Well, I had posted a picture in the "What I did to my truck today" and it was a picture of my Bronco on the back of a flat bed. I believe I had lost a wheel bearing and today I tore it apart and it turn out the inner wheel bearing was shredded. Which now I wish it was the outer on. It appears part of the bearing is still on the spindle. While I knew this was going to be a nightmare which it has been. I left it alone and proceeded with the other side you know, do one side, better do the other. No issues was apart and back together in 2 hours. With new races, bearings and seal.

Going back to the piece of bearing which seems to be fused to the spindle. I tried BFH hammer, a magical tool which seems to help in all cases but not this one, an air hammer, its a handheld jackhammer basically. Then I took the cut of wheel. Tried to do cuts in to and went back to both hammers hoping to split it. I spent a lot of time with some big blows and not even a budge. I kept working the cut off wheel but I thing I cut to deep and might have hit the spindle. Does anyone have a other tricks or should I just go buy a new spindle and be done with it?

 

If it is so bad it welded to the spindle my suggestion would be to replace spindle. Chances are it wouldnt last too long if you could get it all off and polish spindle up.

 

Replace all affected parts (spindle included). If it got hot enough to weld the bearing to the spindle, the metal temper is shot. If you managed to get the spindle straightened out and new bearings installed, I doubt the spindle would last too long and then you'd be doing it all over again. Cruise the local bone yards for replacements or purchase new at a parts house.

 

Yeah we managed to get the part of the inner race of the bearing off. Had to torch it. Lets just say this spindle has seen better days.

I was looking at this on Bronco Graveyard, can someone verify this will work on my 95', I'm kind of confused with the dates it's showing. Also going to get some new studs and nuts for it and will need that axle shaft seal also. Can anyone post some part numbers for this seal at all?


D44 Bronco Spindle, With ABS Brake

 

looks to be the only spindle they offer so i would assume its correct. have your checked the B.O.M numbers like it mentions?

 

I called them early this morning. I think I talked to Pat. He was very helpful. He said the spindle I posted will work because the seal on the back of my hub is a one piece seal. Apparently some are 2 piece and in this case this spindle would not have worked. He said he could not find any studs or nuts for a 95. I'm going to take a wire wheel to mine to clean the rust off and find some grade 5 or 8 nuts from the hardware store and locktight them.

 

I've lost all patience with this F'ing thing! I got the new spindle on and I start to assemble it. And when I get the lock nut and locking ring then the 2 piece part that is supposed to slide in goes in and the small locking ring on the inside doesn't fit all the way on the spindle...It's like the friggen spindle is a millimeter to big!!! If I get manual locking hubs will I be able to throw everything back together without any issues? I'm going to try sanding the inside of the ring down until I can get it to slide on like the old one for now...


I took a picture of it completely torn apart and its the piece at the end of the spindle that doesn't want to go on all the way...


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So I got it all back together. I sanded whatever the part it is that interlocks with the other to fit over the spindle. Worked good. Only PITA was the fact that everything was in good including all bearings and races. I got to the point where the 3 washers are, steel, plastic and splined steel. With all them in I was unable to seat the C - Clip in its designated groove. Have no friggen idea everything was put back together perfectly. I took the washers out and the C - Clip fit. Can anyone tell me what these are for?? I don't plan on using 4x4 until I get manual lockers....

I will say, I put a lift kit in, changed broken leaf spring hangers, changed out differential, pinion bearing, even changed outer wheel bearings before.... This probably was a at least 20hours. Passenger side no issues. Driver side, pain in the *****. Sorry for the cursing but I'm beyond stressed.

 

Just shootin' from the hip here but, does the axle have any in or out slack? My old chebby had a little bit of movement in and out. I was able to put a pry bar through the universal joint between the ball joints and push the axle shaft out far enough to get the clip on that one.

Another option you might have would be to get a thinner steel washer than what you have now. That might give you enough slack to get the clip on.

Don't know if either will work for you. Just happened to be the first thing I though of.

 

This was a double post.....

 

I did think of that. Because the axle can pull right out. I tried tugging on it pretty good from the U - Joints. Its possible I didn't tug hard enough. I was able to get the C - clip in perfectly without the washers. And I drove it home (10miles) went easy on it and drove around town a bit did another 2 or 3 miles on top of it. With windows down, no unusual sounds, everything felt good.

Some may get a kick out of this too... My ABS sensors are gone, I don't have any plan to replace them since I've been driving without it since I got the truck about 4 years ago. But when I had unbolted the sensor I think it might have came out some? maybe but not sure, and when I put the hub and lock nut in, tightened it down a little bit I noticed if I pushed the rotor in and turned the sensor rubbed on the gear on the back of the hub... I took the hub off and beat the sensors face in with a hammer