The Night I Broke My Axle Stub

[special-K]

Back about 30 years ago I worked for a builder and owned a '71 K/20. It was the second truck I had with 14.50/37 Armstrong Tru Tracs. Back then,just having tires over 33" made for an impressive rig. And,any way you could get them on there was good enough. We didn't have all the suspension options out there today. My truck had a 4" lift from Burbank Spring using blocks in the rear and I cut my fenders. The truck was pretty much original and basic with 307/4spd/4.57s/No-Spin/manual steering. I had headers with duals out behind the rear wheels,HEI,and a Quadrajet on it. I thought it ran pretty good.
It was spring time and these two younger guys (Two Todds) who worked with me had recently bought Jeeps and were having fun finding all the local wheelin' spots. One Friday after work Two Todds asked me to meet them out at this quarry later that night. This place had one spot that was a ball. It was a long stock pile shaped like a football with waist deep water all around the base like a mote,with plenty of mud at the bottom. Guys were playing around at the shallow end you could enter it from but that was it. I pulled in and did ok so I decided to start climbing the mound. That was a gas and it got everybody's attention. I came back down and decided to venture into the deeper mote. You know how it goes,you get wound up and braver and braver. Well,the way it was in the mote,once in there you had to keep charging and go all the way around. I churned on through to the opposite end where steering around the bend was pretty hairy. When I made it around the truck didn't pull straight. The rear was wanting to come around and I was crab crawling and barely moving forward. So,I took a chance and stopped,backed up to get straight,and pull forward again. I was kinda stuck there,moving back and forth,and falling the same tracks. My pipes were underwater and it sounded like a boat. I was throwing rooster tails of water. I kept rompin' it until it churned it's way out of there for my final run to the shallow end and made it out. We were all standing around talking about it when someone said cops had pulled in and were blocking the entrance. Huh,I guess we weren't supposed to be there,LOL. Back then it seemed you could could go where you wanted and have a ball. Looking back,and the way things are these days,I can see I should have known better. But I didn't,was surprised,and all I wanted to do was get my tail outta there!
As the crowd started dispersing and heading to the entrance to face their fate (probably just a scolding) I took a look at the steep 50' or so bank up to the road and hit it hard. The truck blasted up with wheels spinning and when I hit the road with the left front wheel I heard a nasty clunk...not good. I slapped it up into 2HI and hauled butt up the road. I could hear noise. I pulled into a gas station and put the hubs in FREE,but really couldn't check it out,other than feel the hubs for heat. It felt ok and I decided to drive it home.
The next morning I took a look underneath and saw the obvious damage. The axle didn't actually break. The u-joint had grenaded,one yoke was broken,and one was egg shaped. So,I needed new axle shafts and a u-joint. I figure,either the u-joint was worn out or got all washed out and packed with grit. I know now it's possible the u-joint just couldn't handle the hard use with that big a tire. Back then we were working out what we all know now. I figured I had a fairly proper built truck. even then,I thought it would be awesome to run a one ton axle. You saw guys putting huge tires on 1/2t and Toyota trucks. I didn't have that truck that long at that time and had no idea of the condition of the drivetrain. The truck was pretty rough when I got it,though. once fixed,I used it for years with no further problems.

Here's how it looked the morning after:

[special-K]

Darn,it was already small (scanned from print) and i tried to resize. Now it shrunk and enlarging it makes it blurry. whoops!

[snj8198]

Ah the reckless years. I sure miss them but my pocketbook doesn't. It may be time for you to go create another story.

[propanemudtruck]

I've been watching for you to post this story! More More More!

Hope you don't mind us adding our stories too...

I'm not as old as some of the trucks I like to drive so this story is from when I was younger but I'll hold the date. We were in high school and a buddy and I were given a 79 dodge long bed with the slant 6. We literally showed up at the address in a city we didn't know and the people said there it is, take it! So on the city street we broke the steering column, hot wired the truck and drove it away. The starter was weak and you had to hit the wires quite a few times to get it to roll over but once running it was decent for the price. By the time were were done with it, there were three wires sticking out of the dash: hot, ignition and start. twist the two together and tap the third and it started. There were no doors, no windows and the seatbelts were tied to the seat. I really don't know how it worked, but the steering wheel/shaft could pull out of the column and you could put it back in to steer - our hillbilly car insurance I guess. We drove it into town for gas and some hot dogs and looking back am surprized we never got caught. Until the day we decided that our friend's neighbor doesn't use his back field, we might as well start a mud pit! Worked great until we got stuck and had to call for help. The help warned us but we just drove back next door, got the truck stuck on a tree outback and were messing around until the state boys came rolling up the drive. Once we told them who we are and "we didn't know we couldn't" they told us we needed to go apologize to Bruce. he told us if we ever want to go back there, just to ask. The next week he was signed up for a field preservation club and we couldn't go in the mud any more...

[jerry moss]

funny story Tim, i could write a book about all our adventures when i was younger, the homemade 8 inch lift, hot rod smallblock, 14.50 x 36.50 pro trac fat herbies, 1/2 ton axles and broken pieces.damn that was the good old days. mine was a 73 swb and i beat that poor truck bad, had to do some quicky trail fixes to get home a few times BUT it always made it back under it's own power unlike my buddies 77 power wagon that usually ended up on back of a tow truck. you brought back some good memories for me, thank you.

[special-K]

Good story there,propanemudtruck. Some things time will never change. I remeber when I sunk my boss' '80 K/30 flatbed with 9.00 x 16 Grip Spurs on a job (musta been a dang spring head). He hot wired a backhoe from another builder's site after hours to get me out. He was 1/2 cocked every day by then. Yeah,I was aid a visit by the County Mounty the next morning. Let's see...the truck you were driving yesterday sat there all day sunk to the rockers...this backhoe was hot wired...and somehow that truck got you home last night...hmmm "It wasn't me!!!" My boss got his hands slapped and the cost of some repairs along with compensation for down time...no arrest back then.

Yeah Jerry,we ought to start a 4-wheelin' calamities thread. Or did we already? I'm startin' to remember some more now,but it takes time to write.
Anyone else?

[special-K]

I had a '69 Dodge W200 Power Wagon back in the '70s. I put a cop car 440 in it and Detroit Locker/Tru-Trac. It was a 4spd with a divorced NP205. I had to do my own lift kit since nothing was made for it. It did good in the mud:



I remember this one April it rained for four days. My friend and I both worked construction and were getting stir crazy from not working. We decided to go look for a house to rent around Harpers Ferry West Virginia,not far from where either of us lived. The Potomac and Shennendoah converge there and both we running in near flood stage. Mud and laying water everywhere. We looked at some houses in the morning and got to some exploring along the river and in the hills. There's this old road up the mountain that still goes through,but never used. It turned into a trail. We went up and some logging was going on so we started following skidder paths. We were climbing pretty steep and Bean (my buddy Gary) said some lumber was coming out the back (no tailgate). I didn't believe him (he was laughing) so I looked back. Then he said I was driving up a tree (still laughing). I didn't believe him so I looked forward. Well,he wasn't kidding about either,so I backed down the tree and loaded up the lumber and went on our way. We wheeled around there but nothing too challenging,so we went to a job site where I knew the sediment pond would be nice and swampy. We dropped on down into it and had a blast just throwing globs of muck in rooster tails all over the place. There was a nice hill climb up one bank and I'd pull that every now and then for a change. Then,I got out and told bean to give it a shot. He'd waller on down into the muck and get stuck straight away,get all worried,and said maybe I should try. I'd rock'n'roll it out of there,just ramming it on through. "See? you just gotta give it h3!!" He'd try again and get stuck (never drove a 4wd). Did I mention the new Mexican restaurant with killer strawberry margaritas (to chase the shots) where we ate lunch...for a long time? This was back in the dangerous '70s. I know,irresponsible...negligent...add what you like here. But,that's what we did and it probably had something to do with me rompin' out of the mud,heading up this crazy steep bank when,"BOOM,womp womp womp womp womp" and we started drifting back before I hit the brake. Did I mention smokin' the tires in 4lo at the lights in town after the restaurant? Well,that intermediate shaft between the trans and transfer case was twisted in two! So,although I did drive a bit under the influence,we ended up calling for a ride home. I came out the next morning and lay in the mud (tires 1/2 sunk.It was tight under there) to remove it (them...both 1/2s). The tube was just long enough for both ends to but. Probably about 2" and it was peeled in two like a Pillsbury pop'n fresh tube (hee hee). I had it welded and aligned at a machine shop but that thing caused a bad vibration. I asked if they balanced it (which I asked for) and they said it didn't need that as long as it was aligned. Me and my shakin' butt begged to differ. So,I went to Dodge and ordered a new driveshaft...problem solved

[MrBeast]

One of my best stories from back in the day, had a school bully who was always picking at me, he had a 74 blazer, and you know the type, his blazer conquered denali, everest and fiji in 2wd.

Anyways this takes place in south west Montana in the winter time. There is about 3' of snow in the ditch, I am headed home after school in my 70 Chevy short bed 4x4, it had tons under it and a 350 that was more nascar than pickup truck.

As I am headed up the road who do I find, why its a yellow 74 Blazer, I pulled over and the bully sheepishly had to ask me if I could pull him out, he had hit a spot of ice and slid off in the ditch.

I smiled and said sure. He then told me id have to pull him backwards, I said no, im gonna pull you forwards up the hill. He told me there was no way, I told him we will see.

Pulled out my 3/8" pull chain and a strap, stuffed my shackle block in my reciever, ran a strap on the tow hood to each side of his frame. Told him cut the wheels towards the road and dont stop till you are at the top of the hill.

I got in my truck, put it in 4hi, put it on the floor and got after it ripped his truck out on the first pull drug him out all the way to the top of the hill.

We get to the top and he jumps out of his truck screaming "Holy $#!T man Holy $#!T that truck is a beast, oh my god, im never $#!T talking your truck again!"

and then he had the realization that he left his truck in neutral as it rolled forward into the back of mine

Luckily my truck was fine because of the uber red neck bumper on the back, busted the snot out of the plastic in his grille and one of his headlight rings and put a nice dent in his fender.

He never lived that one down.

[special-K]

That's a good one. There's one in every town like him.

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by special-K

That's a good one. There's one in every town like him.

It is funny because for the longest time he was telling everyone he was going to beat me up, from like 7th grade on, I wound up joining the navy at the same time he did, he chickened out, didnt even make it to boot camp.

I saw him about a year later, he couldnt even look me in the eye at that point, it was kind of rewarding.

Oh but a great back in the day story about breaking something.

My frist truck was a 71 K20 painted 2 tone brown, it had a build 350 road ranger over drive, SM465 and a 205.

It was a cool truck painted brown and tan, with the running gear orange. I loved that truck.

Anyhow, seeing as how it was my first truck decided to go and see what it would do off road. Growing up in Montana there were no shortage of places to go and try to get it stuck, but the truck had been built with lockers front and rear with 4.10's so it was a freaking animal off road.

We kept finding things that would get my friends trucks stuck, mine would plow through (they all had open diffs)

Finally we got bored with seeing what we could mud it through and began seeing what it could climb.

Well the truck turned out to be the pickup version of a mountain goat!

That is until I tried climbing this big rock slide with it. I was doing fine about the first 300 feet up it, until I put a rock through the oil pan and blew the motor. It broke the crank shaft, it apeared the rock pushed so far into the pan that it hit the crank.

I spent the next 3 days over at my buddies house ripping the motor out of a 79 caprice I bought for 500 bucks and stuffing it in the truck so my dad wouldnt find out.

I loved that old truck, but unfortunately the cab mounts rusted out really bad, and when you would push the clutch in the cab would slide back into the bed.

I was driving it around with a 2x4 block wedged between the cab and bed. I wound up trading it to a body shop for the afformentioned 70 short bed that a customer had painted and could not pay the bill on.

[OLDCHEV4X4]

Good stories guys.
Since I am a slow typer, I will have to tell mine around the campfire.

I do remember my first set of mud tires. Ground Hawgs 11-15 on white spoke wagon wheels. They were awesome in the mud, going foreward, but sucked on the road. Could not get them balanced and pulled you all over the road.

[timjt]

only mudding I've done was in my manual camry. Took it through a quarter- half mile boggy road my uncle had trouble getting his Nissan truck through. (if you live in texas you know the type) I think that was the second time my father-in-law ever shook my hand (first time was when i told him I was engaged to his daughter.) I think it only made it through because it was light enough to stay on top of the deep mud long enough to fishtail my way over it to the next shallow mud part.

[propanemudtruck]

Originally Posted by special-K

I remeber when I sunk my boss' '80 K/30 flatbed with 9.00 x 16 Grip Spurs on a job (musta been a dang spring head). He hot wired a backhoe from another builder's site after hours to get me out.

When I was a junior in high school my co-op teacher/supervisor asked if I was any good at rebuilding engines... It was a 350 and I'm in auto shop. Sure! The deal was I'll build my own 350 and when it's done, I'll swap them. The night I picked his truck up to head to the barn we had one helluva snow storm. I was hanging out with my buddy and his now wife and we got the bright idea to go play in my teacher's truck. We were about 4 miles from the barn and I started doing donuts in a dirt road intersection. All was well until the fan blade let loose from the water pump. That raises hell under the hood in a quick hurry. It cut both upper and lower rad hoses, both tranny lines, exploded the shroud and tore up the brand new radiatior. Great. I'm out more money than he's paying me and we're stranded in a snow storm. Called my buddy's now wife's dad, he came about 3 miles to get us with the old tractor and towed us all the way to the barn. Teach came by one day and saw all the broken parts laying outside - asked what they were from and I had to tell him. I got a lesson and the money to cover the broken parts. What a teacher will do for his students....

[special-K]

That's a hard lesson...but fun!

[gearhead1985]

that is from my jeep 4 low 1st gear and red line until i got traction then it broke woops

[special-K]

Ouch!

[propanemudtruck]

Uhhh..... something don't look right...

oh! I got it! Not enough penetration from the lincoln locker!

[gearhead1985]

Originally Posted by propanemudtruck

Uhhh..... something don't look right...

oh! I got it! Not enough penetration from the lincoln locker!

nope open diff dana 35 i broke every part in that axle before i swapped in the dana44's parts were way to cheap for me to not run that axle everyone i knew gave me there dana 35 when we swapped them out