I got 'er done! Well, at least one side.I'll do the other tomorrow. Got a little of a late start to the dealer and spent some time there having a little fun. Not too bad of a job and now I know I won't have any problem changing my ball joints when time comes for that. The bearings were not 'dry' but they sure were a long way from being packed full. I think Ford nailed this pretty good at 60k miles. If you do a whole lot of 4x4, you may want to do this service a little sooner. The bearings ride on a race that appears to be part of the hub axle. I could not see where it was a pressed on type of race and if it is, boy is it a thin one. Loose the bearing and you'll probably loose the hub axle.
I ended up replacing the yellow vacuum o-ring on the hub and the o-ring on the autolock hub. The seals on the knuckle looked fine and they can wait for whenever the ball joints go.

I have read alot about an upgrade caliper slide pin kit. They are a new design and I don't know how long they have been out but, due to the number of problems Ford has experienced with the caliper pins corroding and freezing up in the slide cylinders, they redesigned the pins. Well, I picked up a couple of kits as well since I was going to have to remove the calipers anyway. That turned out to be the easiest part of the job.

Now for the fun.....
Over the last number of months, I've gotten to know the parts counter guy here and he has started giving me 'resonable' pricing. I ask him to see if he had a replacement part number for the needle bearings for my sealed hubs. Took him about 3 seconds to find part #C6TZ-3123A as the replacement bearing.

I walked over to the service area and asked how much it would cost to get the 60,000 mile service done on my 4x4 needle bearings. Well, the counter guy didn't think that there was any serviceable bearings in the SD hubs but he called the Service Manager out.
I tried to explain to the Service Manager which bearings I was refering to and that my maintenace scheduld book that came with the truck said that this needed to be done. Nope, it must be a misprint in the book or that the book covers many vehicles and there are NO SERVICEABLE PARTS in the sealed hub units.

Soooooo... I asked him why was there a Ford replacement part '#C6TZ-3123A - needle bearing' available for my hubs and why did Ford's website www.genuineFLMservice.com ,where you have to plug in your VIN or vehicle specific information, have "lube needle bearings" as the first item in their 60,000 mi service list?

Speachless............ (sorry for the book, will have service documentation to follow)

 

sometimes dealers do not know who they are talking to. blowing smoke up some random person's butt who happens to be a very knowledgable member of FTE. if the dealers knew the people who browse FTE, they could at least ask the customer first, so they can save their breath, forking over their load of BS.

 

Just sat down and started thinking about the mechanics of how this hub works and this statement is WRONG!

The front axle rides on the needle bearing when you're NOT in 4x4 and helps keep the axle centered in the knuckle joint to keep the knuckle grease seal from wearing prematurly. They are constantly being used when in 4x2. When in 4x4, the axle turns with the hub, placing no wear on the bearing other than using it to keep the axle centered. Even more reason to lube at 60k!

 

yes, that was what i was thinking also. i meant to post that at the end of my post, but i got caught up in my rant over the stealership...

 

I just want the URL where Guzz will be posting his very-well-documented treatice on needle-bearing lubrication.......

I'm going to start printing out his stuff to keep in a book. Chilton's would be envious.

Pop

 

I don't think they've been out long. I had one freeze up on my last spring. I didn't even know it until I heard the horrible sound of a worn out brake pad grinding away at a rotor. By the time I could get to it, the rotor was badly chewed up. I ened up having to replace both front rotors and pads. Plus the new slide pins. And the new ones didn't look any different than the old ones. Although they did get a heavy coating of brake caliper grease before they went back in. Now I'm just hoping they don't freeze up again. Unexpected repairs are no fun and hard on the pocketbook.


Very true statement. Guzzle had done some nice work and documented it well. I like your idea to print out the stuff and save it.

JT

 

The new pins I just picked up were sure different. The top pin has a rubbber boot on the end where the original was solid. The lower pin looks very similar to the original.
Been working on it tonight Pop. I have to change the format with thumbnails linked to larger pics..... It's just WAY TOO BIG right now.