Torque rod bolt broken in bell housing.

[QBuff02]

What is the real purpose for this rod, does it work? I had help with my swap and the person swore til he was blue in the face that it was the worst idea to come out of GM in the last 100 years.

It ties the transfer case to the transmission and the transmission to the engine mounts. This is also assuming that you have all the pieces. High torque and stresses break transmission bellhousings (among other components) and these pieces when all there keep that from happening. I've seen it happen and i'll swear until i'm blue in the face that they are an absolute must if you're making any kind of power or doing any sort of high stress work/pulling. But I will add that all the mounts need to be in good shape is well. And if you replace one set of mounts, you want to change them all. Don't put new motor mounts on and leave old/worn out transmission mounts and vice versa.

 

[Blue Ox]

Also, the transmission case for the 4WD trucks was heavier than a 2WD. It had large threaded bosses to bolt on a cast torque converter cover that the brace rods to the motor mounts attached to. The 2WD transmissions had a thinner case that a tin cover was screwed to.

 

[Edward Maxwell]

I have the rod from the tcase to the bell housing, were there more? Thanks so much for the information!

 

[Blue Ox]

There should be two shorter ones that go from the torque converter cover on the transmission to a special set of brackets on the motor mounts.

 

[Craig 85]

I have the rod from the tcase to the bell housing, were there more? Thanks so much for the information!

Here's a set on eBay. $35 They mount between the block and the motor mounts.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brace-Brac...FchnY~:sc:USPSPriorityFlatRateBox!95959!US!-1

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[QBuff02]

I looked through the pics on my phone and happened to have one of the drivers side truss rod installed. This one needed a little massaging to get around the larger oil pan on my 454, you can kind of see from the pic the heavy cast cover on the torque converter that they bolt to. Passenger side is similar.

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