M37 Safety Recall discovered at Pat and Wanda's Tailgate Par

Paul in Kempner, TX · Post by **Paul in Kempner, TX** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:51 pm

Okay, I know that Chrysler/Dodge will not be sending out a Safety Recall, so I will do it for a problem I have never heard of before.

It has to do with the balls on the steering idler arm. It's discussed in the report of the Tailgate Party.
http://www.texaspowerwagon.com/2009-tgp.htm

rixm37 · Post by **rixm37** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:48 pm

This very thing happened to a friend of mine . The ball snapped off the idler just like it shows in the pictures. It happened a few days after a run off road. He was on the street going slow when it broke, It happened without any warning. You loose all steering at once. Very scary to say the least.

BUT...
He does heavy 4 wheeling and has re powered his truck with a Chevy engine, power steering, a front locker, and 37 inch tires. Prior to the ball breaking on the idler he broke the pin that it rides on at the top. So maybe the added stress of all the extas which allowed much harder use off road caused the failure.

I do not mean to down play a dangerous problem. If you off road hard better check the idler every time you go out in the boonies ,but I don't think that stock trucks would be subject at the same level of this problem.

How about you old heads that drove these trucks or were in the repair shops in the military when the M37 was active. Did you guys see this problem often?

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:25 am

I was a member of a NG Direct /General Support Maintenance unit that had several M37s and was responsible for 29th. Division repairs and we never had a that kind of failure. Not to say it never happened, just never while I was a member for 12 yrs.

I did have an idler arm ball snap off while driving another Dodge produced truck, my first 1977 M880, now replaced with another, which resulted in the truck rolling over several times. It was a clear dry Saturday morning on a 4 lane paved road, I didn't hit anything to cause the failure and I wasn't drunk, just driving straight ahead when it let go. I had to be cut out of the wreck and flown to the Baltimore Shock Trauma hospital with broken ribs, a shattered collar bone and broken arm along with glass caused cuts on my head. The medics told me later they thought I was dead when they arrived on scene. I sure fooled them, I was just out like a light.

Carter

rixm37 · Post by **rixm37** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:00 am

WOW Cater you are lucky to have survived that.

I have another friend that has a 68 Power Wagon. I suppose it has a ball set up also. I will pass the word over to him to check the steering linkage.

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:03 pm

Yeah, that was better than a 6 ticket carnival ride,

I even got a nice helicopter evac, what a deal all for just a couple of broken bones and a 2 pints of blood, Oh, and one very totaled M880 that they cut apart to get me out of.

Lifer · Post by **Lifer** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 6:34 pm

Before anyone gets TOO excited, something like that can happen to any vehicle at any time. It doesn't have to be 50 years old. Many years ago, I had the pitman arm let go like that on a Ford pickup that was only 15 years old. Turned out to be a flaw in the casting. It just goes to show that Murphy, the infamous lawyer, is still alive and well. I installed a brand new engine in my neighbor's Chevy conversion van about 10 years ago. It lasted 7 miles before the crankshaft broke, leaving his wife stranded on the highway with a dead cell phone in her hand. Fortunately, a friend saw her and brought her home, the engine was still under factory warranty, and the cell phone recharged overnight. All's well that ends well, but you gotta expect the excrement to hit the air circulator every now and then.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:17 pm

so, did the ball snap off clean at the base casting?

If so, welding it in from the backside obviously would not help.

And Lifer, I thought it was an excriment spreader.... I didnt know they were used to move air too... all the ones I've ever seen are too busy spreading the joy to spread anything else, like oxygen, so you can breathe when you're eyeball deep in the good stuff!

W_A_Watson_II · Post by **W_A_Watson_II** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:24 am

Mark Y. from St. Louis are broke one while we were running once, he had a spare on hand, why? Because this wasn't his first failure. He later broke yet another one!

He has since replaced all the parts with custom arms and Heim Joints. His Heim Joints were large enough that the cross sectional area of the bolt I believe was as large as the ball shank. They were some heave duty parts.

After seeing his brake, I picked up a spare idler arm to carry in the M just in case mine brakes.

His M has a detroit locker in the front, and he suspects that this the power steering might be contributors.

Will

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:18 am

hmmm, since I'll be running obnoxious power, 40s or 42's, and power steering, I wonder if refitting with DOM rods with heims isn't a good insurance policy on mine as well...

M37 Safety Recall discovered at Pat and Wanda's Tailgate Par

M37 Safety Recall discovered at Pat and Wanda's Tailgate Par

I've saw/heard of the M problem