Front Axle Rebuild

[Justincase]

Hello all

I bought a rear axle to steal the chunk out of and install into my front axle. The donor axle chunk is pretty tight, has no side to side movement and a very tiny amount of in and out movement. Can’t really see it but I can feel it. Does anyone have a write up on pulling the axle shafts out of this rear axle so I can remove the chunk?

 

[simp5782]

Hello all

I bought a rear axle to steal the chunk out of and install into my front axle. The donor axle chunk is pretty tight, has no side to side movement and a very tiny amount of in and out movement. Can’t really see it but I can feel it. Does anyone have a write up on pulling the axle shafts out of this rear axle so I can remove the chunk?

Pull the outside hubs then Pull the chunk out. Just that easy

 

[Justincase]

Pull the outside hubs then Pull the chunk out. Just that easy

Fair enough!

 

[davidb56]

the TM's also give you a step by step procedure. You'll have to dig around for it under the Deuce TM section of this website.

 

[Justincase]

Pumpkin pulled! Besides keeping it out of a bind that was pretty easy! Some rust on it, nothing inside bearings. What do you guys think?

 

[Justincase]

Here’s a closer pic

 

[gringeltaube]

Some rust on it .............What do you guys think?

I can't see any rust...

..... a very tiny amount of in and out movement.

The pinion should have no play at all.

 

[Justincase]

I can't see any rust...

The pinion should have no play at all.

Sweet! I wasn’t sure if the nuts that had the surface on it mattered.
I honestly may be feeling things on the pinion, I get inside my head worrying about stuff! Lol!!
Tomorrow I’m replacing boots, repacking grease, doing new wheel bearings and installing this chunk!!

 

[Justincase]

Got a lot done today and a ton more to do tomorrow! I’ll post in my other thread pictures and updates on going thru the front axle.

 

[gringeltaube]

I’ll post in my other thread...

Why so? Since you already started a new thread, keep it all here; this is- or will be- your rebuild process. That other one was how to get her home and that's done.

 

[Justincase]

Why so? Since you already started a new thread, keep it all here; this is- or will be- your rebuild process. That other one was how to get her home and that's done.

Fair enough, that works for me!

 

[Justincase]

Well guys that was one hell of a rough day. Started the project at 8:30 drove it to my work got there at 10. I didn’t buy a 3” spindle socket yet because Napa is along the way and showed to be open. Low and behold it was not. I then had to go to harbor freight and buy their 1” drive socket set to get a 3” which was $200.

I started on tearing down axle. Found out my 3” socket is not deep enough for the inner nut even after I dremmeled it out but it was hang tight. Trying to do the chunk inside the truck was pretty rough. Ended up dropping the axle as far as I could on the passenger side and coming thru The side with a forklift on the frame to decompress the suspension more. The chunk took me 5-6 hours removing and reinstalling new.
I cleaned out all the old grease really good out of everything. It was nasty and full of dirt.
Finished installing boots on both sides and inspected. Made a mistake on passenger side, the inner boot clamp I installed with the offset towards the truck. So it’ll eventually rub thru the new boot. Fought with getting the driver side axle shaft seated for probably 15 minutes. I don’t really know what the hang up was on it.
All new bearings and races, I did install the races backwards not paying attention so had to drive them all out and reinstall and put hubs back on.
Once again I crossed the 3” socket isn’t big enough bridge. I got the nuts torque, wheels on and just drove it 1.5 hour back home.
Left home at 8:30am got home at 4am. Pictures quickly degraded as my phone got covered in grease and I got frustrated

 

[Justincase]

More pictures.

 

[Justincase]

 

[m715mike]

Wow! That was a long day, but you made a lot of progress!

How did you lift the chunk out of and back into the front axle?

 

[Charlie175]

What is this "Chunk" you are talking about?

 

[Justincase]

Wow! That was a long day, but you made a lot of progress!

How did you lift the chunk out of and back into the front axle?

I had the track bar dropped with the axle pulled apart I couldn’t of done this with the truck bar still there.
Removing the junk one honestly I just used pry bars and flipped it into the ground. Took out a chunk of concrete with it!
Getting it back in I lifted it up the gears facing the front bumper, with a floor jack, that got it about 4-5 inches under the housing. I wedged a big pry bar thru it with the handle sitting on the leafs.
I then attached a chain come along to the front leaf mount and to the other end of the pry bar. I pulled it up with the come along and then pushed from the back and flipped it in.
After that I lifted the whole chunk up with a forklift and and installed studs/permatexed.

 

[Justincase]

What is this "Chunk" you are talking about?

The axle gear assembly sir

 

[Charlie175]

Thank you much!

 

[NY Tom]

Did this job 2 years ago. Pulled the axle and leaf springs out as a unit on a pallet jack from the side. Did the chunk swap with an engine hoist and put it back together. Supported front on cribbing under the frame in front and big jack stands to frame about under the cab.

Nice job getting it done. Not easy either way.