i have heard that the outer axle shafts are a major weak point on the front 2.5 axles. i know they use those axles in the 6 wheel drive Can. army water trucks.

 

There is a ton of info on the 2.5 tons here...have you tried the search button? They can be found on most military 6X6 trucks. Axle tags that I have come across are near the diff on the housing itself.

 

There is a ton of info on the 2.5 tons here...have you tried the search button? They can be found on most military 6X6 trucks. Axle tags that I have come across are near the diff on the housing itself.

I read all the threads that come up, but I was hoping that someone just had a writeup bookmarked similar to Billa's 14 bolt bible.

 

search results

There is one good thread there comparing 60's and rockwells. It still doesn't tell me what I want to know about exactly how rockwells are made, how to modify them, donor vehicles, types of them, etc.

 

This article in Jp has a little of the info you're looking for.

http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticles/154_0305_ton/index1.html

Just keep searching and reading.

 

that's pretty much the crash course I was looking for. Thanks.

I'm still confused about the ones that seem to be toploaders and the ones that seem to look like huge for 9". I know most are five tons, but I still see some of that style in trucks claiming to be 2.5's.

 

the ones that look like a big ford 9 inch are the gmc axles. some say they are a bit stronger than the rockwells but dont have the driveshaft clearance that rockwells provide. 5 tons are much bigger than 2.5 tons and will be clearly visable by the massive 10lug pattern/size compared to the 2.5 tons 6lug pattern.
I went with unimog portals instead of wasting a ton of money in upgrading the rockwells.

 

So what brand of truck would I be looking for to get the toploading style? There's a large surplus store here by my house that has some auctioned trucks and such.

 

6X6 flatbeds and tractor trucks

 

got any year ranges for that?

 

Not sure when they started but my Duece from the Korean war era has them and up to pretty recent trucks still run them.

 

they have 6.72 THAT IS THE ONLY RATIO THAT CAME IN THE TOP LOADER 2.5 rockwells. I have 2 steering rocks under my '92 X-cab toy.( it is still under construction. Pinion Brakes can break axle shafts run disk brakes on the axle.

 

they have 6.72 THAT IS THE ONLY RATIO THAT CAME IN THE TOP LOADER 2.5 rockwells. I have 2 steering rocks under my '92 X-cab toy.( it is still under construction. Pinion Brakes can break axle shafts run disk brakes on the axle. U-joint is the only way to go with these axles.

 

rockwell axles

got any year ranges for that?

The M35 variation of army truck came about in the 1950's. The most popular today is the M35A2 i.e. "deuce and a half" 2.5 ton truck. It can be found at goverment liquidations(www.govliquidations.com) or some dealers also have them. The military version is pretty much the same from 195? up to the late 80's. They started using the M35A2's as donors to make the new M35A3's which are some bad ASS vehicles. If you ever come across them in surplus - buy it now!!
More info can be found if you search for the military vehicle mailing list( i forgot the name of it). They can be very helpful with the 2.5 ton and the 5 ton vehicles.
They also made a 10 ton version, but its pretty rare.

hope that helps

p.s. I have a deuce for sale if anyone is interested.

 

I Have A 79 Chevy P/u And Im Putting 2.5 Ton Axles In It I Need To Know How To Get The Set-up From The Transfer Case To The Axles Since The Rear Is Offset I Would Like To Know The Simpelest Way