i got a 94 f250 dana 50 4600lbs and what I'm running into i blew a wheel bearing and fried out my whole hub assembly . But my question is , I'm looking for the right spindle nut and I'm a little confused on what I need to get cause it's showing two different ones . It's showing that I have auto locking hubs , which obviously I don't cause I got manual lock out hubs but it said it was for only 94-97 (the round hexnut )? I posted the pictures of the two spindle nuts above . Could anyone clear the air on what I need ?

 

The top nut is for automatic locking hubs. should use bottom one if same thread size.

 

So does that mean my truck had auto lock hubs ?or the manual lock out conversion done wrong ? It had warn lockouts on it when I got the truck . Could that top spindle nut be causing premature bearing failure if I got the manual lockouts on ?

 

I took the auto lock hubs out of my 97 F250 and put Warns in and did not change the nuts, the nut is different but it should not be the cause of a bearing failure.

 

I torqued the nut down to about 180ft-ft I don't know why it blew out the bearings sent but a couple of years old and it has new seals , should I transfer the spindle nut over to the bottom picture or would it still be ok to keep the top picture one ?

 

If you torqued the nut to 180 ft lbs. That is why the bearing went out. Way to tight. Should be about 50 ft lbs and then back it off just a tad.

 

Agreed, 180 ft/lbs was the cause of the failure.

I was taught that you tightened the inner nut to 50 ft/lbs while rotating the hub, then back it off and tighten it by hand. the pinned washer goes in, then the outer nut goes on and torqued to spec.

When I did the hubs on my '97 F250HD, I had to replace the pin washer on the driver side as it had been put together wrong. I had to go to NAPA for the washer due to the replacement washer from what will remain unnamed shop supplying a pin washer having the pin with zero offset, not allowing any adjustment.

 

I have the automatic lock out spindle nut (1 nut top picture) that's what was on the truck when I pulled it apart .So there isn't another nut to keep it from backing off so I put that pin back in between the spindle and the spindle nut . Now what iv been trying to figure out DO I NEED TO KEEP THE EXISTING SPINDLE NUT OR DO I NEED TO CHANGE IT OVER TO THE 4 slot nut with the nipple on the outside set with two nuts and the key washer ???

 

My F250HD has a D50/Warn hubs arrangement with the two nut & washer assembly. I would go that route. You probably had auto-lock hubs to begin with and they were switched by a previous owner.

On the two nut and washer design, the nut with the pin goes on first, pin facing out. tighten to spec, tab washer goes in and goes over the pin, then the flat faced nut goes on.

 

ok it seems to be the cheaper to do the manual hub Spindle nut conversion than to rebuild auto hub spindle nut . The thrust washer kit is $50 each ! Pile of BS if you ask me . I appreciate the feedback that everybody gave me though it helped a lot ! I'm just ready to throw this axle away , it's so complicated to work on anything

 

This was my first time doing any front end work on this truck myself . I'm only 19 so I'm still trying to learn lol

 

The only way to learn is to try. Don't hesitate to ask on here though, lot of experience on here. Willing to help.

The automatic type nut used a small snap ring that went around the threads on the spindle to keep the nut from backing out. PITA to work with. A lot of people would leave them out. Or ruin them not knowing they were there when they pulled the nut off.

 

so you think that pin could have backed out and let the spindle nut back off ? It wasn't in there when I took it apart

 

You only torque to 180lb/ft when seating a new bearing race, then loose the nut and tighten at 70lb/ft (I'm talking Dana 44 TTB here). You should check the front end thread on my sig.