I have a 78 Bronco with a rear axle from an E-350 (Dana 60) and I need to remove the driver side rear axle to be able to hammer in new lugs. They all came out easy enough.
Do I have to open the differential cover for any reason, like to release some kind of axle c-clip or to remove any kind of gears?
I know I have to remove all the brake guts in the way and probably the axle seal(can I use it again?)
There is no other way to hammer in the lug studs. How do I remove the axle???
Please someone Help.
You can E-mail me at:

JLG1911A1(No Email Addresses In Posts!)

or post something here.Thank You In Advance
JLG

 

Full float or semi float?

 

How can I tell The difference? What will it mean?

 

If you have a axle in there from a one ton truck, it's a sure bet its full-floating. A semi-floating axle is the typical rear wheel drive car or lighter truck axle setup. The weight of the vehicle is born on the axle shaft itself, which then transfers the load to the outer end of the axle housing via a bearing in the end of the housing.
A full-floater has a hollow spindle-like assembly, that transfers the load onto a bearing on the outside of the housing. The axle shaft transmits torque, but does not support the weight of the vehicle. These will have lots of wheel studs, like 8 of them.
I might have something quite a bit later years with some Dana 60 info in it I could dig out, but somebody here probably has some hands-on more with your vintage.

 

Thanks for the help to everyone. I really did'nt want to remove the axle just pound in some stubborn lugs. I went to get some lug nuts and the guy said to keep turning the lug nuts over some washers and the lug bolts will seat into the axle hub after a while. Five lug nuts and four washers later and with a little help from some wd-40 to keep the heat down I finally seated the lugbolts all the way in. the nuts stripped but the lug bolts must be made of some strong stuff because the threads are fine. So it's new lug nuts now for me and check yours every so often because I can't figure out how five( yes five -there was a 8 to 5 lug conversion in there to take advantage of a really strong rear and some nice aluminum rims )lug nuts could have been all equally loose while all of the other three wheels are tight and fine and I watched the mechanic mount all four wheels with the same air ratchet. I' ve never pissed anyone off so far as to prompt them to loosen my lugnuts but when they are so loose they will make a hell of a racket and you'll swear its your differential. So thanks for letting me rant and check the obvious. I wish I had.

 

Thanks for the help to everyone. I really did'nt want to remove the axle just pound in some stubborn lugs. The old ones were totally destroyed and I was lucky the wheel did'nt fall off while i was on the highway. I went to get some lug nuts and the guy said to keep turning the lug nuts over some washers and the lug bolts will seat into the axle hub after a while. Five lug nuts and four washers later and with a little help from some wd-40 to keep the heat down I finally seated the lugbolts all the way in. the nuts stripped but the lug bolts must be made of some strong stuff because the threads are fine. So it's new lug nuts now for me and check yours every so often because I can't figure out how five( yes five -there was a 8 to 5 lug conversion in there to take advantage of a really strong rear and some nice aluminum rims )lug nuts could have been all equally loose while all of the other three wheels are tight and fine and I watched the mechanic mount all four wheels with the same air ratchet. I' ve never pissed anyone off so far as to prompt them to loosen my lugnuts but when they are so loose they will make a hell of a racket and you'll swear its your differential. So thanks for letting me rant and check the obvious. I wish I had. If this message posts twice its because I tried to add a line and it did'nt turn out.Thanx