dana 44 axle questions

[Ace in the hole]

I don't have a lot of knowledge about axles other than the basic understanding of how they work. I have to replace a u joint on my front axle so I started taking it apart which leads me to the following questions:

1- most exploded views of manual locking hubs show a spring in the assembly, mine did not have a spring on either drivers or passengers side, am I missing them or does the stock ( I am assuming it's stock, chrome housing with red center knob ) style not have a spring?

2- my inner seals are leaking, the ones in the tube closest to the pumpkin. I read you have to pull the carrier to change them. Never messed with a carrier, can I pull it, replace the seals and re assemble it IN THE EXACT ORDER EVERYTHING CAME OUT, without messing up anything else?


Jeff

[72armyswbtruck]

I thought thaat that the stock hubs were blue not red, so they may have been replaced. Here is a TTT for you.

[FormerMember]

Originally Posted by Ace in the hole

I don't have a lot of knowledge about axles other than the basic understanding of how they work. I have to replace a u joint on my front axle so I started taking it apart which leads me to the following questions:

1- most exploded views of manual locking hubs show a spring in the assembly, mine did not have a spring on either drivers or passengers side, am I missing them or does the stock ( I am assuming it's stock, chrome housing with red center knob ) style not have a spring?

2- my inner seals are leaking, the ones in the tube closest to the pumpkin. I read you have to pull the carrier to change them. Never messed with a carrier, can I pull it, replace the seals and re assemble it IN THE EXACT ORDER EVERYTHING CAME OUT, without messing up anything else?


Jeff

1) all the hubs I've ever pulled apart have the springs

2) Yes. in a Dana 44, the shims are under the carrier bearings which of course are pressed onto the carrier.. The housing should be marked with an E (sometimes D) near the carrier bearing race, the carrier bearing cap should also be marked with that. Be sure to place the caps back the way they came out.

Other than that, pretty simple.

[JimKshortstep4x4]

Jeff,

Check the axle vent to make sure it is not plugged up as they are bad about plugging at the fitting. If the vent is plugged, pressure built up inside the differential will force fluid past the seals.

Good luck!

Jim

[Ace in the hole]

Jim- thanks for the heads up. My axle vent seems to be working.

grendel- that's kind of what I was thinking when I took apart the hub, where is the spring? Thanks for the info on the carrier. I was thinking I could pull it with no problems but I wanted to be sure before I did it.

[Burt4x4]

The spring is behind the slide ring. The idea is when you unlock the hub the spring pushes the slide ring to the unlocked postion.
As they said yes you can pull the diff with out messing up the adjustments, do not rotate or re-install the caps in any other postion than when you pulled um. I used a punch and marked the caps & the housing to be sure I putum back the same way.
Oh and one trick to getting the inner seals out is to use a broom handle from the end of the axel tube and bang um out....
.02c

[LONGHAIR]

Which hubs are we talking about here? Is it the Spicer style with the big ring that has the tabs that contact the ramps on the back of the cap? If so, the spring is what forces the gears to engage. The "ramps" push the tabs on the ring inward, this unlocks the hub. When the dial is turned to "lock", the ramps allow the spring to push the outer gear out so that it re-engages the inner gear,locking the hub to the axle. The spring is very important in keeping the gears together. It will probably slide apart and unlock without it. There should be a big wire snap-ring that keeps it all inside.
The biggest problem with these hubs is the large amount of contact area. This makes them very hard to shift in freezing temps or when gunked-up with mud/rust. They need to be cleaned/maintained regularly, especially if you off-road it a lot.
I can't believe that I can't find an exploded view on-line somewhere?

As far as question#2, Yes. It can be done fairly easily,but it is not without pitfalls though. It just requires a lot more work. You have to pull the axles from both sides and be very careful about keeping things organized/marked so it will go back the same way. The pitfall you face is if you find something bad inside.....bearings/races, or gear teeth with wear, pits, etc. You will have done a lot of work to that point, then have to decide what to do as far as repairing this while it is apart. Things get tricky then.

On a truck this old, it's a fairly good bet that there is something...