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: