Stage 8 X-lock

[Dunenutt]

When I re-geared my axles a few months back, I splurged on a few items. One Item was X-lock spindle nuts. They seemed bulletproof at the time... I was wrong!

I contacted Stage 8, and was less than impressed with the person on the other end. Within 15 seconds, he determined they were installed wrong. No pics, no questions, and no explanation of how they were wrong.

I followed the instructions exactly, but somehow this happened. I'm out $ 320, plus the price of the x-locks.

[Dunenutt]

My truck is a show pony! No off road, and these have right at 500 miles on them! I guess this happens often with the ford guys. I have found several posts stating the same results.

[Dunenutt]

This was not fun to take off! the keyway is on top of the spindle.

[Dunenutt]

This was not caused by bearing failure as suggested by Stage 8. Here is both outers...

[Ol Blue K20]

Wow!! I'm glad I saw this, I was getting ready to order some....I guess I'll stick to the stock set up (hasn't failed yet)

[Dunenutt]

That's what I went back to!

[dwcsr]

I see on this spindle an spot where it was bashed with something and left an over hanging edge where the bearing may need to seat. That edge is flattened so something tried to press up against it possibly the bearing. If this raised edge were there when you installed the parts this could cock the bearing or make it feel tight until its driven a few miles and it would loosen up. I also see that both those bearings have spun on the journals so you may have what appears to be good bearing with a bad internal bearing surface.

If the spindle was damaged and the bearing was falsely seated and then loosened up by driving it could cock the bearing and if there is internal race damage it make the bearing lock and spin the lock setup. It also looks like the keyed tang isn't long enough to fully engage the keyway.

I'd cut the cage apart and see what the cone race looks like. What do the inner races look like. They would show damage as well but maybe not as much.

[Dunenutt]

I will cut the cage off and check. I didn't want to in case stage 8 wanted to see the parts. I believe the flattened spot may have been caused by unreasonable force... applied to the spindle... by me... during final disassembly. (AKA, I hit it with a large hammer!)

[dwcsr]

They should be smart enough to see the bearing in pieces and tell if it was good or bad. The hammer mark isn't necessarily an issue I don't think anything rides on that surface but the lip left by the hammer is.

Post a picture of the race when you get it apart

[Dunenutt]

I have been racking my brain on this for a while now, and it finally makes sense. The factory nut assy. uses two nuts that jam together, thus locking everything to the threads. The x lock uses only one nut, so it is allowed to float on the threads. The washer is also allowed to vibrate in the key way.

[JimJones]

This is above my level of experience but I'm wondering what happened to cause you to know something was wrong?
When I get around to building my truck I plan on buying a complete crate Dana 44 from Dynatrac and I want to spec it out with the best possible parts that won't break. One thing I was going to tell them to include was Stage 8 spindle lock nuts but now I'm wondering if it would be worth it or not.

[Dunenutt]

I had a leaky differential seal, so I had to take it apart. I'm glad I did, because I'm headed to Cali next month. Having one of those washers cut through the spindle at 65 would be bad!

[JimJones]

Where was the leak coming from the hub area or the diff cover?

[Dunenutt]

Through the axle tube, from the differential. The seals are just outboard of the ring gear bearings. The leak and the spindle nuts are totally un-related.

[Dunenutt]

Seal location.

http://www.pavementsucks.com/techimg/axleseal03.jpg