Hello. I am in the process of an outer axle seal / and ball joint replacement. I am almost ready to assemble everything back together. I have a few questions:

#1. How easy is it to align the splines on the axle shaft to the differential? Any tips on this?

#2. Particularly the passenger side, how hard is it to get the axle splines in the differential on this side? I know its dirty inside my axle, any way to prevent any grime from getting on the splines when im trying to aline and connect it to the differential?

#3. Are the splines already partially in the differential before pressing in the seal?

#4. I saw a Youtube video where a guy was going to torque down his hub to set the seal rather than using the special tool to set the seal then put the hub on. He didn't show or talk about the end result. Has anyone tried this? Is it not recommended?

Thanks

 

The splines are pretty easy to line up. If the axle doesn't seem to want to push all the way in, rotate it a bit and try again. There is a plastic looking cone on the inside of both sides axle tube which lines the shaft up with where it slides into to diff. As far as the the dirt in the tube, I have a piece of all-thread with half a washer bolted to the end. I put the cut off down side facing down as I slide it in, rotate it 180* then use the washer to help pull the dirt out.

I used the hub to drive my knuckle seal into the knuckle last time and have had no noticeable issues from it as yet. The seal was driven onto the stub axle first.

 

This is what I did as well. I had a lot of debris inside mine (sand, small rocks and old oily gunk). I scraped it all out best I could before inserting my newly cleaned axle shaft into the tube and diff.

 

I used a piece of wood with a hole in it to drive mine on. I also built a "U" shape out of 2x4's and 4 screws longer that the stub end to drive against the wood with the hole. Dead-blow mallet while maintaining downward pressure and it goes on straight and easy every time.

 

i used this home made tool to press on the knuckle seal to the axle shaft. worked great.

 

Does this look like its drove down far enough? I tried to look on 2 different youtube videos and noticed that both of them had a gap on the end of their shaft between the seal.

 

yes it does. mine bottomed out right at that spot also

 

What you have done so far looks great as mentioned above.Here is a little extra reading for ya.
Ford Super Duty Ball Joint Replacement Procedure | Superdutypsd.com

 

I have been following the guide here:
2004 F250 Super Duty 4x4

and

Welcome to guzzle's 4x4 Needle Bearing Maintenance Web Page

She is coming back together well! I am holding off on putting my new brakes on until Friday when my nozzle for the grease gun comes in. Going to do the grease through the brake sensor truck to get that done before bolting up the rest. Im about to torque down the 4 hub studs now.

 

May I tempt you with bling?