I will be completely honest here, I didn't know it was a 12k/yearly pm (preventative maintenance). I purchased the truck with 32k on the odometer, it now has 48,028. I literally live 1.1 miles from work. Plus, when I go to sea, it stays parked for weeks at a time. So, this is a lesson learned for me. I really wish I had an owners manual to read through so that I would know these things. Thanks for the info Warhorse.

 

Well I ordered a brand new spindle from JBG and then they tell me they are back ordered till god knows when. Called around a bunch of other places and they all tell me the same. A local guy knew a guy who knew a guy and I will be pulling one off an axle from a 1979 F150.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DANA-44-SPI...!US!-1&vxp=mtr

When you do this, anti sieze the spindle so that it doesn't rust into the knuckle, make sure the spindle seal is installed right, the spindle bearing is properly installed and lubed, good luck.

 

Just curious, when you took it apart was the little indexing pin still protruding on the inner spindle nut? This is something I have seen improperly installed on dozens, if not hundreds of trucks in my shops over the years. It can be tedious to get the inner nut just right so the center locking ring aligns a hole on the pin. I dismantled lots of them where someone just tighten up without aligning and it pushes the pin in. If this happens, it is possible for the inner nut to turn, which in your case would make it tighten on the bearing eventually causing it to fail.

 

Yes, I made sure that the indexing pin was aligned with the nut. I kinda believe that this happened due to not completing the proper maintenance when needed. Like I mentioned, it was four years since I packed those bearings.

 

Do you have annual vehicle safety state inspections?

It had to be loose for a while before it failed....especially if it was due to lack of grease.

Also grease doesn't break down any significant amount unless it's used....I would not hang my hat on the time suggestion but only the mileage suggestion for maintenance intervals.

 

I have seen these front bearings fail without getting very loose, it isn't so much grease or grease breaking down; more of a situation where moisture gets inside from high humidity, driving in water, washing often, or just short trips that never get anything really warmed up and then the bearings start to rust, then start spinning the inner race on the spindle, then nothing really feels loose, but often not loose but failing all the time, especially at higher speeds. this causes spindle deterioration. If you have ever owned a boat and trailer, you will understand. Remember that these things aren't really sealed very well. The wheel seal in back is OK, the spindle seal was definetely leaking water in after more that a few years without grease and if the O ring between the hub and the lockout was not perfect and greased, as well as all the bolts that bolt the lockout to the hub, as well as the oring sealing the plastic hub dial to the metal housing. That is about 15 places to let water in. If you get everything sealed up perfect, which can be done, the bearings won't need any service, until something starts leaking. That might be a year from now or 10 years from now, roll the dice and decide. Mileage means nothing, if it sets for 3 years, and doesn't ever get driven, if out side and high humidity, the bearings will probably start rusting.

 

It sounds to me like this may be a maintenance item that doesn't get executed properly or very often by a lot of people driving these old trucks. I'm glad I started this thread. I have learned a lot. Could some one scan the pages of the owners manual that covers this subject.

 

I have all the owners manuals, shop manuals, and all, but I usually have little to no luck installing pictures here. generally they don't pop up or are so small that your screen would need to be the size wyoming in order to find them; I bet a cyber space guru will post all kinds of stuff, Good luck.

 

I've always packed the spindles with grease as well.
When installing them you can just do it by hand and then take all the grease that splooges out when the axle shaft slides into it and use it to grease the bearings.

If the spindle is installed I still have an old "spindle-luber" tool I bought back in the late seventies. Just a big tube with one open end with threads for the spindle and a closed end with a zerk fitting for the grease gun.
Just like lubing the u-joints and tie-rod ends.
Very little, if any moisture is going to get in from the backside when it's packed full of grease.
And it isn't enough to jam anything up since the shaft just spins. What little play there is in the shaft just moves the grease around a bit, but causes no trouble.

Agree that with good grease that 1-year interval is not etched in stone. Especially if you're only driving it a couple of thousand miles a year anyway.
But the fewer miles driven in a year the closer you should adhere to the mileage interval. Or even bump it down a notch, to maybe 10k to make it easier to keep track of. Just do it "on the tens" and you can't go wrong.
As long as you adjust them properly that is. But don't go by what you see on TV or YouTube every time! Use the book because there's too much "leeway in interpretation on what grandpa's mechanic" told them how to do it.
Unlike what you hear on some of the TV shows these days, there is no such thing as "bearing preload" with these axles. Instead of pre-load there is supposed to be free-play to the tune of .001" to .010" after adjustment. If you do it by the book it will almost always fall between .004 and .007 inches.

I used to do mine about every 15k or so when it was my daily driver. Sometimes more often if there were several creek crossings or snow plow contests in that time. Or a little less when it was just doing commuting duties.

I'd still be on the original bearings but decided to change them out anyway at about 125k miles. But they're still in a spare-parts bag waiting to be called into action if needed.

Paul

 

good advice here. I pack my 2 1978s and my 1996 one time in twelve months; keep service records; and I can affirm that carquest sells me the seals (a high quality seal) for $5 and a tube of lucas premium red grease "Fortified with antisieze" Mine look clean, nice and very good shape every time, I Had 2 trucks fail in the front wheel bearing department, back in the days when I was about 16-20, both from not going through the front end after a creek crossing; It didn't take long after crossing water to ruin everything, even after servicing the components. I will do mine once a year, those bearings will last a great long time, I have a brother with a powerstroke with the same kind of front wheel bearings, serviced annually, that front end has apprx. 300000 miles. All original bearings and spindles from 1996. Take that to the bank. And some very abusive construction/4x4/farm miles to boot.

Moral of the story, if you service them properly, they will last longer than the truck. If you service them then decide that they are ok because the grease used was synthetic or some BS or because you found a top secret procedure lost from the UFO escaping from the rocky mountain biological warfare laboratory, in high speed pursuit; that you are exempt from regular maintenance, you are wrong. Tune in next week for a special on how to incorporate some run-of-the-mill abraisive compound (silicon carbide We think) into an engine sump in order to pro long you oil change intervals; because after all, if the wheels fall off, and the engine quits running, there is little need to perform regular oil changes!!