Rat repair.

[steelhorse]

Looks good so far. Keep up the hard work and you will be done in no time.

[swamp rat]

Well, my morning was spent trying to find the elusive seal, the 4X4 place ordered the spindle hub seals and they ended up being the same ones Napa ordered, wrong ones again, for some reason the parts books list the wrong seal, so Rock auto to the rescue again, still waiting for my inner seals for the Dana as well.

Got home and crawled under the truck and ran a couple scotch bright wheels over the axles to knock the loose rust off them then they got the acid bath, if you look closely (sorry no flash) you can see i didn't do the covers as they have to be removed anyway so i'll do then when i change out the oil and replace the inner axle seals on the Dana.

Then i popped the race's in the other wheel hub then unmasked my steering knuckles and installed the ball joints, i found it was easier to use my 12T press on the lowers and then used the kit on the uppers so i didn't buy it for nothing I was disappointed that this back up adapter does not fit into the hole in the C clamp like its suppose to, wish i had a lath and I would have fixed that real quick.

lifted the back end onto some stands and removed the wheels, to start the rear disk conversion, and one more setback, this time it was mother nature and a serious thunder and lightening storm passed by but not before i got soaked trying to wrap up. Guess i should go wash my coveralls!

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by steelhorse

Looks good so far. Keep up the hard work and you will be done in no time.

Thanks Steelhorse, i took this week off on vacation but i have to admit I'm not going to get this project done before the weekend i don't think.

[mjensen]

Wow, that's some serious rain

Progress looks great!

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by mjensen

Wow, that's some serious rain

Progress looks great!

Its gonna be doing it all night, the next front is almost here.. I can here the thunder in the distance.

EDIT: Just started dumping again..

[swamp rat]

So had a break from the first weather front put on some dry cloths and went back out first order was to remove the rear drum brakes for my disk conversion, If you don't have spring pliers get some! even a cheap pair like mine will work easier than trying to use pliers. ran into something i wasn't expecting, there is a cup shield of some kind on the spindle and it appears to be pressed onto the spindle like a Speedy sleeve, but i never seen a speedy sleeve with this much of a shoulder, its looking to be larger than the hole in the backing plate, not sure how to address this yet i could use some help on this one.

So I cleaned up a but and started working on my wheel hubs and front rotors, I thought about my press but couldn't figure out a way to support the assembly so read a number of places to get a big hammer and drift and hammer the lugs into place, did that for a bit until the 3.5lb mall found the back of my left hand, No holder on the drift, duh! Yea that hurt! As i was recouping i stopped and thought about it for a while, can i invert one of the old rotors and use it? the rest is history!

[swamp rat]

Well its been raining for the last 13 hours...........

Got to run an errand in a bit, if the rain hasn't stopped i'll have to break out the rain gear and the 10X10 awning..

[swamp rat]

New rain fall record, 2.5 inches in 24 hours.... :p

Got the dust seals off the rear axle, took the first backing plate off no problem, the driver side was a different story, the rear lower bolt was locked up tight, my 1/2 drive impact wouldn't budge it. So I had on my rain gear sitting 1/2 under the truck with my BurnzOmatic torch and a cam of PB blaster for about 30 minutes but i finally got it, of course when i went to put the adapter plate on i realized that i need to run a tap thru that hole, so off to the nearest hardware store for a 1/2-20- tap, nothing but an empty slot on the rack...

Pulled the front diff cover, lots of sludge laying in the bottomg ot that cleansed out and scraped the gasket surface, the cover got scraped and hit it with a scotch brite disk, then with a little acid bath, tomorrow i can paint it.

Still debating on if i can remove the diff assembly to change the inner seals on my Dana 44-5F if anybody can add instructions or advice on removal instal Please chime in.

Pressed the rear drums off the hubs, then popped out the bearings, this is a different puppy, never done one before, first you pop out the inner seal and brg, then the inner race, then look inside and you find a snap ring, you need to tap that bearing back a little to get the snap ring out, then flip the hub. There you need a small driift that fits into the axle bolt holes the bearing will go down about .100and it becomes flush with a flange, you need a drift with a small enough diameter to catch the bearing and miss the flange lip, then tap it down until you can put a larger drift thru the center and tap the race the rest of the way out.

[swamp rat]

Heres some pic's, forgot to add that the snap ring is too big to remove inless the inner race is removed first.

I thought about this for a while now and i pulled the trigger today on a new 4" lift kit from BDS Suspension, new rear springs with no blocks out back, new Fox Shocks too. just getting tired of that Rancho ride

http://bds-suspension.com/product?ma...1&yr=1969-1972

[swamp rat]

To drive out the outer bearing it goes thru the back of the hub, you need a small drift to get the bearing moving, but about .100 down there is a flange or lip in the hub, the punch has to be small enough to not hit that lip but drive the bearing, after it is moved about 1" you can use a larger drift thru the center.

The old bearings are Barrel bearings but my parts store got me tapered roller bearings, still trying to figure if this is ok or if i need Barrel bearings???

[mjensen]

Kudos to you. Mine's in the garage and I wouldn't work on it in the rain it's good to see you're making some great strides on getting the drivetrain finished.

[swamp rat]

All I had time for today was a run to a different hardware store for the 1/2" tap to clean up the axle threads and got my rear disk adapter plates mounted and did some clean up. Tonight is a night at the lake with friends.
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[swamp rat]

Got at it early today so i could get the seals replaced in the axle, then we could go to the fair, If i didn't I'd be in the dog house now!

I documented the bearing cap orientation of the differential then pulled the caps and worked the carrier out of the housing, that took a little while. I laid it right into a clean old Tee shirt and wrapped it up tight to keep it clean as possible.

To remove the seals i tried a broom handle first but couldn't get a bite on the seals so looked around and fond a long steel drag handle to my Bulldog floor motorcycle lift, it looked to be my only option and less than ideal but with no other option i used it and popped the seals out, i cleaned up the housing and seal bores and also the axle tubes, then spread a thin film of sealant into the bores then used a large socket to tap the new seals into place, any excess sealant would be left in the dry axle tube.

I got the new seals with the built in axle guide, the seals i removed had no axle guide built in but had a separate steel guide sleeve, i opted to not try and use the steel sleeve with the new seal as they were dinged up pretty bad, but i'm gonna keep then just in case i need then down the road, i hope it was the right choice.

No pic of it but i had some pretty bad wear pitting on one of the races but the bearings looked good, i ordered new races to reinstall the carrier, i know its not ideal but i feel its better than not changing them.

The bearing is one of the wheel hub barrel bearings, my new ones are tapered roller bearings, still looking for some reassurance that its ok to go from one type of bearing to another,

A shameless plug to my dog Max

[swamp rat]

Went to town for the replacement races, came hone and got the carrier reinstalled and the cover back on, did some rear hub prep work then had to get ready to leave for work soon, the days will be shorter now that i'm gonna be back at work, but from here all the worst is over and its all reassembly now on the front end and rear.

Still have the brake system to swap out and get finished as well as the new lift kit.

[swamp rat]

Pressed the rear rotors onto the rear hubs today.

Started my knuckle install on the yoke but had to pull the driver side back off as i pulled a bone head move and stripped out the crown on the adjusting sleeve, i was trying to loosen it and didn't have the tool fully engaged or enough downward pressure with my hand, I thought it was turning the sleeve but nope, lesson learned! lucky for me i saved the old ones and there in good shape.

[swamp rat]

Knuckles are on yesterday, installed axles spindles and backing plates today. Got all my front and rear races installed, greased all the bearings and installed the inners with the rear seal.

Mounted the rear hub and bolted up the rear caliper, Hum the bottom caliper bolt felt a little snug but continued thinking it was a little paint over spray, caliper centers nicely on the rotor, happy camper.... Until i went to spin the rotor again, the rear caliper lower bolt was actually contacting the rotor, , further inspection showed the upper caliper bolt was about 1/8" away, crap so long story short i called and will have to return the brackets so they can make another set. Per the pic's, I masked off the rotors and sprayed the casting areas and your looking at the tape and paint, leaving the masking on for now.

Moving right along, grabbed the front hub and tried to install onto my new spindles, the rear bearing won't slide over the spindle on ether side, i test fit all the bearings and seals on the old spindle so didn't even give it a second thought.... Put the rotor/hub back on my work bench, grabbed one of my old spindles and she popped right into place, sigh. I grabbed my calipers and measured about .001 difference, the newer spindle was of course bigger.

So 2 steps forward and 4 steps back again..

I'll have to inspect the new spindles a bit closer, but curious what your thoughts would be to using a strip of emery cloth and trying to polish it down a little?

[swamp rat]

To get caught up hears a couple more pictures.

The first pic shows the axle with the BK1 seal kit laid out next to it, on the right is the bronze washer i pulled off my axle, in the middle is the plastic washer on the left is a V seal and inside is a seal that does fit inside the back of my spindles next to the needle bearing but there wasn't one of these seals in there when i took it apart, My spindles being the small spindles only had a bronze washer and a seal on the back side of the spindles. But the parts list called out the BK1 kit to be used as well, so when i saw the parts list breakdown i wondered if the rubber V seals rotted so bad they fell off? or did some hack get to this truck and not use some of a a kit many years ago? but after looking at it i don't see how the kit would possibly work in my application. I also received the seal for the large spindles as well, it had the wrong ID. both the kit and seal will be returned.

2nd pic shows the Bronze washer on the axle, the washer in the BK1 kit is plastic and has a larger diameter, if i was to use just that washer i'd have to grind the OD down to fit inside the axle sleeve.

Long story short, unless someone can chime in and tell me I'm missing something on the BK1 kit as far as using the V seal then I'm gonna proceed to reuse my bronze washers and i located the new seal for the back of the spindles..

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...801&cc=1051445

3&4, knuckles have been installed.

[swamp rat]

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/sp...l-kit-1565662/

Now for the replacement spindle, i needed to polish off .0005 off both diameters for the bearings to fit on them, I used a little 1000 grit followed by a little 1500 grit, being very careful to take the surface down evenly.

So i got the passenger side spindle mounted and new prevailing torque nuts, mounted the hub and rotor and preloaded the inner bearing while spinning to 50ft#, backed it off 3/8 of a turn and installed the locking washer, and installed the outer nut and torqued it to 50 ft# per the service manual.

There is a lot of discussion about whether 50# is enough for the outer nut torque, i have read discussions saying 80#, 130# 150# My Clymers said 175# and another said to reef on it until you cant reef on it anymore.. so I figure i'll run it for a little at 50# per the pdf and keep checking the hubs for warmth then open the hubs back up and re set the bearing preload after a few hundred miles or so, and if it feels like they stayed tight i'll use 50# again, if not i may increase it a little .

Again my hats off to the hack that worked on my truck before, he used a chisel to remove and install the hub nuts, and don't recall if i mentioned yet but my bearings were in fact not at properly preloaded, which is what ruined my spindles. I decided to grab my wet stone and stone the chisel burs off the flat surface of the nut and reverse it as the outer 4 slots were pretty hacked up.

Pic's to follow tonight.

[swamp rat]

Here's a couple pic's

One of the outer nuts after i wet stoned it to remove the chisel burrs.

Passenger side done!

Now one more setback, when i bought my calipers and other parts i never checked the throat depth of the calipers, the boxes have the correct part number needed to be used for the HD rotors, i just degreased and masked off and painted them without a second thought. After i got the passenger side together i grabbed the caliper and it don't fit over the rotor... I measured the throat and it was smaller than the one for the driver side, hard to see with the naked eye but about 1/8th difference if i recall correctly. Tomorrow i head back to the auto parts store to do an exchange on the calipers, now i'm out the cost of a can of VHT high temp caliper paint.

I got the other spindle polished down and test fitted so its ready to install again tomorrow.

[Bigdav160]

Nice job of documenting.

[swamp rat]

Another day of heavy rain and thunder is here:

Need to go to NAPA and swap out the calipers and hopefully between the rain squalls I'll have the driver side assembled.

I'm holding off on the drag link and tie rod for now as i'm still waiting on my new lift kit to arrive.

A couple more pic's i missed:

The scale shows a .001 difference in the caliper mount holes, New Prevailing Loc Nuts, Both the inner and outer spindle bearing surfaces needed polished to get the bearings to slip on, again 1000 grit followed by 1500 grit.

[l79m20]

Keep up the good work!

[swamp rat]

Stopped early tonight.. Go Seahawks!

Had a break in the weather early so i reassembled the driver side axle and hub assy.

Then decided to document the master cylinder and proportioning lines before i removed them from the truck. Then i gathered up the old calipers and the 2 new ones (one being incorrect) the master cylinder, Booster and headed down to Napa to swap the one wrong caliper for the correct one, per my previous post the caliper wasn't wide enough for the thick rotors that my truck runs, i also read a forum thread where this was happening but it was all suppose to be cleared up, well i got a straggler i guess..

New caliper has been prepped and painted, drying over night.

I noted a possible problem with my new Proportioning valve, it has one extra port on the front beveled surface, but it is in the package and labeled to be correct for my disk conversion, I don't know if i can just plug the port? or if i will need a different Proportioning valve, Any help? I'll call Inline tube tomorrow morning.

Took a good look at the front rubber brake hoses and and how the steel lines are attached then shot then with PB Blaster, I'm beginning to wonder if i'd be better off removing my headers to gain more room to get my fat hands into the frame rails and get the lines loose. I need to get the lines loose without messing them up because trying to change the steel lines out with the body on would be just a pita. Very concerned about dirt and 40 years of crud build up too.

I moved on to the rear rubber line, i tried to unscrew the passenger line from the rubber hose T and it wasn't gonna budge, to i decided To unhook the rubber hose at the top mount then unbolt the mount bracket from the diff and remove the whole assembly. I chucked the bracket into my vice and tried a flair nut wrench on the line again after a little PB Blaster, no go, so i got out my trusty bernzomatic torch and started heating it up and shooting PB Blaster, next thing i knew the pressure build up inside the lines blew the hose off the fitting! I checked the hose and it wasn't plugged, the steel lines were not plugged ether so i guess the brake fluid got hot enough to hit the flash point and ignite, just glad that was the end of it.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Bigdav160

Nice job of documenting.

Thanks Bigdav160,

These forums have offered me so much knowledge that i felt i wanted to give back...and show a couple mistakes along the way.. Its all a learning experience! And i'll say again i have never done this before, its obviously taking way longer than i expected even with the time allotted for degrease prep and paint.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by l79m20

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the compliment! with the setback's i run into the kind words offer encouragement to keep pressing forward!