Front 10 Bolt Teardown / Rebuild PICTURES!

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Here it is, disconnected from the axle assembly.

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Since im doing a 4 inch suspension lift I will have to remove the stock steering arm and replace it with a modified verizon. Pretty simple job. The steering arm is located on top of the driver side knuckle and secured with 3 nuts and 3 cone washers. Go get your Huge @$$ breaker bar, an extension and a 7/8" socket. Start by removing all three nuts holding the steering arm down. After the nuts are removed hit it with some PB blaster and let it sit on the cone washers. As you can tell by the picture I totally missed. (Its hard to hold a camera and spray at the same time)

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REMOVING THE STEERING ARM (CONTINUED) Depending on how rusted your cone washers are is what determines how hard this part is going to be. Thankfully on the surplus axle there was no rust and the steering arm came off without a problem. But on my original front axle it was a pain in the @$$!! If you are in the same boat as i was, heres what to do. With some persuasion it should come off without a problem. Start by tapping it with a mallet and switching between these three places. Get some good wacks in there its not gonna hurt anything. After a couple rounds of wack a mole the cone washers should give and pop goes the weisel.

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Now that the cone washers are free, remove them and the steering arm. Make sure to back these washers, you dont want to misplace them. (In the past I lost one and it was a pain to find a replacement)

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Next we are going to remove both of the brake calipers. The surplus axle didnt come with brake lines or fluid so its fairly easy. Start by turning the knuckle as far forward as possible too expose the 2 allen bolts securing the caliper in place. Grab your allen wrench and get to work. These bolts put up a fight but with a slight tap of the mallet they come right off.

[Mr. 250r]

The death wobble is also conveniently available for the ball joint axles as well but in my opinion the king pin is way more susceptible to it for some reason which could be good or bad depending on which axle you have as far as the surplus army axle i had a magazine that had axles in it and they looked basically the way yours is i think its probably from sitting around in different environments will eventually cause some surface rust or its got good use lol

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Once you get the 2 allen head bolts off you can then pull of the entire caliper assembly. Since these had been concealed in a box since 1987 and havent ever had any brake lines attached I figured the brake piston inlet would be full of rust and decay. At least there was a tiny plug keeping water and debri out, and to my luck not spec of rust inside. So ill hit these with the sandblaster and spray them with hi-temp red paint and throw them back on later.

[DirtyLarry]

Hehe, my favorite part is the thorough instructions as how to remove a cotter pin. Aren’t those military surplus Blazer axles a horrible gear ratio like 3:08 or something? I guess that is not an issue if you are regearing while you are at it.





Actually, you shouldn’t beat on the joint itself but tap the knuckle it is seated into. Beating on the joint itself is just a good way to ruin it regardless if the nut is on the threads or not.

I’m going through the same motions as you this week but rebuilding a 1978 D44 and 10.5 14 bolt FF for my Suburban. Right now D44 is in bits while I am cleaning and painting everything while I wait for the new ball joints to arrive. It is a lot of work getting these axles whipped back into shape.

BTW, “death wobble” has nothing to do with the fact an axle has kingpins or ball joints. “Death wobble” is more prevalent on axles with heavy wheel-end weight. By wheel-end weight, I mean the weight of components outside of the knuckle pivots. If you think about how heavy king pin type D60 wheel ends are (big knuckles, large spindles, big hubs, heavy rotors, etc) is why it is more prevent on them vs. a smaller and lighter D44 or Corp 10 bolt. “Death wobble” is born from a stack up of tolerances. Basically, a joint here on the outer spec limit, a joint there on the outer spec limit of acceptable play, then a wheel bearing a bit loose, a spring bushing (or 4) that are worn, too much tire, etc, etc, etc exaggerated by heavy wheel-ends. …. start stacking things like that up is where the issue comes from once the front end gets excited into the wobbly resonance. Invest in a good steering stabilizer and call it a day.