.....you don't!
Rip it out and swap a Ford 10.25 in so you can easily slip the drums off to service the brakes!

Open the axle up, gawk at the mess, and then pressure wash the crap out of it. It was a farm truck on a tobacco farm.


Prime and paint. I've learned from my lawn mowers that Aluminum paint is slippery and the grass clippngs don't stick to it, so every winter I clean and paint the underside of my mower decks so the junk just flies out. So I applied this to the backing plate, that way the brake dust and junk doesn't stick inside.


First coat of paint, brakes installed, getting nicer.


After all the spray paint was done, I pulled the shafts and re-packed the bearings. They were Timkens and were in good shape, so I didn't bother buying new ones.


After you hit your head on the pintle hitch crawlng out from under the truck, pull it out! Painted the diff. cover with aluminum paint also, no particular reason, but it sure does shine!


Pulling the 70 out, pull off the far side wheel so the whole thing can slide underneath the leaf springs.


I slid the 10.25 underneath. I ratchet-strapped some foam board to the drums so it would slide, works well! Works even better when the garage floor is wet!


Don't bother lifting the axle up to the truck springs, lower the truck and line up the alignment pin in the spring pack and bolt it up tight. I got my new U-Bolts from the local spring shop. $50 and they bent them on the spot, took about 5 minutes. All I did was bring them the U-Bolt I cut off the axle when I pulled it from the parts truck.


This is what a cab and chassis dually axle looks like with a regular wheel bolted on.


Junk is out and ready for craigslist!



All in all, I ended up with an axle that's got 3.55 gears and easy-service brakes. The 70u I pulled out had 3.55's also, but I wasn't about to pull the shafts and bearings to service the brakes. Besides, I bought the nut socket for the 10.25 and guess what? It can even be used on my Dad's 10.5 in his '03 F350. For $50 I got a tool I can use on both rigs.

 

And then one beautiful day you realize the crush sleeve has crushed itself a bit too much, resulting in a loose pinion yoke, resulting in chewed up splines. I caught mine on time and all I needed to do was re-torque the pinion nut, others have not been as lucky. So yes, brake jobs may be a pain in the D70, but the Sterling has its weak point too.

New axle look great tho! But why did you paint the diff cover silver, and not red? Red would have been better IMHO.

 

Forgot about this thread...
I painted it silver because I'm gonna find a big red marker and put a smiley face on it LOL