what is involved with changing the outer axle gasket, the one that has 8 bolts?
mine is a dana 60 floating axle. do i need to remove the entire axle from the truck, or do i need to remove the tire off the drum. i already have the rear cover removed, cleaned it all out, i do have the necessary gaskets and fluid. i just need clear instructions on how to do this, since i never done this before. and my truck has been sitting at a repair shop here in atwater, for the past week. and ive been waiting for 2 weeks before that for the shop to come and get the truck. any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

Just undo the 8 bolts and slide the axle right out. The rear end doesn't have to come out of thr truck and the diff. cover doesn't even need to comer off. The axle is held in place just by those 8 bolts...it's really simple. The gasket is usually in the form of a metal shim. A very thin coating of silicone is useful to help seal it.

 

Ther is a bit of a trick to get the axle out...

Take the bolts out, then you need to smack the end of the axle with a big hammer to free the split beveled washers.

Then just tap a flat head screwdriver into the split and back them out...like taking off a nut.

You will lose some diff fluid, so **** up one side a good 6 inches in the air to keep it in the housing, and not on the ground

 

I thought that was called an accurate adjustment tool... Silly me.

 

Only if it's 5lbs or less

 

That depends...some D60 axles didn't use the split beveled washers. Generally, (in my experience) if the axle is retained by studs with nuts on them then they used said washers but if the axle is held in place by bolts, then they probably won't have the washers. My '68 used the split beveled washers but the rear end out of the project truck, as well as the rear end out of the '85 I built last year didn't.

 

I'll be darned...must have always been my luck with the ones I've taken apart...as i recall they all had studs and nuts too.

 

ive tried that, axle would not budge. i stopped at the shop where my truck is, finally they started to work on it, it should be done by thursday evening, or friday by noon. ill let them do the axle.

 

f2501967 - don't be so quick to give up - paying someone to work on your old truck not only gets expensive, but can be very inconvenient. In addition, most chain store shops have no experience or expertise with these trucks.

Atwater is close - many of us drive through that town on the way to chapter activities, or you could actually join us for one of our work days. I am sure anyone of several members would be willing to show you how to take it apart. It is a quick and easy job, and can be done in less than an hour in your driveway.

Sometimes you screw things up - (stuff happens!) but no more often than a regular shop. When they do it they claim the part was bad and needed replaced, and charge shop time to fix it!

 

well my truck is at Tony's Auto Repair here in
Atwater, he does know about the old vehicles. a few months ago he rebuilt a 360 for a '62 ford 250 4X4. plus he has alot of extra parts for 352-390 engine parts. ive gotten several parts from him when i rebuilt my engine.
put me on your lists for chapter activities.

 

Listen to this man, he's spot on! Glad to hear you found a good guy to do the work for you however.