Hey all!

Question. I am sure to probably get some weird looks but, you don't learn if you don't ask? Right?

I have a 9" rearend and dana 44 in the front. I am doing a frame off resto and I am pulling the axles off to clean and paint and to fix a couple problems. The axles leak right now at the pinon seal. And I plan on at least fixing that. And the ball joints in the front need to be replaced.

Would it be a waste of money if I took my axles to a shop and told them to put all new seals and bearings in, even though when I drove it I never heard any distinguished sounds of diff problems? I would rather keep the gears that are in there, (if ain't broke don't fix it!) Or should I have them overhaul the whole thing, new ring and pinion and so on.

Thanks!

Rompin 78'

Mike

78' F-150 4x4 351m np435/205

 

If the seal is leaking that leads me to think that your axle has some wear and tear on it. How many miles on it?

 

Thats a good question. When I bought the truck, the guy I bought it from, said for a long time that he ran it without a speedo cable! So the miles are as good as guess as anyones. So I would say they are probably original, I bought it from a rancher, who bought it from a general contractor, who bought it originally. Who used it for hauling and snow plowing.

Mike


Rompin 78'

 

Rompin:

If you got the $$ go ahead and have new seals put in. The best time to do the front is when you have it taken apart for the ball joints. The reason is that you have to have the axles out to replace the axle seals and you can just jerk them out when you have it disassembled for the ball joints. At this time have them pull it apart and look at the ring and pinion. If they have noticeable wear then you should probably have them replaced. If not then have them just check the set up and backlash and put the front back together. With or without new bearings depending on what they think about yours.

I would pull the third member out of the rear and have them look at the gears in it also and do the rear axle seals at this time and the pinion seal. Do the same thing about the gears as described with the front.

It's been a long time since I've done mine so I'm sorry if I don't have the kind of details you are looking for.

 

Almost forgot to mention. Have your axle u-joints replaced when you have the ball joints done. Same reason as the seals. This is the time when you can pull the axles right out. Axle u-joints are one of the big weak points of solid axle's like your 44. The further you have the wheels turned the more stress it puts on the axle u-joints in four wheel drive.

If they break you will destroy both the inner and outer axle on the side that broke when they hit each other.

I would recommend some aftermarket u-joints from one of the high performance U-joint makers. Look in peterson's 4 wheel and off road magazine for some ads or online. They are as much as 70% stronger than spicer u-joints

 

Thanks rrmike!

Do you think it would be beneficial if I just took just these parts into them?

Rear diff (third member)
rear axle shafts
Front axle dissembled
-axle shafts removed
-differential pulled (but left together as a unit)
-give them the axle housing to put new ball joints in

I don’t believe that there are any bearings pressed into the axle housings themselves, so I wouldn’t have to bring in the rear axle housing. I have a buddy that has an industrial steam cleaner, so I plan on steam cleaning my axle housings before I go to paint and prep and before I bolt everything back together.

But I would have them look over the gears, place new bearings and seals on the axle shafts and on the diffs (third member and so on), new ball joints, new u-joints.

I have the money, but also want to save what I can, when some of the work can be done myself. Such as assembling it all back together, it seems the only key element in differentials is making sure the innards (ring gear, pinion gear, spider gears, carrier) and the backlash is done correctly, which I would have them do, but bolting the differential back into the pumpkin and sliding the axle shafts back in, isn't really a big deal except to make sure the torque is correct when bolting everything back together.

Right now I have a quote to take the whole axle in for ~$650 for the front and ~$450 for the rear, just for labor and replacing seals and bearings.

Just thinking out loud, does this sound reasonable, or am I off my rocker, and just take both axles in still assembled?

Thanks!

Rompin