Dust seals, are not necessarily needed, you can pull the axle out of the tube, but there is one seal in each end of the axle tube outboard towards the tires. And then there are 2 seals inside each inboard side of the axle tube, pumpkin area, hopefully they will be fine. There are also seals where the axle goes through the hub assembly/knuckle but those should be fine too.

Honestly based on your issue, the needle bearings are probably all you need. but the axle joints wont hurt. Good luck, take pics and show all your work!

 

well ill take your advice then, I'll just start with the needle bearings and if it doesnt fix then I pull the hubs again and try the u joints, I will try to take some nice quality pictures to show, I'll pick up the needle bearings tomorrow from napa.

I plan on removing the hub from the knuckle by just hitting it with a sledge hammer, I dont have any fancy 3 jaw pullers to hook up

ill pick up some extra hub studs just in case and some of the axle washers that fit behind the snap ring just incase they disinigrated

 

It's actually easier to separate the hub with an impact hammer where the hub mates with the knuckle. Just make sure you smooth it out after you get them apart so there isn't a gap when you reassemble it. The needle bearings are really easy to swap out, and the knuckle seal is a mother. It's also expensive and easy to mess up, it's a super seal style seal so it has to seal to the axle and the hub. I had to use a short piece of 4" exhaust pipe to get mine seated a couple of weeks ago when I replaced my hub locks and bearings.

 

The knuckle seal is differnt than the seal that goes into the pumpkin correct? It seems there's a ton of seals I didn't even realize and now I have the crap confused out of me

 

I was just driving the truck and when turning the wheel while driving it seems to get "locked" in the turning position its in, this results in me yanking the wheel back straight, it feels like something in the front end is binding, I wish I could afford to just replace everything but I cannot, its scary to drive my own truck

 

I had that symptom once on my 1994 Explorer and it was the axle u-joints so maybe the same thing on yours.

Lots of info on ball joints, needle bearings, etc here:
2004 F250 Ball Joint Replacement

 

yes I've actually read just about every tech article you have lol, very thankful people like you take the time to make writeups especially with pictures, I think the issue is on my passenger side, ball joints are loose, so I'm just going to start there, needle bearing, axle u joint and upper and lower bj, theyre original i think because the ball joints dont have zerks on them

so I'm going to try and leave the pumpkin seal, but I will have to buy a inner dust seal and outer dust seal? for the axle shaft right or is it called a knuckle seal

 

Thanks! I really enjoy writing them.

The big expensive seal is usually referred to as the knuckle seal and the one that on the axle shaft near the axle tube is the dust seal.

 

No thank YOU, haha

Alrighty I think I got it now, so I'll need one knuckle and dust seal

when you did your ball joints and replaced the big seal in the pumpkin, did you have to remove the pumpkin like they talk about in this thread?
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/92...placement.html

I think in your writeup you say you were able to pry it out with a screw driver or something?

 

I didn't replace any of the seals in the pumpkin. Only those out at the knuckle area. The old knuckle seal is the one I removed with a big screwdriver & hammer.

 

Wheel Bearing:
Ford # C6tZ-3123-A $9.30 each
NAPA # B2110 $6.42 each

Small Knuckle Seal or "Dust Seal"
Ford # F81Z-1S175-HCA $15.46 each
NAPA # 21918 $8.99 each
National #710413 $7.84 each

Large Knuckle Seal or "Oil Seal" (pressed on with special tool)
Ford #F81Z-3254-CB $26.54 each
NAPA N/A N/A

Hub Assembly Seal (small yellow seal)
Ford #F81Z-4A322-AA $3.48 each
NAPA N/A N/A

Upper Ball Joint
NAPA #260-1248 $30.44 each

Lower Ball Joint
NAPA #260-1395 $48.69 each

Auto-Lock Hub
Ford #1C3Z-3B396-CA $279.00 each

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...ll-joints.html

 

wow awesome thanks you two

 

Your problem does not sound like the hub axle bearings, sounds more like the U-Joints. If they are shot you should be able to tell by holding one side of the axle and trying to move the other up and down and side to side. If there is play the kardan joint (the style of U-Joint on the front axle) is ready to be replaced. They also suck to replace. Are your hub locks working okay?

 

hublocks seems to be working fine, the autolock doesnt work, but I dont really care eventually I will put warn hubs on, for now I just manually lock when I need 4x4

I was just planning on using the ball joint press to replace the axle shaft u joints when I do the ball joints