I just purchased a 1989 F150 300/I6 4WD several months ago and need to replace the front rotors and pads to pass state inspection. The hubs are manual locking and they are attached to the rotors. After removing the hub end caps, there is a lock ring on the end of the wheel spindle. The shop manual says to remove the lock ring and if the hub body is difficult to remove, replace 2 socket cap screws back in the hub body and pull out the hub body that way. The hub body is made of some kind of alloy and will not slide out with moderate pressure. In the center of the hub body there is a collar with splines on its circumference that seems to float with the hub body. Here are the questions:

1) Does that splined collar (approx. 25 splines) screw onto the end of the wheel spindle, and if so, is there a removal socket available?
2) Does the hub body and splined collar pull out together and what setup is required?
3) Do I need to make a puller?
4) How is the rotor attached to the hub assembly?


Stuck in Ford purgatory!

ROB

 

You need to buy(or rent) a spanner wrench. This tool has special teeth that will remove the nut that holds the rotot and hub onto the spindle. There is also a snap ring that must be removed before the "locking" nut. On an 89, it could be a little hard to get off. WD40 should help as well as small sharp flat head screwdrivers or picks.

WHaynes

93 F150 4.9L 4x4
4" ProComp StII Lift
BFG 33in 4.10's
Detroit TrueTrac's

 

The splined collar behind the snap ring does not seem to be a nut. It will slide back and forth along the spindle shaft approximately .100 inch or so, but will not slide completely off the wheel spindle. This leads me to believe that the wheel spindle has some splines machined in it and that the collar should just pull off. I installed 2 socket cap screws into the hub body and hammered on long nose pliers, but the center collar would not come off. The snap ring is easy to remove. It looks like it would be fairly easy to damage the alloy hub body if you do not know what you are doing. How is the rotor attached to the hub assembly?

 

I have a 94 F250 so the hubs may be different. Ther are some small screws around the outside of the locker which need to be removed before you can get things out. Next...

If I recall there are actually 2 rings that hold in the locking assembly. One is an obvious C clip type. There is another one that is not so obvious. It is a large one that kind of looks like a piston ring, about 3 inch diameter that sits on the inside of the hub in a groove. The only way I noticed this was after wiping out the grease I noticed a black ring that was inside that had maybe a 1/2 inch gap between the ends.

All you need is a small to medium flat screwdriver or something to push the end out. Once the end is loose you just kind of unwrap it from around the insides.

The locking assembly will come out easy once this is done.

After that you will need the special socket if you want to remove the entire wheel assembly from the spindle. But this is not necessary if all you want to do is clean the locker.

Good Luck.

Jim Henderson