Safety Warning for M-38A1 Owners

[Clint Tauber]

Just a reminder to check your tie rod ends carefully. I had one pull out of the rod last summer, which, on closer inspection, turned out to be an M38 end. Someone, at some point, replaced the end with the wrong one, which actually held for a looong time with the clamp tightened to the max! Luckily, it pulled out when I wasn't on a very sharp corner. It wasn't a fun experience, I have since replaced everything. Only the driver's side end was incorrect. Something to watch out for, though, you just never know!

[rob love]

I have owned and been working with M38s and M38A1s for 40 years now. I have never seen anybody so sloppy as to put the smaller thread tie rod into the larger diameter tube. In this day and age of do it yourself, there are some people who should be paying for labour, or at a minimum, asking questions when something doesn't seem quite right.

I did have a similar experience with a CJ7 back in the 80s. I had been driving on the highway at 100 kmh the day before. Next day, the ex took the jeep and turning onto the road, the tie rod came out of the tube. The vehicle was an ex-Ontario vehicle, and at that point was just 8 years old. Turns out the clamp bolt had failed. We don't see corrosion like that here in Manitoba.....8 years is still not half life for a truck in this province.

The next year I spotted a crack in the frame, and a month later the side frame actually split. When I went to rebuild the jeep, I actually removed the rollbar without using any tools.

I have never bought another Ontario vehicle again, other than a Bren carrier which sure enough needed pinholes patched n the floor.

[Clint Tauber]

Indeed, it never even occurred to me that someone would use the wrong tie-rod end. When I picked the jeep up the first things I checked were the rod ends, to see if they were near failure. Everything was tight, except the bellcrank. I had just completed the repair of the bellcrank, and was road testing the jeep, when the rod came apart. I had to haywire it together and drive home verrry slowly.

[chris vickery]

Here is some food for thought on the subject...
I have often heard of guys wanting "dummy" safeties or ones from dubious mechanics. This is very illegal firstly and secondly it is literally taking your life in your hands.
I would rather have a mechanic tell me what is wrong rather than overlook serious or life threatening conditions.
On my first M38A1 which is not complete yet, I rebuild and replaced all of the suspension components due to the fact that everything was in roughy shape.
New springs, shackles, shocks, tie rod ends, tires brakes etc.
Another place guys cheap out on is electrical systems. Why spend all that time and money to restore you vehicle and then leave a 50 year old cobbled up wire harness in it just waiting for an electrical fire.

[Clint Tauber]

Originally Posted by chris vickery

Here is some food for thought on the subject...
I have often heard of guys wanting "dummy" safeties or ones from dubious mechanics. This is very illegal firstly and secondly it is literally taking your life in your hands.
I would rather have a mechanic tell me what is wrong rather than overlook serious or life threatening conditions.
On my first M38A1 which is not complete yet, I rebuild and replaced all of the suspension components due to the fact that everything was in roughy shape.
New springs, shackles, shocks, tie rod ends, tires brakes etc.
Another place guys cheap out on is electrical systems. Why spend all that time and money to restore you vehicle and then leave a 50 year old cobbled up wire harness in it just waiting for an electrical fire.

I actually had a mechanic look over the front end at one point, he gave it a clean bill of health, other than the bellcrank. It was impossible to notice unless you actually suspected the wrong tie rod end, in which case you would scrutinize it more carefully. The jeep in question was used on a farm for 40+ years and came straight from the Army, and if I were to point fingers, I would say it came from the Army with the wrong end. The old guy that owned it saved every receipt for every part he ever bought, and kept meticulous notes on everything he did. His only work on the front end was adding an aftermarket steering stabilizer. He even saved every old part that he removed, and included all the junk with the jeep.

[chris vickery]

Wow, I am at a loss for words.

[rob love]

Onr of the problems I had noticed in the 80s when I worked on the Jeeps in service was that the Canadian manual covered all the Jeeps from the M38, the M38A1, and then had an added section for the M38A1Cdn2 and another for the M38A1CDN3.

If you went to the steering seciton for parts, and were not careful to look at the "used on" column, it was easy to end up with the skinny tie rods. All the Cdn2 and Cdn3 were the heavier ends. If the parts guy ordered the complete tie rod (2 ends, the tube and the clamps) as an assembly, we could put that on. But if they just ordered the skinny threaded end, we had to toss it.

Same thing would happen for the fuel tanks, and even the engines. I guess so many people ordered the wrong fuel tanks, they actually made up more M38 tanks in the 80s to fill the demands, even though they were the wrong tanks for the existing fleet. The flathead engines were still around to replace the WW2 engines in the older generator trailers.

[Clint Tauber]

I found it really odd that only one tie rod end was wrong, too. Whenever I have replaced them, I always do the whole set at the same time. Whatever the case, I have replaced the whole lot now, and threw away the hokey add on steering stabilizer.

[rob love]

We only changed what needed changing in the military. The vehicles got 4 inspections a year back then (2 majors and 2 minors) so when the next one went you would catch it soon enough. Bellcranks were always a losing proposition, followed by the center tie rod, which did the work for both wheels.

Alignments were done with a string, or if you were lucky you had the measuring rod.

Things were pretty primitive back then in the CF.

[Clint Tauber]

Things were pretty primitive back then in the CF.[/QUOTE]

I don't doubt it, the camo on my old M-37 looked like house paint applied with a whisk broom.

[Frank v R]

you have been introduced to Bubba ! a very dangerous fellow as you well know now!