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Yeah, but it'd be a shame to go backwards in time and make more work for yourself down the road.
A closed knuckle is not going to be able to use disc brakes, unless someone has come up with a work-around in the last few years?
And the maintenance of a closed knuckle when they start to leak out the ends (which they always do) is more involved than an open-knuckle too.
Might not be a bolt-n-go if you have to rebuild the outer ***** and seals. Assuming the pivot-ball surface is in good shape still.
Be very sure you need one then, before you go closed. It's a good price for a part someone is looking for to do a restoration of an older rig, as long as it's in great shape.
But otherwise it's a downgrade for you.
Paul
I should have been more specific about my intentions. I plan to use the ring, pinion, carrier, and associated hardware from the ‘74 axle. I wouldn’t bolt and go as I don’t wish to go closed knuckle drum brake.
Need some more help. Trying to pull the front carrier out. Tie rod is out of the way. Watched a few videos and one has a c clip of some sort that has to be removed. I’m not seeing that. In fact, I’m not seeing anything obvious that is holding the carrier in. So how do I get this thing out??!! I’m under the truck right now, so the quicker the response the better.
"Remove the 4 bearing cap bolts. They are torqued to 70lb-ft. I suggest marking the caps so that you can remember their orientation (left-right and up-down) as they are line honed with the axle tubes. I also keep the bolts in order as well.
Using 2 large pry bars, I pried on the inside of the ring gear and a ring gear bolt on the back side.You do not need a case spreader with the Dana 44 even though the case applies the bearing pre-load. You will pop the carrier out of the main bearing races and drop onto the bottom of the case. You may need to use the pry bars again to get the carrier past the outer edge of the housing. IT IS VERY HEAVY. Also keep the bearing races on their correct sides."
Dana 44 front-If your truck has half ton internal hubs, chances are you have the three piece spindle nuts. 3/4 ton same way...The inner nut sets the tension on the bearing.
The lock washer slides down the slot on the spindle and a pin on the inner nut goes in a hole in the lock washer, and the outer nut holds it all in place. Sometimes, you get lucky and that lock washer slides right down and the pin in the nut goes right in a hole in the lock washer, sometimes it doesn't. Some Ford Dana 44s use a self locking spindle nut that does not require aligning the pin and makes installation much easier.
If you have the 3 piece spindle nut, a good trick is to try the lock washer and if it The pin on the inner nut facing OUT) doesn't line up, flip it over and try the other side. The holes are lined up a bit different when the lock washer is flipped over. Often this will do the trick, but sometimes nothing seems to work. Especially, if you are trying to fix a broken axle on the trail.
The Ford spindle nuts eliminate these problems. The Ford spindle nut ratchets down and locks on every click. You can set the perfect load on the bearing with no worries of aligning the pin. You have to press in on the spindle socket to engage the teeth in the ratcheting nut. Works a bit different, but easy enough.
The only down side to the Ford nuts is the cost. They run about $15.50 (old prices?) brand new at the Ford dealership. The jobber price is probably a lot better than that, but most of us ,like myself, have to pay retail. It probably is not too hard to get the nuts at the junk yard, but to save time, I just purchased two nuts brand new at the dealership. My local dealership had them in stock, so there was no waiting. When I went to the dealership, I asked for the nuts for a '94 Ford F-150. I'm not sure what range of vehicles they might have been used in. The Ford part number is E7TZ-1A134-A.
One thing I had to do with the Ford spindle nut is remove some material on the tab that slides in the slot in the spindle. I guess the Ford spindle has a wider slot it it. I did this with an air cut off tool, but a file or a hack saw would work.
Yep. Axles are out. It wasn't too bad, either. As I've never done anything close to this magnitude before, I'm finding it fun as hell! The advice and encouragement from this board is the only reason I even tried.
Wow! Thanks, Rich! The pics from the manual were most helpful. Everything is out at this point, with the exception of the pass. side inner axle seal. The pipe I have was long enough for the d/side but not the p/side. I found missing ring bolt number 10. It was in the bottom of the pinion shaft side of the diff. Well, the head of it was anyway. Used a magnet to get all the metal out of the diff and it hit with brake cleaner. Looks good.
Rich's point about the shims begs another question; if I'm using the pinion, ring, carrier all from the same donor front end, ('74 d/44) do I still have to be overly concerned with backlash and shimming? Backlash, I get, but wouldn't the spacing be the same if the same parts are used? That maybe a stupid question and I'm counting on some of you guys to tell me, in fact, that it is....
Pic 1 and 2 are just the ol basic Chilton/Haynes manual. The other is the dealership service dept paper manual. All over Ebay, in paper form and CD. I use them all to get what I am looking for at times. Shop around they can be found all over the web.
Got the carrier, ring and pinion our of the donor axle no problem. They look really good. No chips or noticeable wear. Upon reassembly, should I use my old carrier bearing caps or the ones out of the donor axle?
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The advice and encouragement from this board is the only reason I even tried.
