Hi all!

Im in the process of replacing my front hubs on the 2000 4x4 X . Hubs are off and there is major play or slop in my axle shaft, is this normal? or is something wrong there?

Heres the link to the video showing movement

YouTube - axle play

Just wondering if this is fine before I put everything back together...

 

looks like the dust seal is missing and maybe the hub axle bearings are shot. I would carefully inspect that stubaxle bearing surface and the entire axle.

 

looks good to me, there is no bearing out in the end of the axle tube, the one support is on the carrier and the other on the hub, u can pull the shaft and see if theres any slop in your ujoint though.. but normally they move like that after the hubs been pulled off.

 

Looks normal to me. My F-350 was the same exact way when I changed out the bearing\hub assemblies on it. The only thing that keeps that end of the axle from moving around is the bearing assembly (which I see is removed). As long as the needle bearings look good on it, you should be fine. Check for play after you have every thing back together by trying to move your tire up and down.
JEV

 

yep, I agree that looks normal. You might want to replace the big seal and the dust seal while its tore that far down. Maybe even the u-joint too.

Edit -- part numbers are F81Z-3254-CB for the big seal and F81Z-1S175-HCA for the dust seal.

These two seals:

 

So where is his dust seal? I must be blind. I just can't see it on the vid. It looks like it is gone. Not a huge thing, but where is it?

 

The dust seal is on the back side. You wouldn't see it from that view.
I would also recommend replacing the main big seal. It's the reason I had to replace my bearing assembly. The seal starting leaking and let water in.
JEV

 

Yep you're blind It is on the top picture, that is the long axle & seal with the stub axle hanging off the edge of the table (not shown) and the bottom picture has the other seal with the stub shaft.
And yes that video is normal.

 

Its gone, often you will see a ring just hanging around the axle/u-joint. its a poor design on the part of Ford/Dana

 

Thanks so much for the reply's! Got everything put back together went for a test drive and still have the 65mph+ vibrations I guess onto the driveshaft.... love the truck other than its our highway vehicle and shakes the whole trip

 

shakes at 65? are your wheels balanced?

 

Yep. I ruled out the tires because I tried Michelins, BFG's and now Toyo M/T's and it shakes with all. taken it to ford dealership and everything checked out ok, took it to another shop and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Im getting tired of shooting and missing It has however just starting to clunk in the rear just when accelerating from a stop. this would mean U joints?

 

The clunking from the rear could indicate the drive shaft slip joint. Common problem. Has it been lubricated recently?

If all that checks and you think it may be the tires, I had similar issues.
I had a problem with vibrations on my EX about 65 ~ 70 mph that felt for the world like tire balance, but 2 separate tire shops that checked it said they were good using a computer spin balancer. I found a thread on here about Road Force Balancing and decided that I had nothing to lose. I went to Hunters (the manufacturer) web site, found a shop in my area that had a Road Force balancing machine and paid the $80 to get it done. End of problem. Try this link to find a shop with one.

Hunter GSP9700 Wheel Vibration Control System

 

I had to replace a ujoint in the rear drive shaft. It would only clunk on acceleration and decelerations. Check by placing truck in first gear and get on and off gas. Block truck and crawl under. Move driveshaft rotate driveshaft back and forth to check severely damaged ujoints. Mine did NOT have noticiable play but had a seal torn. Driveshafts are balanced. Note any damage and look for a welded tab on the shaft. I have heard of guys running trunk while on jacks and watching for vibrations. I have found bent rims and bent hubs this way but this is a little dangerous. Some places will put it on a rack and do this.
I also had to replace rear end carrier bearings. Previous owner must have used for towing boat and submerged rear and water entered. It would make noises when in turns and load shifted from left to right. It made a rumbling noise.
Good luck JOHN

 

Thanks again for all the help and replies guys! So anyways after replacing the rear U joint and greasing the slip yoke my rear end clunk is gone.. I do however still have the 65mph+ wobble with the new hubs. When I jack the truck up and grab the wheel at 12/6 and try and move there is no movement same as at 9/3 but it does this. When I grab the wheel and keep pulling back and forth and rotating it at the same time it will come to a point where it will have some play that is quite noticable but it wont be in the same spot on the second rotation...this make sense? wondering if this could be a bad axle u joint??
Any Ideas are greatly appreciated as this is driving me nuts trying to shoot and miss..