F & R Axle U-Bolt bracket nuts

[lilm38]

Vehicle is a 51-M38.
Is there a specific torque for the U-Bolt nuts? The threads seem longer on one and shorter on others. I am not referring to the one longer bolt for the differential, I mean the amount of available thread on each of the 8 brackets. Does it get tightened down until the nut bottoms out or a specified torque? Thanks.

[wesk]

There are very few fasteners that do not have a required torque value often which value depends on application, IE tension vs shear. Tension torques are generally higher than shear torques for the same dimension hardware. The military units usually relied on common use torque value charts which are an industry standard. When you follow a set of manual instructions and read that a specific required torque is to be used then you do not go to the standard torque chart. However if no specific special torque value is listed in the maintenance manual then use the standards torque chart.

Als Army manuals often assume just like civvy factory manuals that the person doing the maintenance is an experienced technician so these manuals often leave out the assumed minor details and the newby has a lot of extra reading and searching to do. I advise newby's to also keep a copy of the civvy manual handy when doing these repairs to find those missing tiny details. For the M38 the book to have as a backup is the SM-1002 manual:









If you go to our Member's Photo Albums Page and open the 2nd photo album, mine, you'll find 80-90% of this info hidden in my sub albums.

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php

In that CJ service manual SM-1002 album in the Chapter "U" section you'll find a Willys application standard torque chart as well:



And in my Sub-Album titled General Torque Specs you can find torques based on fastener size/thread pitch/material as well as clarification on shear loading versus tension loading.

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php

[lilm38]

Thanks Wes. That's exactly the info I needed.