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I looked all over and I can find any bolts that hold it on. Just one bolt on the bottom that didnt appear to do anything once removed.
Back story, I think I had a hub bearing go bad...so it, or something, created enough wobble that it destroyed my wheel studs. So I have the 2 new bearings and the new rotor/hub assembly....just can't get the danged caliper off lol.
After you take that one bolt out, there is a key that you drive out on the bottom of the caliper. After you take it out, you can slide the caliper off.
After you take that one bolt out, there is a key that you drive out on the bottom of the caliper. After you take it out, you can slide the caliper off.
Correct. Look at this link, that's the breakdown from the Ford parts catalog.
Use a long thin punch to drive out the wedge 2B487. The spring 2B486 will come out with it.
I just went through this myself today. As stated, there is one bolt at about the 4 o' clock position on the side. Take that out. You should see that it held in a rectangular wedge (there are two half moon cutouts on the bottom edge of the wedge, the bolt you took out went into one of them and holds the wedge in place)
Whack the wedge out. I ended up using a large blunt chisle for flooring I had. One side came out fairly easy, the other took forever. Once you pop that out the caliper should come off easy.
I replaced my bearings with Timken Set12 and Set13 and their 4148 seal (used their wheel bearing grease too).
My rotor on one side was completely eaten up and it looked like something had nested in my calipers, so I just replaced everything. Amazed the truck was still stopping fairly well before. Cheap insurance to replace everything.
The wheel bearings would have to literally be toast and falling apart to be loose enough to allow a real serious wobble. But it has happened. If yours look to be good still though, or your hub does not feel loose, it might have been something else.
Did you feel the wobble? Or did you simply find a busted stud?
Do you also know the full detailed bearing adjustment procedure? It's quite a bit different than just your standard 2wd or car bearing, so if you're not sure, just ask and we can run you through it. With all the variations you're used to seeing on the internet!
There is only one by-the-book initial setting though. The main variations in the different books are with the final torque for the outer locking nut.
If you don't have the proper hub nut spanner socket though, you'll never get the proper reading.
Good luck. Hopefully your wedge and spring slides out easily.
I would like the detailed walkthrough and instructions please! And I greatly appreciate all yours guys help! I can afford to have it towed and worked on at a local garage...but id love to save money.
I bought a 2 3/8th spindle nut socket...I have snap ring pliers, torque wrench. Bearings # LM501349 and LM603049, rotor/hub #66297RGS, bearing grease.
Those parts correct? Anything I'm missing tool or part wise? Anyone have a part number for a seal I think im missing?
I felt a real bad wobble develop in that tire while driving it on the highway one day. One moment its fine...then a moment later a little vibe....and then a moment later a real bad wobble. Limped her home to find my studs look like a beavers been chewing on them, and the holes in the wheel are distorted.
Im okay with working on my tj jeep...but these old Ford's are so hard to find exact info on. Especially since my truck is a Frankenstein of atleast 3 different trucks. Its got an 80s 460, f150 frame and running gear...a 79 250 body...and possibly a highboy era 203 transfercase lol.
It seems to me if the studs were messed up and the holes in the wheel are distorted then it was the wheel wobbling against the rotor. To me, if the bearings were loose, the whole rotor would wobble and the wheel along with it. However, if a lug nut or two was loose the wheel would wobble against the rotor, raking against the studs and distorting the holes.
If the rotor feels firm with the wheel off, I'd think that was it. Still good to check or replace the bearing while you are there though.
The rotor is firm. Nothing wobbles or moves. Rock solid. And it'll ride a few feet nice and smooth...until the lug nuts get loose and it gets wobbly again.
A generic number for the inner seal that sits behind the inner bearing is #4250. Don't think that all manufacturers list theirs as such, but most will cross over to that number.
The smaller seals-n-things that sit on the axle shaft just behind the spindle are SBK-1, or SK-1 generally. But you only need those if you pull the spindles out. Which, unfortunately is a really good idea when you're this far in!
Think about it at least.
For the wheel bearing adjustment, the F150/Bronco front axles should all fall under this range:
(and this is all before any of the locking hub stuff is installed)
1. Inner adjusting nut, with small pin pointing outward toward you. Run it down to 50lbs while turning the wheel or hub.
(this ensures that the races are seated in the hub and excess grease is squeezed out from between the rollers for the moment)
2. Step two is to back the same inner nut off a full quarter-turn/90°
(ignore how loose this leaves the bearings. It'll tighten back up in the next steps)
3. Insert lock-ring so that the it's tab fits into the spindle's groove, and the inner pin fits into one of the ring's holes easily. If it misses, you can flip the ring over and try again since the holes are offset from the pin)
(if neither of those positions lets the pin slide into a hole, reach in with a finger or tool and gently turn the nut either way until it lines up and drops on)
4. Outer locking ring snugs down to 100lbs
(this is where most texts vary, with torque ratings from as low as 70lbs to as high as 125lbs. Even more for the larger trucks. Just make sure you have at least 85lbs, but 100 is better.)
5. You can now verify your .001" to .010" bearing free-play. There is NO factory book I've ever seen that mentioned "preload" for the Dana wheel bearings. Yet so many people, even pro mechanics quote "preload settings" that are just too tight.
If you have a sensitive feel to such things, you can feel a 4 to 6 thousandths movement in your hub and rotor. But just barely. If you have a dial-indicator you can verify the settings fall into spec. Parts do wear after all, and you never know. But doing it this way with my parts always netted me a .006" free play measurement, so it worked for me perfectly.
It's the final torque that squeezes even all that heavy metal down and literally pulls up a ton of play into just a few thousandths. It's pretty cool and those clever engineers knew what they were doing!
And speaking of all that... I do think it's good you're going into it. When was the last time you re-packed the wheel bearings? I used to do it about every 25k to 35k miles on my trucks. But those were daily driven, had decent miles on them usually and I did use them off road and for all sorts of tasks.
So re-packing the bearings more often than perhaps called for (wasn't it about 40k they were recommending back then? Or sooner under hard use?) just fell under the heading of "cheap insurance" in my book.
If you've never done it, and know the parts are old, it's really not a bad idea to pull the spindles and axle shafts (carefully!), and replace the axle u-joints. But that's more of a "only if it's needed" kind of thing, rather than preventative maintenance or cheap insurance.
And if you don't have oil leaking out of the differential through the axle tubes, you sure don't want it to start because you pulled an axle and let it drag across the seal!
Just mentioning that stuff in case it's never been done, and/or you notice that it's hard to steer or turn the knuckles by hand. Or if when you're in 4wd and turning, you feel a lot of tugging at the steering wheel before you get to full lock.
Yes. Or more literally up and down movement in the hub itself. Measured on the hub.
The distance the rotor is from the center (where the bearings are) will increase the readings you see if you use the rotor as your indicator.
But if you grab the rotor with your hands at 12 and 6 and wobble it, you'll get your results.
Yes, lots of things can cause a temporary wobble on our trucks. Most people will still blame the trackbar bushings, though that's not the most common denominator in my experience. Might be for others, but for me it has always been a tire, or tires.
But different things will act differently. An occasional and light shimmy is often just an out of balance tire or one or more of the bushings, or ball joints, or tie rod ends or things like that wearing out. Even wheel bearings.
A more pronounced, but equally consistent wobble can be some of the above, only with more severe wear, but is also more likely to be a tire that's got bad tread wear, or something going on inside.
A real honest to goodness "Death Wobble" is where under repeatable circumstances, usually at somewhere between 25 and 55 mph, and on the same stretch of road or hitting the same bump. If this happens it's almost always a tire that's failing internally. Split belts, sidewall damage (same thing?) or something odd like that.
You'll know a Death Wobble when you feel it. Just shakes the crap out of the steering wheel until you almost can't hold it (or your bowels the first time!) and applying the brakes alone won't stop it until you reach a certain slower speed. Often below 10mph, but in some cases it'll go away below 20mph or so.
That can crack frames, bugger wheel studs if the wheel was already loose, and whack out all sorts of things.
Unfortunately the only cure for a tire-related DW attack is to rotate the front tires to the back and hope it's only one tire. If it's more than one, chances are it'll keep coming back until you retire those tires.
Age is a factor sometimes of course, and sometimes tires will wear out all the way to the steel belts and never wobble. But even a brand new tire can fail internally and cause a severe case of the Death Wobbles and need to be replaced or rotated (if you're lucky).
Hopefully none of the above was your issue, and you simply had some lug nuts come loose on you.
12-31-2018, 03:18 PM
