I was wondering how your project was going. Looks like a weld on the lower ear. How sloppy did the knuckles feel before you pulled them apart.

 

Yea sorry for not getting around to posting earlier. Between work and the truck I haven't had much spare time. Yea they put a whole new piece on and milled out the inner part to create a shoulder to hold the race. The race wasn't really tight in the hole, so i'm gonna locktite that race in when it goes back together. There was a ton of slop in those bearings.. they were way beyond being on their way out. Oh and as a side note, those u-joints were a pain the neck. The needles kept wanting to slide out since there isn't a seal on the caps... definitely took a little more time and effort making sure everything was right.

 

Alright guys... Any tips for cleaning out that nasty oil/water combination in the axle tube without damaging the seals?

 

I used a broom stick and a bunch of rags! The final wipe down was with Mineral spirits. But the differential was out. My inner axle seals were the original leather and in OK shape believe it or not. I did replace them!

 

Yea, mine is still complete and the seals look good still and didn't let any water into the differential so I'm not gonna pull anything apart. I just need to find something to flush it out with that won't destroy the seal.

 

You might try duct taping an appropriate length of rubber hose (heater hose would work) to a shop vac and feed the hose in to suck the heavy stuff out. After that, I would go with Wally's suggestion of using a broom stick or equivalent with a shop rag well secured to the end and swab out the rest.


Will be a tad tough without pulling the differential, but will just take a little extra time is all. I'm sure you'll get it taken care of.


Jonathon

 

Figured I would post a link to my build thread from last year. Maybe it will help. I ran into some problems myself.https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-rebuild.html

What axle seals are you talking about? Inside the tube or the wiper kit? I dont recall mine having any seals inside the tube. I packed the upper and lower spindle bearings so I didnt have to run lube in the *****. Also didnt want to keep replacing the wiper kit at 80 or 90 bucks each so i didnt replace the rubber seal. Now I just keep it out of the water.

Same as your lower ear, it will probably be fine and long as you dont jump the truck anymore!

 

Mark,


I did the same thing on my closed knuckle stuff (have a 62 ****** and 62 GMC). I don't run the knuckle housings with any lube in them. I do wipe them with a dob of grease to keep them from rusting on the inside. I packed the upper and lower bearings with a heavy wheel bearing grease. I had no problems so far. I used a needle fitting on my grease gun to fill the u-joint needle bearing before the axle shaft was installed. I use a hi-tack so it won't shed. They spin so slow its not really an issue anyway.


As far as the knuckle felts and rubber seals/wipers, I see these cost a lot of money if you get them from some places, but if its a small ball front axle which he has on his, the same seals that are used on a Model 25 or 27 (jeep axle) will work on a small ball Model 44. I ordered the ones for my 62 GMC from a ****** parts supplier and I think the whole kit is like 15 bucks a side. Walcks4WD.com


Here is a photo of both the Model 25 and Dana 44 small ball knuckle. SAME felts and seals. The bearings are also the same on both model axles as well. I believe 11520 and 11590 are the cup/cone part numbers.



When I get to repairing my '60 F250, I'll end up doing the same thing and getting parts from Walcks.

Jonathon

 

hey guys well I finally got around to working on my truck again after being gone for a week out of state. Putting on the passenger side knuckle even with no shims the trunnions are sloppy and nowhere near tight. Has anybody ever run into this issue? and if so how did you fix it? And yea I have no plans on jumping in the near future hahahaha!

 

I never had that problem, no. Most times you need a few shims to get the 5 or so pounds pull for pre-load.


Did you use 11520 and 11590 bearings? That model axle should use those numbers for the upper and lower knuckle bearings.


Do make sure you got the races fully seated in the axle end housing. They can go in tight sometimes and not fully seat all the way down.


Also make sure you set shims/preload without the seal installed. That will add extra drag and throw your preload off.


If you didn't replace the bearings, you probably need to. Also, I'm assuming you've got the extra play AFTER you've torqued the caps down to specifications? You'll need to torque the caps down in order to check proper preload.


Post a pics of what you have going on. That always helps.


Jonathon

 

Yes Im using the 11590 bearings with the 11520 races timken brand. And they are new. The caps are torqued to spec. It is really hard to take pictures but with no shims I can still move the knuckle up and down. The races are fully seated to the best of my knowledge. If they weren't wouldn't that cause there to be pre-load when there shouldn't be? Thanks again for the help.

 

Well I ended up just shimming the pins where they meet the bearing until I had the correct pre-load. Now the only thing holding me up is that I cannot to save my life find a torque spec for the 3/8 NF bolts that hold the spindle and backing plate to the knuckle. Does anybody know that spec... ford apparently didnt think it was important enough to make it easy to find in the manual.

 

Its difficult to say because I am not there and I do not have your project in front of me, but I think what you have going on there warrants some further investigation.


You shouldn't have to shim those king pin caps in the way that you are describing.


One thing that I caution you on is that the king pin cap has a stepdown on the pin side. The smaller diameter part goes into the inner race of the king pin bearings and once assembled, is what effectively holds the knuckle housing onto the end of the axle. The larger diameter portion of the pin is what should "pinch" the bearings once torqued down and give you your preload. If you have "up and down" movement even without shims, this means those pins are not fully engaged into the bearings. You may have shimmed the caps to get the correct preload, but I suspect you don't have a sufficient amount of these pins into the bearings to not cause you trouble later down the road. If those pins are not where they need to be, the knuckle is liable to separate from the end of the axle under load.


I would re-look what you have going on there. Something isn't right. I don't recommend you continue with having shimmed the king pin shoulder against the bearing like you described.


Just my 2 cents.


Jonathon

 

Yea I understand the concern. And it does bug me also. However they appear to be the correct the bearings. The caps when torqued sat flush with the knuckle edges. There wasn't a whole lot of play up and down maybe less than 1/16 of an inch. The passenger side was also the side with the broken lower ear that somebody welded that I posted pictures of earlier. I don't understand what I could have missed to cause an issue. When I pulled everything apart it had no shims on either side.

 

If its a 1/16th or less, you're probably ok. It makes sense now that you mention its the side that had the lower ear repaired. Chances are when it got welded back on, its not exactly in the right spot and that is what is causing your issue. It probably needs to be a little "taller". Normally you only need about 5 shims +/- to get them set up. The shims are pretty thin, so they're close right off the get-go.


Being that you're dealing with a repaired axle, I might recommend having the face of each cap turned down just a hair so you get your correct fit. I would think a machine shop could do that for you and it wouldn't take too much meat off the cap. That way at least you know the pins are fully into the bearings like they ought to be. You could also just weld a washer or spacer on the end of the narrow part of the pin that is of equal thickness of the shim that you used and just grind/file it down so it fits into the bearing as designed. I think its better to add-to rather than take-away-from in cases like this, although I'm no expert and I have no idea how putting that kind of heat into the king pin cap would affects its strength or structural integrity.


Just a suggestion, but with only a 1/16th, it could be fine as is. I would just really hate to see that come apart on you down the road.


What did you use as a shim under the pin shoulder to get your preload? I assume a washer of some kind?


Jonathon