter were to short.....

G.

 

[nf6x]

Wow! The thought of a prankster unbolting a transmission just boggles my mind, but maybe now that everybody has flush toilets and there aren't any more outhouses to be moved 6 feet back, that's what they're doing?

I think I'd pull that transmission the rest of the way off in order to have a good, close look at the bolt holes and make sure the threads aren't what failed. Also, make sure nothing got torn up by operating with the transmission loose. Oh, and based on Will's comment, I'd make sure the bolts are the right size! Then, I'd give the whole truck a good going-over, because whether you have a neighborhood gremlin or the rebuild guys didn't torque and locknut stuff right, I'd be concerned about more surprises.

Once wasn't enough: Wow!

 

[Recovry4x4]

Retap everything on the truck to left hand threads except the left side lugs, retap them to right hand threads. Should keep the pranksters busy for a spell.

 

[jasonjc]

Now the short saft bolts seem to losen on there own.

 

[nf6x]

Retap everything on the truck to left hand threads except the left side lugs, retap them to right hand threads. Should keep the pranksters busy for a spell.

Aw, who needs bolts, anyway? Weld everything, then get another cheap truck off GL when something breaks!

 

[100dollarman]

I never would have let a Tranny get in my truck!

I dont swing that way!!!

 

[clinto]

My father drove Deuces all over Germany in the Army and he said they were required to frequently (I will have to ask him how many times a year) get under the trucks with a loooong breaker bar and tighten bolts that were loose.

 

[citizensoldier]

I dont think you have a Gremlin.. Something else is going on here.. They would have to pull the inside cover to get to them all and what would be the point unless maybe they were trying to steel the transmission? Maybe they did some cluch work or rear main seal work on it before they released it and never finished the job or didnt tighten them?
Another thing and I have no proof but between Dave P and I there has been some real strange things undone on some of our trucks and trailers before we got them. We think its done by the army guys so they get rid of it. Things like bearing bolts backed off so the tire wobbles and you can tell it was done diliberatly.
This is a strange event for sure..

 

[WarCloud]

Trans

Upon further inspection, I'm leaning into the idea of poor work done during the depot overhaul. One would have to unbolt the adapter ring, the U joint, open up the bellhousing and get a wrench all around the shaft to crack loose all the trans bolts. Not something you could do without a heavy transmission jack and two burly co-conspirators with noisy tools and in the dark to boot. As crazy as it sounds, I did comment when I got this truck that it looked like it sat in a motor pool assigned to an HQ Btn all it's life..it has 345 hrs on it since 1991.

Since all of the bolts in the drivetrain (bell housing, flange, trans, U joint, all the covers) are obviously new and installed at the overhaul, I'm afraid this one is a lack of attention to detail or just plain Gomer Pyle engineering, since the entire clutch and trans have obviously been out of the truck at some point. Some goober just got too busy and forgot to torque the trans bolts.
Ironically, I had to drop the trans anyway, as 4th gear is dinged up and it won't slip into 4th, never did. There's a trans from a board member in PA. or Teds' Trucks has them they can ship. If anyone closer to Colorado has a M35A2 trans I'm lookin'. Meantime, I guess I have a seriously heavy truck job to do.
Oh, and FYI, I have a Majestic Tree Hound, an M1A with the full kit (day scope, mounts, bipod, and AN-PVS2 starlight scope), and I'm fully fenced with barbed wire. Keeps the coyotes respectful.

 

[ida34]

Another thing and I have no proof but between Dave P and I there has been some real strange things undone on some of our trucks and trailers before we got them. We think its done by the army guys so they get rid of it. Things like bearing bolts backed off so the tire wobbles and you can tell it was done diliberatly.
This is a strange event for sure..

That is just me messing with you for whoring all the trailers.

 

[citizensoldier]

Another thing and I have no proof but between Dave P and I there has been some real strange things undone on some of our trucks and trailers before we got them. We think its done by the army guys so they get rid of it. Things like bearing bolts backed off so the tire wobbles and you can tell it was done diliberatly.
This is a strange event for sure..

That is just me messing with you for whoring all the trailers.

Man! Cant even trust the law these days..
I have not whored a trailer in some time. I even let Bob H grab up a M101A2 within my grasp..

 

[Jakob]

Back when I was deatched to the motor pool for a while, I seen some of these "modifications" done. Purposeful tricks done to trucks to either get rid of them or get them replaced. At the time, it seemed like a good idea because we'd either be rid of a problem child or get a better truck in it's stead. In hindsight, now these trucks are being sold to the civy section... sometimes with deliberate malfunctions in place.

 

[rosco]

I agree with you Jakob

Lee in ALaska

 

[Big Mike's Motor Pool]

its pretty hard to get to some of the bolts just by being under the truck. i dont think i was a prankster. i had a hard time getting to the top bolts, some were impossble, and this was with my truck on a lift and me standing up with the bst possible access to the bolts. i had to pull the trans floor cover to get them off

 

[randyscycle]

My deuce had all of the transmission to transfer case shaft bolts loosened, but not removed when I got it. It had come from GL a few weeks before by another previous owner. The shaft looked original to the truck, just as if someone was in the process of removing it, then stopped midship.

I checked everyhting after finding that but didn't find anything else amiss.