Breaking parts is just part of the deal when you’re playing with massive, custom-built mud trucks. The team at JH Diesel and 4×4 got a painful, firsthand reminder of this recently. After spending the day fixing their friend’s 5-ton mud truck, they immediately broke their own truck.

Repairing the 5-Ton Mud Truck

The project began with their friend Mikey’s truck, which had a serious front-end issue. “She had a pretty nasty pinion bearing in it, and she was getting chewed up,” explained Justin Hildebrand after pulling the differential. The team sourced a used-but-good replacement part and spent the day tearing down the massive 5-ton axle, cleaning up the water-logged wheel bearings, and wrestling the heavy new differential into place. With the new front driveshaft installed, the truck was finally ready for its first four-wheel-drive test.

Round One: A Stalemate in the Dirt

After a quick shakedown run on some dirt piles, the team decided the ultimate test of the new front end would be a tug-of-war against their own 6.0-liter Power Stroke mud truck. They hooked the two behemoths together on a patch of dirt behind the shop. When both drivers hit the throttle, the result was pure chaos. The trucks were so evenly matched that neither could gain an advantage; instead, they both dug massive, deep ruts into the ground until they were stuck. The first pull ended in a draw, with nothing proven but the incredible traction of both machines.

Round Two: Carnage on the Asphalt

For the tie-breaker, they moved the battle to the shop’s asphalt parking lot. With a much better grip, something had to give. As the trucks strained against each other, the increased traction put an immense load on the drivetrains. This time, there was a clear loser, but it wasn’t the truck they had just fixed. The shop’s own 6.0-liter truck broke its front end during the pull, with the four-wheel drive engaging and disengaging intermittently before failing completely.

The Mud Life

The final result of the day was a perfectly ironic summary of the mud truck hobby. “So, what you’re saying is we fixed one,” Justin said to his partner, “But we broke another.” The video ends with a fixed truck for their friend and a new project for themselves. “Got Mikey’s truck fixed,” Justin summarized. “We’ve got to fix ours because we broke our front end completely now.” It was a classic case of one step forward and one broken axle back, a cycle any mud truck owner knows all too well.