I took my hubs off to replace my parking brake. I had to pound, pull, and pry pretty hard to get them off in the first place. I got new timken seals... they were about 1/8 short of clearing. Then I got the motor craft ones and I could get them to slide on partially, but not seat all the way back on the spindle... I can get my drivers side on farther than the passenger... I've been working on this all day and I don't know what to do... please help!

 

Did you change the bearings? Maybe the race from the old bearing is still in the hub. When I did mine last year, I almost overlooked them.

 

Nope, same bearings... I only replaced the seals and axle o-rings...

 

Did you match up the seals and make sure they were the same as the old ones? The new seals may not have the same ID as the old one not allowing it to push onto the spindle seal surface.

 

I ran into something similar. When I removed the rear hub seal, part if it remained behind. See if this is what you are running into: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post12633697

Make sure the integral wear sleeve is removed.

 

I think this may be my problem. I looked through the thread up to the point where you describe the problem. What does the integral wear sleeve look like and how did you remove it?

 

Look again at pics of the spindle in Jeffrey's link, starting at post #8. You will see the flange of the tin sleeve. The next pic shows it with the sleeve removed. You can pry it off with the hook of a crowbar placed behind the flange. You can also split it with a sharp chisel, but must be careful not to damage the spindle surface.

 

Okay, I'll try that when I get home from church.

 

caedo, if you do scar the spindle housing, there is a real fine sand paper that comes in 1000 grit that works real well to remove the burr. I have had to touch up axles and it takes less than 1/2 an hour to polish both sides. It is important to use a lubricant like diesel fuel, atf etc. so that you are wet sanding, rather than dry sanding. You can then wash off the lubricant with WD-40 and the seals will work well. Very fine steel wool may work, but I have not tried that. Larry

 

Hey guys, there was a wear sleeve on both sides, one side i had to use a chisel to get off and i did gouge the spindle a bit. I sanded and polished and its not leaking yet. So I think i got lucky there. On the other side i got smart and ran a torch flame around it a couple times and it tapped right off. Now its all back together and working great!

 

Caedo, excellent idea using the torch. Very little heat is needed for such a light piece. Removing brake drums sometimes requires a little heat for some reason. The axle boss is a tight fit to the wheel and to the brake drum if there is much rust in there.

 

Caedo, excellent idea using the torch. Very little heat is needed for such a light piece. Removing brake drums sometimes requires a little heat for some reason. The axle boss is a tight fit to the wheel and to the brake drum if there is much rust in there. Larry

 

FWIW Stemco makes a two piece seal. One piece is a sleeve that taps on over the axle surface that the seal, which is inserted into the hub, rides on. I used these when I owned my own heavy truck and they work great. Have also seen them used in applications where the axle surface had been torn up by grit. A little RTV under the the sleeve and voila, axle surface fixed. They tried to sell me a seal driver but I found a piece of 2x4 worked well and didn't damage anything.
Grit Guard® Hub Seal | STEMCO