do yourself a favor and pick up a pitman arm puller there like $20 it will save you a ton of time trying to bang it off before you find out you cant get it off and buy a pitman arm puller anyway good luck

 

Well here is my update. After further inspection its DEF my u-joints. When im underneath and watch the wheels turn from side to side the joints dont move smoothly it jerks. So I went to autozone and picked up 3 lifetime u-joints, im prob going to replace the third straight one too. Everything went pretty well until I got to my spindle. If you go into the article section and read Dana 44 Front Axle Shaft U-joint Replacement it says he had to WHALE on his spindle to get it off. Well thats where I am at. I did EVERYTHING to get that spindle off and its not budging. I sprayed a ton of pb blaster and some other rust remover on it and hopefully tomorrow I can get a better go at it after it sits over night.

My question is does anyone have any ideas of how to get that damn spindle off?? Its seized on there. It says on my haynes book to lightly remove that spindle...well thats not working. Please any ideas would be great. Also after I take that spindle off the left side, or right but im currently talking about left, axle should just pull right out right? I mean so far this has really been pretty easy...its just that DAMN spindle...after i get the spindle off its smoothing sailing. Any help or ideas of getting a seized spindle off would be great. Thanks!!!

 

You can rent a spindle socket and slide hammer from autozone. Trust me it made the job too easy!! Or you can beat the hell out of it for 2hrs with a BFH and a block of wood like I did on my first F150. Just make sure you have the socket on all the way or you will bouch your threads on the spindle.

 

themoonshineboy: Sorry for my tech term retardness but spindle socket is just a strong socket made for spindles right? I tried using just a normal socket and I cracked the bit in three spots...it was nuts. Anyway my neighbor had a socket that did look just like the spindle socket bits and i just used that. Worked like a champ after I put a 4ft pipe on it. I guess im really just confused on how a slide hammer works. Sorry again for the being such a amatuer.

 

Ok i understand how a slide hammer works after reading about it more. Here is my new concern. What if I cant get the caps off the u-joints? I dont have a press so I hope I can still do this. I read about doing it different ways. Any pointers on that would be great!!

 

Ok I have another question about my u-joint replacement. After I get the spindle off what else do I have to do? Do I have to remove the knuckle to get the front axle out? At first I thought I just remove the spindle and pull out the axle. But the joints in the axle look too big to go through the hole from the spindle. Any help would be great guys. Sorry but the book does not read well, at least not to me.

Really as much as I hate to just ask...after i get the spindle off then what? because it looks IMPOSSIBLE to take that knucle off because I cant get to the bottom bolt. I can get to the top one.

 

any answers?

 

The shaft will slide through the hole no problem it can get a little tight but you just have to wiggle the shaft a little. About the "spindle" socket I ment spindle removal socket, It is a socket that threds onto the spindle like a nut were your wheel bearing lock nuts go. The slide hammer turns into the back of the spindle removal socket and shocks the spindle lose from the knuckle, it works slicker than goose grease on a toilet seat! lol. As for the U joints find some eye protection pry the snap rings off, spray them with PB, get 2 strong sockets one just smaller than the cap and one with a little bigger hole than the cap, protect the axle splines and beat on the small socket till the joint comes out. It might take some time and new 4 letter words but they will come, Just make sure your in line with the sockets at all times. Other things that should be done at this time money permiting are wheel bearings is bad at least repack them if not, spindle bearings and seals. You should at least replace the spindle seals. My seals were warn in two on my 94. The clamp on the right boot is real hard to re use, I just used zip ties, just grease the splines good and dont let the axle catch the seals when you button it up. as for the axle stub on the diff I don't know because I didn't pull it, I had more than liked to do. I did all 4 balljoints, tie rod ends, quad shocks and brakes.

 

Yeah I know what a you meant now after i did some research. I DEF need to go rent one because my spindle is not budging. Im working outside, dont have a good garage, and it was raining today so I didnt get a chance to work on it today. Another thing that I am wondering about. Do I have to take off my diff. plate to unhook my axles or are they going to just slide out? I know there are axle seals. So my question is do I have to take off the diff plate to pull the axles out. I thought that the axles just slide out of each side. Im starting to think I am wrong. Let me know...thanks

I know Im asking alot of questions that I should just figure out on my own but this is my ONLY vehicle and I really cant afford to do anything wrong and mess it up. I have only done brake jobs, spark plugs and wires, oil changes and stuff like that. I have NO doubt that I can do this myself. I have some good help from friends and I am usually real good at figuring something out. But with this I really cant toy around. Thanks.

 

Im going to try and tackle this whole job tomorrow after I go get a spindle puller. So if ANYONE knows if i need to take off my diff. plate to unhook my axle or do the axles just slide out? I was under the impression they just slide out. Thanks.

 

axle just slides out.

 

Well today I tackled my u-joints and it wasnt hard AT all. I didnt need a press for the joints either. I just beat on the yoke and they came right out


Now let me tell you a FACKED up story. I went to autozone and asked them if i could get a slide hammer and spindle socket. The guy gave me the BIGGEST attitude saying he has never heard of spindles coming off hard and that im not doing it right. I was SOOO ****ed. Anyway the guy ended up giving me the slide hammer and some axle puller thing. I told him it wasnt going to work because this axle puller is not what I need because my axle is in the way. He snapped back at me saying he has removed hundereds of spindles and this is going to work. He also told me he has never heard of a spindle not coming off and I would need to buy a new one. So i took this peice of **** thing home and....OH **** it didnt work. So i went back there and he snapped at me saying that the guy that told him about my truck said it was a expedition or some ****. SO i brought my haynes book in and showed him what i was talking about. He told me he has never heard of a spindle puller and that was that. I argued with this guy telling him I know you guys have them. So he told me to come back and search these shelves for the thing myself. I did and it was there. OH, I also forgot to tell you when I showed him my spindle removal in my book he told me I was looking at a front wheel drive setup....something wrong with that considering I havent heard of a front wheel drive truck.


Back to the project, I got all u-joints replaced. This was MOST def my problem. When I get the u-joints out one only twisted one way. The other one I couldnt even move with my hands. I had to WHALE on it with a hammer just to loosen it up to get the c-clips off. But my spindle seals are shot and autozone doesnt have any and wont for 3 days so I dont know what Im going to do. It was sunday so I couldnt get anything done but advanced told me that they could prob hook my up tomorrow and if they dont have them in stock they could tell me where to get them. Thanks for all your help guys.

 

I told you that was probably your problem 5 days shy of a month ago. Sorry you ran into problems at Autozone. I have never had any problems with them and they always take the time to cross stuff over and never a bad attitude. Maybe the Sunday help is different. Good luck in finishing it up and happy motoring!