I have a 1981 F150 with a 351M and C6

I remember reading back when i was researching how to remove the front axles from the dana 44 pumpkin that the earlier 81-83 trucks didnt have a c-clip holding the passenger side axle in the pumpkin. Can someone confirm this? Im in the middle of a front end job (replacing wheel joints, ball joints, tie rods, bearings, brakes, shocks, springs, and last but not least and the biggest pain in my butt the pivot bushings, those where hell getting in and out). I put a 20lb slide hammer on the passenger axle and went to town and it would not come out. I also tried the chain trick, where you use the slack in the chain and try to whip it out. There was a plate with 3 bolts that i removed and thought that was what held the passenger side axle in place on the earlier models, am i i just not yanking hard enough on the axle or is there a damn c-clip?


Thank You,
Josh

 

I didn't know it at the time(I had a early 1980 model) and I jerked and pulled and could not get it, so I simply drained the oil and dropped the whole pumpkin. That's when I found out if I had really pulled on it, it would have come out, but dropping the pumpkin wasn't too bad, except it was heavy.

Maybe someone can confirm this, but something has to hold the axle in place, and mine had a little plate with 3 or 4 screws on the outside of the pumpkin where the pass side axle comes out. Possibly the models with the c-clip do not have this retainer plate? If so, that would be a good way to tell what you have and what you need to do.

 

Reading in my 82 Ford shop manual it states to simply remove the spindle (gives some instructions on how to do that) and then remove the axle. No mention of C Clips or anything. Exploded view also don't show C Clips.

It looks like the spindle is what holds the entire assembly into place once it's bolted to the steering knuckle.

 

Illistration from Manual and Parts Catalog

 

This has been discussed out here several times. I don't remember the details, but my sense is that *some* have C-clips yet others have a 3-bolt retainer (I think it's 3).

I have the latter type; to remove my axle, I wrapped a chain around it somehow, attached the other end to the steering knuckle, then turned the steering wheel to pull the axle out.

Figured out later I should have also replaced the seals while I had it all apart that far, they leak.

 

Someone said the later axles have the clips.

In the above diagram, I believe the bearing is 3C123 and it's pressed onto the shaft. The seal(3254) and whatever 3C132 is, are trapped behind the bearing, and the retainer plate (3K25) and the bolt (4346) keep the shaft stub from sliding out of the pumpkin.