axle seals and bushing help

[conseated T]

I pulled my dana 44 front axle out of my 77 bronco because there seemed to be excessive up and down play at the ujoints. I pressed in new u joints but the seals were all torn up. I need some kind of diagram that will show me what seals go where. I have and old Ford truck service manuel but I feel like I'm missing something when the axle goes in towards the pinion gear. is it just the one seal that goes against the slinger. I am going to replace my spindle bearing with an extreme bushing. I have gotten far enough along to see how bad the spindle bearing is...could that be the reason for the up and down movement of the axle?

 

[distended]

Found this on Bronco Graveyard

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/c-774-dana-44-hub-spindle.html

 

[conseated T]

another question whats the best way to get sand/dirt out of the front axle housing. the seals were totally gone

 

[DirtDonk]

There are no outer seals in the tubes on a 44. Only the 30's got those, and not all EB 30's had those either I don't think?
So yeah, grit and gunk do build up in there.

If you ever leak gear oil, it's the INNER axle seals that are the culprit. They're all the way in the bottom of the tubes and you need to pull the diff to change them.
Which also means you have to be extra careful pulling and replacing the axles when they get down near the end of the tube. Be gentle and rotate the axle shaft when inserting past the seal.

There are diagrams hereabouts regarding the outer seals and bushings/slingers/shims, but here's the basic rundown.
From the spindle inward:
1. the small open-ended seal that just fits into the back of the spindle bearing. It's not a press-fit or anything. Just barely held in there by it's own pressure. I always mount them with the open channel towards the bearing, but others have done it the other way for years without any trouble either.
1a. Your '72 "might" have the recess in the back of the spindle for the larger spindle seal as well. If so, you can use it as well (our part #8840). If not, not to worry. Many of us don't have that and things work just fine. My '71 should have one, but I've never used one as they don't typically come in the standard kits.
2. there is a thrust-washer/shim that goes around the axle shaft itself. The beveled edge faces inward toward the u-joint to better fit the radius of the machined portion of the shaft.
3. the "bellows" seal is the larger of the two and it's wider side slides over the machined portion of the shaft too, just around the area where the thrust-washer is. The "flap" side, or whatever you want to call it, faces the spindle.

Your stock axles would have had "slingers" that are thin sheet-metal pieces that are semi-press fitted to the outer axle shafts near the u-joint. These are not typically a "service" part, but if damaged they can be replaced.
Most aftermarket shafts don't even have them.

Since you're in that area anyway, now's the time to clean and re-pack the spindle bearing itself. Unless you're replacing it that is. Then it's clean already, but can still benefit from a little extra forced-in-by-hand grease. The excess will just spit out the other end of the spindle where you can use it for the bearings and hub.

Also, unless you know for a fact that your u-joints have been replaced in the recent past, it's not a bad idea to do them now too. If you haven't already.

Hope that helps.
There are pictures hereabouts and on some of the vendor's websites. I don't think ours blows up large enough, but let me go check anyway...
This page has the seals: http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/category/s?keyword=spindle+seal but not the writeup and exploded view.
Here's the exploded view, but as said, it's not that large. It does have all the pieces we're talking about however: http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/category/bronco_Dana44

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Forgot to mention the bit about actually getting the grit out of the tube.
Carefully... ;D

The trick would be to keep any grit from getting pushed farther in to the seal or diff area. So the best time to clean the tube is actually when the inner parts are completely out for whatever reason. Then you can literally clean them like a gun barrel, with a bar and rag and cleaner/degreaser.
Short of that, just reach in with some kind of rod and carefully PULL any debris out. Just be careful not to PUSH any farther in.

That's the "trick" but I don't have any tricks or tips for you other than that "be careful" part.

Paul

 

[conseated T]

thanks for all your help this is a great site

 

[Lebe]

If you're gonna take the diff out and have the whole housing out many diff build garages have a cleaner that takes the housing on end and washes it like a dish washer. I'm about ready to do that with my rear D60 that we're changing over to full float 8 lug.

 

[DirtDonk]

I thought the one our mechanic came up with years ago (maybe he bought it and just said he made it?) was great too. It was one of those tall oil drain pans (like a gigantic funnel on a stilt with a tank at the bottom) that he turned into a parts washer complete with extra-large pan, in-tank pump, and bore brush.

Put the rig up on the rack, remove all components but leave the housing on the truck, roll the tank up beneath the center diff and one tube, fire it up and pump the brush down the tube like you were readying the artillery regiment for inspection!
All the liquid and crud and grit would flow out the center and the end being "swabbed" with very little mess.

A quick clean took all of 2 minutes, but a full clean would just have the thing sitting there flowing all through the housing while the mechanics would go on to other things for awhile.
The main reason for the overkill cleaning was ARB jobs. There was a zero-tolerance law in effect for grit in an ARB install.

Paul

 

[Fireball05]

Here are two mildly useful photos to go along with Paul's Post#4 above.

1st photo shows everything in place as it came out of the axle.

2nd photo shows everything removed with just the slinger left, and knocked out of place, ready to be removed.

 

[DirtDonk]

Ahh, the real deal. Thanks for the pics.
Quite a high grunge factor there. Bet they look much better now though!

And you've been busy here as well. Seven months and already well over 1000 posts!
Nice, good of you to contribute so much. And glad of it.

Paul

 

[surfer-b]

This may have already been stated but when you replace this be sure and get the taper on this piece in the correct position.

 

[.94 OR]

I am going to weld a washer on the end of a piece of metal rod. I should be able to lift the washer end up to the top of the tube, push it into the inner seal then drop it down and pull the grit/grime out. Might take a could tries, but I think it will clean most of the stuff out without pulling the Diff apart.

 

[DirtDonk]

I agree. Should be great.
All it needs to be the perfect modern Bronkenstein tool, is one serrated edge with motorized sawing action, vacuum attachment with brush action, laser-guided bore scope with 4x5 viewing screen (with full targeting grid of course) upgradeable to tablet size, and a recording device so we can all see the action and results posted up on YouTube.
Compatibility with some Go-Pro attachments would be a bonus.

Should work well...

Paul

 

[conseated T]

attached a reducer to my shop vac down to 1" then attached a rubber dishwasher hose connector then inserted a piece of pvc pipe I think it's 1/2" inside and vacuumed the housing out with that

 

[.94 OR]

This is basically what I just did with the PVC. I cut the leading end at a steep angle leaving about 1/3 of the circumference "flat" then beveled the edges to the inside so I could chip and scrape at the barnacles. Once this was complete, it was real easy to hold the shop vac up to the end and clean it out.