I assumed this could be something I can tackle, but maybe not..

I have a '92 F-150, 4.9L, 1/2Tn, 4x4. I am finally replacing all bearing's, races, rotors, calipers, pads. While I am in there, I noticed looking at the Front Driver side u-joint knuckle that it's worn, sort of sloppy. I said, "looks easy enough.." but after a closer look, these smaller u-joints for the 4-wheel drive are pressed on the outside. No c-clip retaining ring..

This is where I'm stuck at. How do I get this u-joint pressed out? I have a 1996 Haynes, 2004 Haynes, and a new chilton, yet, cannot seem to find any directtions on removing these particular u-joint's that are pressed over, without a retaining clip.

It's a Dana 44, with Auto-locking hubs. After looking at the direction for removing the Shield, and then having to remove the spindle needle bearing, it still looks difficult. Is there any way of doing this while the knuckle is still contained within the front axle housing or do I need to completely yank all of this off, and take a chance of damaging the new bearings after replacing them. (the reason I say damage is because all 3 manuals are a bit vague on terminology. I call it one thing, they call it by a different term, hence, I can read and interpret, but there were also different models that changed, and they don't refer to new designs, except for an excerpt here and there...)

I'm devoted myself to this since the shop and another mechanic wants 500.00 to just put new rotors, pads on and perhaps bearing inside hub(IT NEEDED THEM!!!) They would have put new ones, guaranteed!!! when they got it all apart.


Thanks for any info and advice anyone throws my way!

 

I may have just found my answer to the retaining clip* i thougth would be on the outside, hey are actually on hte underneath of the joint caps..Found the picture at Delta4X4club.



Other question left is, can I do this with the u-joint still in the Axle housing?

 

I did my F250 some years ago and I was going to tell you to look for that type of clip but a pic is worth a thousand words.
You must already have had the hub/rotor off, right? Well then from there you need to remove the nuts holding the spindle and take it off, you can then pull the axle shaft.
However there are some guys who have managed to replace the joint in place. They were able to use something like a ball joint press to press out the old cups and press in the new joint. Mine were so badly rusted in I don`t know if that would have worked.

 

Thanks Lazy K!. I believe you are right about the ball joint press. Is the spindle bearing easy to remove and repair with new one? Anything else I should be looking for when repairing and reinstalling the spindle bearing?

thanks so much for the reply!

 

well I got the axle bolts out, anybody got an idea of how to get the shield and spindle off? I saw the shield move once or so between the spindle and the axle housing, but it hasn't again. I've ben using a punch around the side, but this thing doesn't want to give way. I have even tried some heat, but it's no go...

 

There are a number of ways. The correct way, I suppose is with a spindle puller which I think can be rented from some parts stores. Another way is to get a good block of wood placed on the spindle and strike very hard with a big hammer. Do this top, bottom and sides until the spindle comes loose. The method I used was to drive a big chisel in between the spindle shoulder and the dust shield all the way around until the spindle came loose. I had a little damage doing this but nothing that couldn`t be dressed up with a file.
It`s up to you.

 

It would be advantageous to you to download the appropriate PDF from the following link and do a little reading!

Dana Axle Documents

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Well, Ive searched on here many times and came up with same suggestions, Wood and a hammer, slide hammer, air hammer or chisel. I can see the brake shield has moved into where the stud bolts run thru the steering knuckle and the spindle..

what gives? I mean I can understand moderate to hard, but unbeliable!! If the brake shield is moving between the spindle and the steering knuckle, surely that means it's got some movement around the spindle doesn't it?

 

A picture would be good but maybe that is not possible. The spindle has a boss that is a tight fit into the knuckle, which, over time gets even tighter with rust.
Did you look at the link posted by FH, may be something there that we are both missing?

 

I finally gave up. I could see from the back side, that I had not even budged the spindle. I simply just finished taking what was left of the brake shield off, cleaning the stud holes for the axle nuts out and pu tit back together. I looked at the DANA website, .pdf files, but it said the same thing, Rawhide hammer, couple of taps around it, and it should break loose, but this wasn't budging! I need to just wait till i have the money and take it to the garage that has done some alignment work and let him repai the u-joints. Maybe if this had been taken care of 10 years ago, it wouldn't have been as bad..

It just irritates me when even you have the right tools and nothing still works. Im on a budget, so I've already spent 400, if I spend another hundred for even more tools, I haven't really saved any more money.. I don't know. I wish I had a garage and numerous tools and time to just break it all apart, but I need to just get new rotors, pads, calipers and hoses on. At leasst if I have to ever go back in, I won't have to replace anything in there. It will all be new..That's a SUPER PLUS now!!!!

Thanks again guys for all your help. If I can anyone ever, just let me know!

Timbersteel

 

don`t blame you at all. If you don`t use four wheel drive much then for most of the time the front axle shafts are just sitting there anyway.
Hope everything else works well.