Got a Dana 44 front end and I'm nearing the end of a frontend rebuild.

I looked in my haynes manual and could find the answer. Do the races in the hubs just knock out or should that be done by the machineshop with a press. I need to take them down there to have them turned anyway. What do you guys think?

 

You can knock them out, but new races need to be pressed in. If you try and drive them in, you can screw them up and they'll eat bearings.

My advice is that unless the races are blued, scored, or otherwise damaged, I'd leave them alone.

 

Miller, andy was dead on with the fact that they knock out. To install the new races there is an adapter that fits the id of the race which you hammer on or press to seat the race in its final position. You can buy a seat of bearing race installers or, around my part, autozone actually rents them out. Many people over the years, even dealer techs that i have worked with, have pressed races in with sockets if the race is small enough or a hammer and punch. Prior to the time i purchased race installers i used to put them in with the hammer and punch method also. As long as you are carefull to not scratch/gouge the race surface and you make sure it is seated correctly this method works find. Actually, more than likely, this is what will be done if you take it to a machinist. The only reason i finally purchased a set of race installers was for speed and convience.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks guys, I'll just let the machine shop take care of them. The races seem pited and such. I need them turned anyway and last time I had something in the machine shop they cleaned everything up really nice. Thanks again for the advice!

 

you can also use your old races to hammer in the new ones. Place the old race flat against the new one and hammer it in square. Be gentle.

 

I use the old races to drive the new ones in too. I grind a little bit off the outside diameter of the old race so they won't get stuck. ...Terry

 

Those are some good tips... I took mine to the machine shop to have them turn and the races installed. When I picked them up they didn't even charge me to have the races installed.

Thanks again guys.