ok, I need some help here. Wasted ball joints in my front axle. I just spent three hours beating the hell out of the driver side to get it apart. The locking hub was seized and rusted solid into the wheel hub. The nuts on the ball joints were gone to the point that I had to use a cutting wheel to get them apart and get the knuckle off. I spent another hour trying to separate the wheel hub from the knuckle and failed at that, too.

I dont know that I'm going to win the fight with this thing. The question I have to ask is what other years interchange axles and/or knuckles with my truck. Some interchanges say the year break over is 2000, some say 2002, and I thought these things were same axle from 2000-2004. Any advice here would be appreciated

 

So where are you now..What won't come apart? 2000 - 2004 should be the same dana 60.

The hub bearing wont come out? did you get the nuts off ok?

 

Some of the 250's came with the Dana 50 front. It will interchange but it is different.

 

This is a 4WD?

The use of a ball joint press makes the job a lot easier (can be rented).

Take the knuckle/hub to a machine shop and ask if it can be pressed apart (if damaged while pressing you are no further worse off).

There should be an Axle I.D. Tag @ the front differential cover. This will I.D. the front axle asm (through use of the MPC) and give you service part info as well as info for Hollanders if you have to go that far.

 

I'm not having a lot of luck getting anything apart. The Ford factory locking hub is fused to the wheel hub. That little retainer ring that usually comes off with two fingers? I had to get it out with vice clamps and a screwdriver. The locking hub itself will not move, even after an hour of beating on it with a rubber mallet and PB Blaster.

I was able to get the knuckle off by using a cutting wheel on the ball joints. There wasn't enough meat left on the top but to get a gun on itThis thing is a friggin nightmare.

 

Remember the days of old when (when Knights were bold... ...whoops) there were grease fittings on all components?

Planned obsolescence.

 

I blame a dual mixture of 50% magnesium chloride de icing bribe and 125% of bad materials and corrosion engineering on the part of Ford. Calling them criminally incompetent would be an understatement.

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that this entire knuckle assembly might be trash because somebody tried to save $0.19 simplifying the locking hub design.

 

many guys have had to crack and drill to get them out.

 

as I get deeper into my box of wine, I've become increasingly determined to get that damn hub out and save the knuckle. I researched what you said, and it does look to be a common issue. Stupid Ford 'engineers'

 

There's your problem right there. You need beer to work on these trucks. LOL

 

im quickly drifting into Maker's Mark territory with this truck.

 

so after some internet and soul searching yesterday, I decided to accept the stock ford hubs for the crap they are remove them via violence. I bashed off the exposed portions of the hub with a 5 lb mallet and a big cold chisel. No baby hits here: I beat it like a punk that owes me money. After getting it down flush to the face of the wheel hub, I could pull out the internal locking sprocket which made room for the aluminum hub body to be beaten off the inner wheel hub surface. I drilled a few 1/4" holes down into the aluminum hub to make breaking it up easier. it was easy to drill.


back to the 5 lb mallet and the cold chisel and the rotten oxidized aluminum came apart in a few minutes of hammering.




I should have been pissed at having to waste the hubs, but it was oddly cathartic to be bash the crap out of them while thinking of the Ford engineer that designed these things. 70 years of screw cap hub locks working just fine, and some ******* ford engineer gets the bright idea to use a loose snap ring and an un-compressed o-ring to seal the assembly. yay.






still going back and forth on Warns or Mile Marker hubs. I like the price and the reviews on the MM hubs, but the Warns look like they have a better design for sealing.

 

Heat it till it's almost red. Let it sit until it turns back to iron color then hit it with water. This shock method has never failed me yet. You may need to do it more than once.
Be sure to assemble everything with silver anti-seize for future wrenching fun.
The fire wrench is your friend in the salt belt, so is anti-seize. A rose bud tip with a neutral flame works the best.