Greetings to all!

Is it bad that I am almost overjoyed to have a problem to post up? Gives me an excuse to be around and post up as I haven't been driving Mugly much in the past year or so.

My latest issue is a vibration/thunking coming from the front axle during driving situations. The first few minutes of driving are fine and then it seems to come in. Happens on or off the throttle and correlates to speed of vehicle. This has been happening with hub locked but usually while driving out of 4 wheel drive. Also had an ABS sensor light come on recently which I thought might be a hint to which side to start with.

I mentioned the issue I was experiencing today while I was in the shop and my instructor let me bring the truck in as I am a bit ahead of the other students in shop work. Oh the warmth of a shop with lifts and air tools.

Lifted both sides off the ground and did not find any play in the wheel as I did when I replaced the right side wheel bearing in 2008. Using a scan tool I found the right side abs sensor was not responding. I started tearing down the front right side and was held up by a wheel that didn't want to come off and then a disk brake that will not budge. I guess 2 years of low mileage and not having the wheels off really rusted them on there. I wasn't able to get much further as the day was over and I needed to get out of there.

What do you guys think? First off, any hints or tips to a stuck disk brake? I PB blasted it multiple times, heated it up with a torch (not to cherry red), and beat the **** out of it with a variety of hammers using a wood block for protection. Hasn't budged at all.

I pulled both hubs off and opened them up, definitely needed a cleaning but nothing mechanically wrong with them.

Looked at the u-joints on both sides and nothing out of the ordinary can be seen except from weeping from the axle tube.

Beyond getting to the internals of a transmission, the front axle maybe the only thing I have not torn into on my truck so I am trying to do a bit of research this evening before I go back into the shop in the am.

Thanks guys.

 

Hey Alex.

Keep doing the hammer thing. It will come off.

 

Got the disk off this morning and now trying to get the right front axle out, lots of play in the axle tube. Does anyone have a good how to on rebuilding this? Searched the resources at our school and the computer is far to slow to look around on the forums.

 

Got the passenger side apart and everything looks fine but I monkeyed up some seals doing that. At first it didn't appear that the axle u-joints would come through the knuckle but with enough pushing and pulling it did.

Looked at guzzle's site and didn't find quite what I was looking for but it helped.

 

I just started haveing the same problem. I just started hearing/ feeling this thunking comming from the front drivers side. Seems to only do it when driving strate and stops when I press on the brakes. I was thinking it has something to do with the brake caliper.

 

Got the front axle completely torn down today and found didn't find anything. In my frustration I went over everything looking for any issues. Turns out the inside of the right front wheel bearing is toast, so much so that I didn't even notice the inner bearing and needles are all worn down and missing. There is some play and wear on the end of the axle shaft so I will be replacing that as well.

Going to replace both front wheel bearings, end of an axle shaft and all the seals from the end of the axle tube to the hubs.

Got expensive quickly but I am not too bothered. I have been hard on this turn without really putting money back into it. It will be nice when I get out of school and actually take care of things.

 

Alex, this may be a little laye, but you may find Racerguy Dave's ball joint thread useful. Lots of pics and explanation.

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

 

Great link, thanks!

Just got my quote on parts from the local Ford dealership and MAN am I getting dragged over the coals. Is there another go to parts guy since Ed retired? I'm coughing it up now because I am in a rush but in the future I'd love to save some $$$.

 

I think you can still goes through the site Ed was on.
WWW.HORIZONPARTSGUY.COM

Tousley is also a sponsor that I've used.
Tousley Ford Parts Depot

 

Excellent, I didn't even go back to check with Horizon. Their wheel bearing assembly is 200.00 cheaper per unit then the dealership here in Alaska. Heavily reconsidering ordering locally and maybe just assemble the truck without the axle shafts in the front so I can get it out of shop and let it sit outside until I could get parts from the L48.