My axle fell off on the way home!

[alabamafrog]

Well I joined the ranks of MV owners this week with my purchase of 2 trucks and 3 trailers. However on the way home with the new 5 ton flat bed I had several bad problems. The most notable are it is stuck in low range, will not go over 20 mph, when the shifter is shoved very hard it will go down like it is in high range but it just sits there and makes a light grinding noised when put in gear. So I had to drive it to my friends shop 6 miles away at 20mph.
Then when I turned left into his shop the front rear axle came loose and twisted up under the truck into the fuel tank and leaf springs. Also the batteries were dead and disconnected and the brakes were jacked open and an air line fitting was broken off. With 1200 miles I thought it would be like new and ready to drive around only needing fuel, boy was I wrong.
Is this normal???
I thought these things were near indestructible and I can't even make it 6 miles with it driving easy without it falling apart.
How can this be fixed?


The other truck I got has 59 miles and is a 5 ton dump truck, it does not run and who knows what I will find wrong with it.


Why do the axles fall off when you turn left too sharp?
What the heck would I have done if I was surrounded by zombies when that happened!

 

[hndrsonj]

Never trust the odometers in a MV. Also it has probably been sitting at least a year or two with zero maintenance.

 

[steelandcanvas]

How closely did you look at these vehicles before you loaded them up or drove them?

 

[indy4x4fab]

I made checking the play in the dog bones part of my pre-drive inspection.

 

[tie6044]

I'm surprised the axle on that Ford didn't fall off-Man that's a lot of weight

 

[charlietango]

judging by how that dump is loaded on that trailer with that little Ford squashed in front, i'd say not too close Jonathan... wow.just wow. when getting an unfamiliar truck you should always do or have someone qualified to do an inspection prior to driving it . you could have killed someone. The military could have just slapped things back together to roll it out the door for auction for all you know!

Lesson learned I hope. And get that **** Ford unhooked from that trailer and tow that 23000 lb + 5 ton dumper with something adequate ffs... DANGEROUS!

 

[Derrickl112]

if its a m923, the T cases can be hard to shift. i often have to put the truck in gear, tap the throttle, then put it back to neutral, then try shifting the t case again.

 

[drgreg]

The dog bone may have not been found durring a pre-recovery inspection, but other issues would have been. My best advise is to read the multitude of threads on vehicle recovery, the TMs for each truck and search for other threads on specific issues.
Congrats on both trucks, but please don't drive them until they are gone through. As far as these trucks being indestructible, guess again, they are tough but they can and will break. These trucks are some what old and you do not know how they have been used or maintained.

 

[alabamafrog]

This was the first time I have ever seen a MV up close so I had/have no idea what to look for or even what I am looking at. When I went to pick them up I followed the guy on the big loader to the lot, parked where he said then jumped in and steered the 5 ton dump as he shoved it up on the trailer. I then had to haul it to the shop and drop it as quick as I could and go back for the rest before they went to lunch. When I got back he jumped off the flatbed for me, said batteries were dead from sitting a couple months, I jumped in and and tried to take off but when it wouldn't go he told me to jerk the handle in the floor up real hard and then I was able to drive away. I turned around and went back when I figured out it was stuck in low, he got in and jerked on the shifter some and said it just needed some linkage adjustment. Upon further inspection at the mechanics shop it seems it is shifting just fine outside and the problem seems to be inside the transfer case. Of course by this point we were so wore out and discouraged from wrestling the axle back straight that we lost interest.
How common is it for that joint to pop loose and the axle twist like that?
Seems like there should be something holding that together better than that?
Is there a common problem inside the Tcase that causes it to no engage in high range?

 

[charlietango]

those transfer cases often grenade when guys use 6x6 in reverse apparently.. it could have issues from misuse.

 

[Derrickl112]

he told me to jerk the handle in the floor up real hard and then I was able to drive away. I turned around and went back when I figured out it was stuck in low, he got in and jerked on the shifter some and said it just needed some linkage adjustment. Upon further inspection at the mechanics shop it seems it is shifting just fine outside and the problem seems to be inside the transfer case. ?

Low gear = lever/handle up
High gear = lever/handle on the floor
neutral = somehwere in the middle

 

[drgreg]

When the lever is UP it is in low gear. HIGH gear is when the handle/lever is on the floor..

The other up?

 

[alabamafrog]

I was hoping it was just a shifter fork roll pin or something like that got broken when someone stomped on the shifter too hard with the gears out of alignment. I got to get time to get some manuals and read up on it and go through them both.
I know I have 5 tons of stuff to learn, thats why I followed the GL guys advice and registered on this website.
The poor little Ford did a great job of hauling that dumper too, felt very good and stable at 55mph and stopped very well, I am proud of it and the Lawrimore trailer

 

[vtdeucedriver]

YOU KIDDING ME with bringing that dump truck home??????

 

[Truckoholic]

Low gear = lever/handle up
High gear = lever/handle on the floor
neutral = somehwere in the middle

So the 900 series trucks are backwards from the 800's and deuce and a halfs where on the floor is low gear huh? That would have confused the **** out of me if I went to drive one not knowing that!

 

[drgreg]

So the 900 series trucks are backwards from the 800's and deuce and a halfs where on the floor is low gear huh? That would have confused the **** out of me if I went to drive one not knowing that!

Not sure, but I think there is a placard for that.

 

[Truckoholic]

Not sure, but I think there is a placard for that.

Yeah, I'm sure there is. This is copied from the TM "TRANSFER CASE SHIFT LEVER - Pushed down to shift transfer case into HIGH gear, center
position for NEUTRAL, and up position for LOW gear. When transfer case is placed in LOW, it will
automatically engage six-wheel drive. In HIGH, the instrument panel-mounted front-wheel drive
lock-in switch must be used to achieve six-wheel drive operation"

 

[alabamafrog]

I figured out pretty quick the shifter needed to be down, however with it all the way down on the floor it would just make a light grinding noise and not move, I crawled under and the "plunger" in the T-case seems to be going all the way in when the shifter is pushed down. When shifting it you have to jerk on it very hard but it does feel like it is shifting to all 3 positions and there is an air shifting noise between low and high. I'm starting to wonder if there is some sort of air locking differential or something that maybe locks in low and maybe should not be driven and turned sharp on the dry pavement like that?

 

[alabamafrog]

YOU KIDDING ME with bringing that dump truck home??????

I hauled it about 6 miles from the DRMO lot to my friends mechanics shop. I routinely haul 12-18K loads on that truck and trailer but I do admit that I was on my best behavior while hauling this 24K load.

 

[scranch18121]

Wow......

Crushing the Ford. 3/4 Ton truck pulling a dual tandom trailer is close to the max. Then add a 5 ton truck on top of all that. Amazing. Hope you didn't have to pull it far.