Hey all,
new to the site and Fords as well. Here's my problem:
I just bought a 1988 ford F150 4x4 with a 351W. it has manual locking hubs. the truck runs strong. the guy I bought it from redid the brakes. as I was driving awhile the truck started to pull hard to the right without braking. then when I applied pressure to the brakes it started to jump a little but no grinding or any sound from the brakes. then it went away and drove fine. then it did it again but a little worse. and when I parked my truck it was smoking on the passenger side front end and the hub where the manual *** is for the 4 wheel drive was too hot to touch. I think it may be wheel bearings and not brakes. can someone help me out...

 

Just did my front end a couple of weeks ago. It's fairly straight forward overall.

You can find several how-to's on the web. You basically just remove the hub cap (usually 6 Allen screws), remove the retaining ring ( I made a hook shaped tool to use), pull the guts out of the hub, you will have one more snap ring to pull near the back. Once that last snap ring is out, you will need a special spindle nut removal tool to take out the spindle nut. (That is where mine got tricky. Everything I had read told me I needed the Dana 44 4 prong tool, but turned out I needed a 2 1/2" thin walled socket type tool) you can usually buy or rent these tools from AutoZone.

Once everything is off the truck, you pop the rear seal off, take both bearings out. Replace the bearings and seal (make sure they are well packed). I also oat the entire inside of the hub with grease. Clean everything and regrease as you re-assemble.

My Haynes manual says you tighten the spindle nut to 70lbs. While turning the hub to set the bearings, then loosen 90 degrees and torque to 15-20 lbs while spinning the hub.

*I would still plan on replacing the rotors and pads while you have them off though. You got it really hot and though they may have been fine before, the excessive heat may have warped them. Just a suggestion.*

 

You need to share the information of your truck in order to get better responses, but check the "Front End Rebuild" link in my signature, it should show you the procedure to work on the brakes and bearings. What you say here points probably at a braking problem, it looks like the caliper is getting stuck.