Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

[Eliteman76]

Anyone have any suggestions for replacement of u joints on a solid axle dana 44 on my '79 F150?
Was plowing snow last weekend and toasted the right joint. Going to end up replacing both of them either Sunday or Monday, and looking at the chilton's book I have is about worthless. Would be nice to try to replace without tearing the front hubs apart {another new experience for me coming up} but just looking for a bit of advice.
Still need to replace the rotors, and not used to 4x4 stuff. Too many years of 2wd trucks is what I blame my stupidity on ;D



Also...how does one pull the hub off the spindle? Am I thinking wrong on this, as unlike my exploder sport, it had a different type of hub, as wasn't a big deal to pull apart.


Andy

[squirrel]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

you kinda gotta take it all apart.....get a factory shop manual if you don't have one already

Carefully inspect all parts for wear

[rightpedal]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

If you push in the hub retainer ( aluminum piece with six screw holes) there is a snap ring. Remove that and the hub retainer should come out allowing access to the internals. I use two mini flat blade screw drivers. The ends of the snap ring are ramped just enough to wedge it up and work it out. A second set of hands are really helpful to push back the hub retainer.

Steve

[Bamfster]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

There is a clip on the end of the axle shaft that holds the whole hub assembly in, then it all comes out as one piece. After that, there is a dana44 specific nut/washer/nut that holds the rotor and bearings. Once all of that is out of the way, there is 5 nuts holding the backing plate/seal on. Behind that is the axle shaft that will slide out.

IMO, you may want to go ahead and replace the balljoints since you have it this far apart.....

[Eliteman76]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

Thanks guys, appreciate the help.
I miss my '84 F150 2wd, brakes were the same as the torino, basic an easy.

I have a buddy that is going to help me on Monday, going up to his shop. I thought about working on this stuff, and it's right at 2 degrees out and while I've done stuff in 20-30 degree weather, I am not man enough to freeze myself trying to fix in my driveway.

Going to learn how to work on this as he has a couple tools I don't for the ball joints and such which were done 5? years back by my dad when he had the truck.

Thanks
Andy

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

Ahh a shop, I shoot for 25*F+ for unnecessary/critical car work.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

The joints are a easy enough to change if you have a press...takes a bit of time...I agree that while your doing the ujoints if the balls are affordable, change them...I did them on my dodge...they were trashed...and since you have that plow up front the wear out much faster.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

u joints are quicker with a hammer
used to be a daily occurance until the general went to larger joints

[min301]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

Spideys right, faster w/ hammer.

The ball joints are under high stress on this
suspension design, and therefore wear out quickly,
chances are, you'll have to do em.

[Eliteman76]

Re: Dana 44 knuckle u joint replacement

Uh, what a freakin' day.
Started off by tearing into the axle.
toasted the right half shaft, I literally bent the living hell out of the knuckle. The spindle stub was bent at about a 40 degree angle.
What I get for letting this crap go...should of done it back in the summer, but here goes-
replaced the right axle and stub shaft.
New warn lock outs.
New Rotors, pads and seals.
New wheel studs.
New ball joints on the right.
New U joints on the front drive shaft.

Still waiting on the new springs, steering stabilizer. Damnit summit racing!

Still, she has good brakes now, and 4x4 is working again nice and smooth. Now I am thinking about all the seals I need to do on the transfer case, and pinion seals.
On the plus side with all the grease under there...cuts down on the rust.