My brother is in the middle of "rebuilding" his 96 F150 D44(ball joints,u-joints, axle pivot bushings, radius arm bushings, etc)

Anyway. He pulled his manual locking hubs he says there is something on the end of the axle shaft that will NOT allow him to undo the wheel bearing nuts and he does not know how to remove said something. He is calling me from an hour away and flipping out. Does anyone have any idea what he is taking about? I dont play w 1/2 tons.

Next question. He want to pull the drivers and passenger axle shafts to do u-joints. Can the axles just be pulled form the center section or does the center need to be dropped and "C" clips removed?

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...placement.html Have a read here.
There is a C clip on the pass side axle shaft but not on the drivers side.

 

While I appreciate the link LAZYK(it helps with pulling the axle kinda). It does not address the problem of getting the wheel bearing nut off.

I looked into my haynes manual and it says there is some special tool JUST FOR the manual hub D44

I quote

" On model 44 axles with manual hub locks,remove the adjusting nut with special locknut tool by applying inward pressure on the wrench to disengauge the self locking mechanism."

My brother says there is just just your typical 4 slotted nut, but he cant take it off because there is something still on the spindle and it will NOT allow the nut to come off

 

The tool you describe is just the socket with four small cylinderical prongs sticking out that you fit into the series of holes in the face of the lock nut and when pressed in, the locking mechanism is released.
The only think I can think of is that there may be a locking tab bent into the nut he is working on that needs to be bent out of the way.
Once the locking hub assembly is out, the spindle should be clear right up to the nut, I would think.
Other than that I am baffled.

 

I'm not sure if the later trucks use the same system or not but I'll mention it anyway. On my truck(with manual hubs) there are two bearing lock nuts and between these there should be a lock ring that has to be removed with pliers before the inner lock ring can be loosened. You literally reach in there with some needle nose pliers and pull the lock ring out, it has tabs that fit into channels in the hub body and holes that lock into pins on the inner lock nut, so it has to come out before the inner lock nut. I guess if some PO didn't have a service manual they could have assembled these lock nuts in the wrong order with the locking tab outside both lock nuts.. anything is possible.

 

He can see the nut and even put the socket into the 4 slots but there is something on the spindle he says will not allow the nut to come off. I wish i could see what he was talking about but i am not going to drive n hour each way

 

I have auto hubs, but there's a c-clip on the spindle infront of the nut on mine. could that be his problem?

 

He says there is no "C" clip on the axle. I am going to his house today to work on it for him

 

Great. Let us know what his problem was, curious.

 

Ok. My brother is a RETARD
He missed the "c"clip. Which was holding the flat washer and splined washer. I Had the hub off in 30 seconds

 

Well, there you go. Thank you for the update.