I have a '95 F-350, Diesel, 4X4. The front wheel was clunking and I noticed it was at an angle. I viewed a few videos on youtube and decided to attempt a repair myself. I was going to convert from automatic locking hub to manual locking hubs.


I took the wheel off, then the brake caliper. At this point the entire hub assembly slid off. I looked at the spindle and the rear bearings and they seem fine with no damage. I haven't taken the hub apart yet, so I don't know about the front bearings or any other parts, though there has to be a reason the hub slid off without disassembly. I may get lucky and it was a snap ring that failed or wasn't assembled properly allowing the lock nut to back off. This isn't my main concern.


The shaft isn't centered and for a lack of a better term, the yoke from the axle shaft into the differential has play, up and down, side to side. The yoke to the front drive shaft seems to have play, also. I can't tell about the other wheel as it is on the ground and I haven't tried to take it apart. It is straight and I am assuming it is OK. When I replace the locking hubs on that side I can examine it more closely.


I should mention that my transfer case hasn't been working for years. I wonder if the front axle is the problem rather than the transfer case. The front bearings were repacked by a Ford Dealership. It has been several years, but because I am a truck driver, I haven't put many miles on my F-350 since.


What is your best guess as to what is wrong with my front axle? I may have to do the work myself because I can't just put the hub assembly back on so I can't move my truck to a shop.

 

Before you took the wheel off, did you check for play?

Which side is it?

When you say the transfer case doesn't work, do you mean it literally fails to turn the front driveshaft when you shift to 4HI or 4LO? Or do you mean you just have no 4WD? Have you checked to see if the transfer case turns the front driveshaft?

 

It was flopping all over the place.


Driver's side.


I can move the driver's side axle shaft in all directions. It is not centered in the axle housing.


I can turn the front drive shaft by hand, it catches in one place and is loose.


Right now, I cannot run the truck in gear because only one side is off the ground.


How are the axle shafts retained in the axle housing? It seems as if a bearing is out right where the shaft goes into the housing. What keeps it from moving in and out?


With the hub loose, it is hard to tell if the ball joints are worn. I don't have the leverage of the tire to test them. They seem to be fine though.

 

From what I can find online, it may be a worn front axle seal that is causing the looseness. I'm still doing my research.

 

Nothing with the drive actually holds the wheel hub in place. There's no seal that would cause the wheel to be that loose. It sounds like your hub bearings themselves have self-destructed. Or the wheel hub locknut worked loose. You should post some pics.

 

Yes, the internals of the hub are shot. It is off the truck. What I am asking about is the axle shaft inside of the axle housing. It is loose, I can move it from side to side, up and down and in and out. I would think that something keeps it centered in the axle housing.

 

The axle shaft is held in place by the spindle, and the seal on the axle shaft. There is a needle bearing on the in side of the spindle tube on the inner side, that may be bad that will allow the axle shaft to move up and down and side to side, although there will be some movement if the bearing is good.

 

I am trying to get the spindle, outer shaft and inner shaft off. I don't know how it comes off, so it is trial and error. If I had to guess, the seal is shot, as there is quite a bit of movement to the inner shaft where it comes out of the housing. There is no leakage, so the inner bearings might be OK


This is more than I wanted to attempt to do myself. My truck has been sitting for several months and I have been using my big truck and bicycle to get around. Now that I have torn into the hub and axle, I am kind of stuck doing it myself since I can drive it to a shop.


I tell myself it will be a good learning experience and I will save a lot of money by doing it myself. Is there a book I need that will explain all of this in detail? Chilton's? I'm still looking for videos. I haven't found any for the 1995 or I should say, the '94.5 to '97 year models. I have found a few for the various years for Superduty. I'll keep looking.

 

AAA+ is about $100 / year, covers up to four tows, up to 100 miles each per year.

For a manual, your best bet is the factory service manual set. Check eBay.

I thought you said the hub came off when you remove the brake caliper. Now you're saying you don't know how to remove it. Again, pics of the current situation will tell folks more than anything else.

 

The spindle can be fun to get off. It is held on to the steering knuckle by 8 nuts that pull the spindle into a recessed spot in the knuckle. If you live in the rust belt it may be rusted in place. Some parts houses rent a slide hammer and attachment the screws onto the spindle that is reported to work well. I just use a big hammer to drive the spindle up and down and side to side to work it loose. Just don't hit where the bearings sit, or the threads on the end. A block of wood resting on the spindle and hitting the wood works sometime also. After the spindle is removed the axle shaft slides out through the steering knuckle. A Chilton's manual for the 90-97 F350 should have the break down in it.

 

The hub is off. I am asking how to remove the spindle and axles. There are five bolts on the spindle flange I removed. It is slowly coming off, but I can't tap it all around the circumference of the flange because of the caliper shield. It doesn't look like the u-joint knuckles will fit through the resulting hole anyways. I may have to take off the u-joints so I can remove the housing that is attached by the ball joints.

 

This worked and the axles shafts slid out. I'm not sure what to do next though. I guess it makes sense to rebuild the front axle/differential including both hubs and the rear yoke assembly. I want to replace the automatic hubs with locking hubs and I guess now would be the time to install a locker.


I'm getting in above my abilities at this point.

 

Let me ask another question. I have a stock truck. I would like to run 37" tires. Is there anything I should be doing now to run larger rims or larger brakes? Since everything is apart, now would be the time to do it, on the front, anyways.

 

The stock front end on these trucks is pretty stout. Once you get it back together, you shouldn't have any problems running the 37 inchers. As long as you have it apart, I'd install new u joints in the axles, inspect the needle bearing in the spindle you removed, replace if needed, and install new seals on the axle shaft, the one that butts up on the spindle. You can get a kit that will have the spindle bearing and the seal that installs on the axle shaft. Inspect and repack the wheel bearings, using new bearings if needed. Be sure to pack the spindle bearing also. If you are switching over to manual locking hubs, you will have to get the spindle nuts for the manual hubs as they are different from the auto locking ones.

 

I found a plate on the front differential cover between two bolts. It reads:
3.54 V(or upside down pyramid)F5TA AEB V(or upside down pyramid)610460-7.


Does this have any meaning other than 3.54 gearing?