In the middle of what's turning out to be the brake job from hell here...


I'm replacing FRONT wheel bearings, races and rotors on a 1993 E-350 Econoline motorhome (dually rears).


In the process of trying to torque the hub nut, I managed to strip it, now it spins with the wrench, but won't tighten, and won't back off. Of course, being an RV, it's recessed inside of the front hub, which is more or less a deep spacer due to the dually rears.


I really don't want to pry on the new rotor, but I can't think of a better idea.


Pic attached, please help!


Fingers crossed that it's the nut that stripped and not the spindle, but I need to get this back off to figure that out...


Mike

 

drill the sides of the nut with an 1/8 drill and split the nut with a small chisel. With any luck, it will be just the nut, but Mr Murphy probably has something to say about it.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I was thinking along those lines as well (drill/Dremel and break it). I was able to get a pry bar (not a screwdriver) behind the rotor, and gently applied pressure while my wife turned the socket. Didn't take much effort, and it popped right off. That's the good news...

As you guessed it, Mr. Murphy is really not being kind to me lately. The nut is definitely toast, but so are the outer three threads on the spindle. Not totally gone, but definitely damaged. Pics attached.

I'm going to try reseating the races, as I wasn't convinced that they were all the way in, and was hoping to finish seating them with the spindle nut. Hopefully, there's enough meat left to get this done without having to replace the spindle, which does not look like much fun...

And of course, this is still the first side...

Mike

 

As you can see....bad idea

 

Didn't say it was my proudest moment...


Mike

 

You might be able to clean the threads with a tap

 

That's Plan A at this point. Trying to locate a 3/4-16 tap as we speak. I really want this finished tomorrow.

Mike

 

Yikes. Got the only nut I could find (Dorman part), and it's thicker/deeper than the original. Wish me luck...

Mike

 

Taps cut internal threads in a hole. You can use them to chase threads in a nut. If you want to clean up external threads like the threads on the spindle you need a die. i know you'll get the right thing, but it might go easier if you're asking for the right thing from the start.

 

If you can't fix the spindles with the die, you'll have to get new knuckles from any f250 or f350 of that erea and swap it out. You will NOT get the spindle to press out for replacement, they have a very large interference press fit.

Also if you tightened that nut that tight to press your bearings in you have now damaged all your bearings, they will have flat spots in the rollers and groves in the races. NEVER tighten bearing to press them in, you can use a punch if you don't have a press to push the races in being careful not to miss and gouge a race. When they are all the way in you will hear a different tone when you hit the punch on the race edge and it will bounce, check in a cross pattern to make sure it's seated flat. Works everytime for me.

Check your bearing for damage before you reassemble.

 

Will do, thanks. It didn't take much torque to strip the nut, so I'm hoping to be OK with the bearings.

Yes, I always mix up the words tap and die. Of course, this size is proving difficult to locate on a weekend.

This is so embarrassing. I've been doing brake jobs for 20 years, on FWD, RWD, 4WD and never did anything this dumb before...

Mike

 

Well, you're not alone. I had the same results on my Ranger when I reused wheel bearings from a damaged truck. Always thought they ran a little noisy, finally blew up the outer and overheated the end of my expensive brand new spindle. That's how I came up with the solution to removing the nut mentioned earlier.

You may have enough thread left to grab and if you can get adjustment, the cotter pin will hold the nut in place. New nut and chase the threads on the spindle of course, but it does not look good. No thinking allowed of repairing it by building up the thread area with weld and rethreading. That would be unsafe! You may be looking at spindle/knuckle replacement.

 

OK, what's the difference between a standard die and a rethreading die?

No dies locally, will need to order one.

As to the other thoughts above, I'm painfully aware that this might need a new spindle. And by spindle, I mean the whole knuckle and all. I wouldn't try welding on, or pressing out. I'm still hoping to be able to avoid that.

Mike

 

Standard dies are for cutting new threads where there weren't any to begin with. You can use them to clean up old threads, but you need to be VERY careful not to cross-thread it or it ewill happily cut new threads across the original ones.

Rethreading dies are for, well, rethreading. They won't cut new threads on a blank rod, but they are easier to start on existing threads that need to be cleaned up.

In your case a rethreading die would be best, but either can work.

 

Thanks, that actually makes sense to me. I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos and read a bunch of forum discussions, have a pretty good idea of what I'm up against.

Well, no luck locally, not even today. NAPA can order something but they won't get it before Thursday (first NAPA place didn't offer to look and see if it was even available).

So, I've ordered a Murray split rethreading die, and a Jawco kit of rethreading dies and thread files. The split dies look like the best way to go with damage on the end. Not going to rush this at this point.

I'll probably start looking at spindle/knuckle availability while I wait for the tools...

Mike