Earlier today when I was looking at the school bus that had lost the rear axle, it got me to thinking about how it could have happened. I went trolling YouTube and managed to find this video of the axle being ripped out from under a huge military truck under hard braking. Being that it has the same look (at the end) as the bus, perhaps the axle came out of the loser cruiser in this manner. The driver hammered the brakes approaching a light and then BOOM…no hind legs. Hey, it is a theory anyway.
Military vehicles undergo significant testing in all sorts of conditions before they are deemed fit for service in the heat of battle. Trucks are tested over different terrain, they are shot, blown up, and revised when weak points of faults are exposed. In the case of this particular truck, it seems that a hardware upgrade may be needed because the bolts holding onto the rear axle are not sufficient to keep it mounted under this huge beast!
The video was shot on what looks to be an airport runway. The voice in the background is definitely that of an American guy, and there is what appears to be a Ford ambulance off to the left of the frame. The voice lets us know that the first brake test is going to be made at 60mph. That first test results in no damage, but the seeds of failure are planted. Keep a close eye on the driveshaft and rear axle assembly of the truck as it nears a stop. The rear tires starting loading and unloading, rotating the axle slightly and causing the huge driveshaft to wobble like a wet noddle. It is amazing that the u-joints stayed in it the first time.
That first run must have weakened the mounting points enough that the second lap finishes the job…with a rather impressive thud if we don’t say so ourselves!
Press play to see this truck literally come apart at the seams!
There’s nothing quite like real-world testing, huh… Wheelhop resonance can rip up anything eventually, like the proverbial army stomping on a bridge at the right rhythm. They’ll have to either add two more tons of metal under there to strengthen it or better-yet just redesign the hop out. Neat video.