Ok, I may try n snag a new "used" one from the local pull a part tomorrow or monday, whenever their open... I agree, something has to be going on with that shaft, its just being too dag-gum sneaky and doesn't want to show us whats wrong!

 

Was everything right before you took that side apart? Aside from the U-joint. What all did you mess with. Did you just dissassemble the hub, pull the caliper, remove the hub/rotor assembly, unbolt the spindle, and pull the shaft out? Were there any troubles with the dissassembly? Is the shaft free to rotate until you put on the spindle? After you fix those studs and reassemble tomorrow, if it still is bound up, try and see if you can tell what all is touching. Make sure your dust shield and seals for the axle shaft are seated square and that the spindle is not cocked to the side slightly. kinda looked like there were uneven threads exposed with the spindle installed, but that could have been the picture

 

Hard to see in the picture, what is this?




Bottom side of radius arm?

 

Nope, which is what brought me to all of this, originally it started with that sides hub not locking in, once I had finally got a chance to take it apart that is when I noticed the shaft was cocked to the side, hitting the inside wall of the spindle. So basically since I have owned this truck (about 3 months) it has been this way. I first noticed it not locking in when I got stuck in some crud I shouldn't have!!!

But it has always been hitting those studs, the thing that makes it weird though is that it only hits the studs when the spindle is not installed, as soon as I install the spindle, the dust shield no longer hits the studs and it sits exactly where it should, and when turned it turns perfectly when looking at the back side, staring at the dust shield, just when you look at the opening of the spindle, where the axle shaft pokes through, it is rubbing the inside wall of the spindle, and is extremely tight.

 

Yep, the lower portion

 

He stated it was like that when he took it apart.

You know you got me wondering, you just buy this truck? See any signs of a bad accident and was repaired?

If not did you hit something maybe? Take it off road hit a large deep hole with that wheel perhaps?

Everything said and done now makes me think you might have a bent TTB arm, hit something tweeking it back causing a mis aliment in the axle shaft to spindle. Just bad enough to cause what you see and in the end result to create havoc with the lockout.

 

Ok yea now it makes sense, you got something bent up there, the swing arm the pig bolts up to I bet.


I seriously doubt a different axle shaft will make any difference.

 

I was just about to ask the same. Are there any signs of a prior accident or hard impact to that side. There are alot of shady people that will hide that kind of stuff when selling and that is probably the reason for selling

 

ill look closer in the morning, but from what I can tell, no. The spindle knuckle thing is tight as can be, yet all the rubber caps look old as dirt! nothing looks to have been replaced, no new paint etc, clear coat peeling pretty uniformly across the whole truck! I personally have not hit any holes, but I really would suspect that damage would have been done to the ball joint, if it was a strong enough blow to bend the knuckle, but all the bolts/nuts/ yada yada look just as old as everything else, front and back.

 

Out of curisoty, how hard is it to bolt the spindle up over the shaft? Do you have to push really really hard to mate up the spindle and knuckle, or does it slip over it and bolt on pretty easily with mild effort?

The reason i ask is because the seal for the inner spindle bearing can sometimes cause stuff like this, i know its unlikely but if its left of the axle shaft and not placed back into the spindle it can keep it from seating correctly.

I had an issue really similar to this, it took me a couple hours of head scratching to figure out. It caused the stub to be hard to aligned in the locking hub, and keep me from putting the snap ring on. I pulled one side apart and put it back together, but didnt realize what i had done to fix it until the same thing happened on the other.

I know that it is extremely unlikely that this is what is causing your issue, but its always good to go back and check the simple things before tearing into the big stuff. Just make sure that the axle slingers, brass spindle washer and seals are all there and are straight and flat.

If it is a bent housing, it must have been one heck of a hit. Hit the local yard and see what you can find, but i really wouldnt spend much on TTB.

 

Well its a new seal, and by no easy just a simple slip on, but it is no different then the other side... I have one theory I am going to test in the morning, one spindle has some pretty bad grooving on the back side where the needle bearing is, and it so happens to be the bad side, so I am going to put the good side one on that side, and see if it makes a difference, thanks for the input, and I really hope it is something simple, or at least cheap!!!

 

Welp got it situated, seems to be the spindle it self, along with the hub. When I changed the spindle with the good side one, it worked so long as I put the good hub on as well, but the axle shaft was easier to move. So I put the bad on on the other side, the one that always had plenty of give, and sure enough it did the exact same thing. So picked up a "new" spindle from the local junk yard, and snagged a "new" hub there as well and slapped them both in, and walla, everything is working great now!

Thanks everyone for all the help!!!

 

Hey great you figured it out.

Yea based on your previous posts no it didn't sound like the arm was bent. There would have be obvious repairs made in other areas around it body and otherwise, had it hit anything hard enough to bend that swing arm.

Well should have asked for shots of the spindle I guess, what does the bearing in the that bad one look like?

Didn't think to ask, figured if it was bad or even questionable you would have mentioned it?

Have to beat it up bad to remove it?

 

Well I had noticed it initially but honestly didn't think much of it, not sure why really haha. It had some scaring around the opening for the bearing to slide in, where it made it more of an oval instead of a circle. The bearing had no issues going in or out, guess that is why I really didn't pay it much mind, and it slid right off the shaft, but after looking at it super close this time I did notice that there is a tiny gap between the wall and the bearing it self, so obviously not a good thing! Luckily I was able to snag one at the yard and grabbed a new set of needle bearings for it and all is good now!