Dana 30 king pin rebuild help

[NATEandALLI]

I've searched and read through all the threads about rebuilding Dana 30 king pins. We ordered the rebuild kit from Tom's. I'm noticing now that they list the kit for being for '67-'71 model years. The problem we're having is with the rubber cone dampener pieces that sit down in the cups. Once this rubber piece is in, it doesn't seem like the rest of the bearing and seal assembly wants to fully seat in place because it's being held up by the dampener.

So I guess the question is did 66 Dana 30 front axles really not use this rubber dampener thing? To be honest, I don't know what year this axle is. Are there identifying marks anywhere that might tell us a build date? Our Bronco is a '73 but we traded our Dana 44 for this 30 and we cut the center section out and made it a straight axle so this Bronco is dedicated 2wd only.

Back to 66 king pins not using the dampener, are the bores that the cup, bearing/race and seal go into actually not as deep as 67 and later axles? Has anyone ever actually measured this to see if there's a difference?

Has anyone rebuilt the king pins on a 66 and successfully used the rubber dampeners? Do we just need to compress the hell out of them or what?

 

[thegreatjustino]

Shoot 66BlueGoose on here a message. He has rebuilt the Dana 30 on his 66 and can likely help.

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/member.php?u=42517

 

[NATEandALLI]

FWIW Jeff's Bronco Graveyard specifies their D30 king pin kits for 66 and up. Wild Horses doesn't specify a year range but their diagram does show the dampener.

 

[NATEandALLI]

Shoot 66BlueGoose on here a message. He has rebuilt the Dana 30 on his 66 and can likely help.

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/member.php?u=42517

Message sent - thanks!

 

[66BlueGoose]

The 66 has a different cup and does not use the damper or metal shim. Don't lose the 66 cups, you can't get a replacement. They are more cupped, you can see one installed in this picture. The one way I know to identify a 66 housing, is that it has a different diff cover, the fill plug is a 90 deg brass fitting, assuming it's original and not changed out.

 

[NATEandALLI]

Thanks for the info Goose. What about the diff cover is different? If I take a pic to post up here, what would I be looking for in order to show if it's a 66 or not? I got in touch with the guy I got the front axle from and he's asking the guy he got it from to see if that guy knows what it's out of.

 

[66BlueGoose]

Pre restoration picture, notice fill plug in diff cover.

 

[bamabaja]

In process of rebuilding and adding disc brakes to my ‘66 Dana 30 also. While u may have different gears, here are my part numbers. Also, if I replace inner axle seals, will blacklash and pinion depth require resetting? Thanks

 

[NATEandALLI]

Okay, so I have confirmed thru the guy I got the axle from that it is a 66. Things are all starting to make sense as we're going through this. For starters, it was obvious someone had been through the king pins before. One side had home made paper shims under one of the caps. When we got further into disassembling everything, the king pin cups we knocked out appeared to be nothing more than just regular old freeze plugs and now that we look at them again, that's exactly what they are.

Someone serviced these king pins before and obviously didn't have the right cups so they substituted in some freeze plugs that fit. I can't follow Goose's suggestion to keep the 66 cups because our axle didn't even have original cups to start with.

Second thing we've learned about the cups is that the king pin rebuild kit includes cups for 67 and later D30 axles but these cups won't work in the 66 axle. The original cups may have a different "bowl" to them but the other thing is that these new cups have a thicker lip on them and they prevent the king pin bearing races from fully seating thus everything is held up too high. We've already got one race in on top of the cup that won't work so we have to knock those back out. Paid nearly $150 for this rebuild kit and the cups and dampeners are not usable on a 66. I don't have the correct 66 only cups so we're going to put freeze plugs back in it. Lame but I don't know of another solution.

If you're rebuilding a Dana 30 axle and it's a 66, don't bother getting the full rebuild kit. Just get fresh bearings and seals.

 

[Rustytruck]

You might want to give these guys a call. They may know more of what your up against.

Jeeps and Scouts had dana 30's too so may be some cross referencing there to dig into. The old dana axle tube use to have the assembly numbers stamped into them.

http://www.quad4x4.com/catalog/qk4617

 

[asappin]

How do you know how many shims to use when installing the king pins? This may be a stupid questions but I wasn't sure. Sorry I don't mean to hijack the thread

 

[NATEandALLI]

You're supposed to check how much resistance there is to turn the knuckle after assembly using a torque wrench. If it's too tight (not enough shims), the resistance will be too high. If it's too loose (too many shims) then there won't be enough resistance. A good place to start would be to put it back together with the same number of shims that came out. I downloaded a Dana 30 service manual from one of the Bronco parts places that had a bunch of manuals available for download and that's where they rebuild process and torque spec is located.

 

[Johnmac]

Okay, so I have confirmed thru the guy I got the axle from that it is a 66. Things are all starting to make sense as we're going through this. For starters, it was obvious someone had been through the king pins before. One side had home made paper shims under one of the caps. When we got further into disassembling everything, the king pin cups we knocked out appeared to be nothing more than just regular old freeze plugs and now that we look at them again, that's exactly what they are.

Someone serviced these king pins before and obviously didn't have the right cups so they substituted in some freeze plugs that fit. I can't follow Goose's suggestion to keep the 66 cups because our axle didn't even have original cups to start with.

Second thing we've learned about the cups is that the king pin rebuild kit includes cups for 67 and later D30 axles but these cups won't work in the 66 axle. The original cups may have a different "bowl" to them but the other thing is that these new cups have a thicker lip on them and they prevent the king pin bearing races from fully seating thus everything is held up too high. We've already got one race in on top of the cup that won't work so we have to knock those back out. Paid nearly $150 for this rebuild kit and the cups and dampeners are not usable on a 66. I don't have the correct 66 only cups so we're going to put freeze plugs back in it. Lame but I don't know of another solution.

If you're rebuilding a Dana 30 axle and it's a 66, don't bother getting the full rebuild kit. Just get fresh bearings and seals.

Thanks for this posting. I have a 67 and found the same problems when trying to rebuild my king pins. The kit I bought was labeled as for 66-77 After reading this I found the correct cups which are freeze plugs and problem has been solved. It’s just a shame that some well know Bronco stores will sell this kit while knowing it doesn’t fit. Thanks for this site for helping share the word

 

[stupidboy]

This site is overflowing with knowledge!!

 

[eaglenest66]

Here's another source to use as well: https://www.quickperformance.com/Dana-30-D30_c_583.html Perhaps they can help?! I had them straighten the axle tubes on a '66 rear end. Amazing results!

 

[BOCEPHUS BRONCO]

I've searched and read through all the threads about rebuilding Dana 30 king pins. We ordered the rebuild kit from Tom's. I'm noticing now that they list the kit for being for '67-'71 model years. The problem we're having is with the rubber cone dampener pieces that sit down in the cups. Once this rubber piece is in, it doesn't seem like the rest of the bearing and seal assembly wants to fully seat in place because it's being held up by the dampener.

So I guess the question is did 66 Dana 30 front axles really not use this rubber dampener thing? To be honest, I don't know what year this axle is. Are there identifying marks anywhere that might tell us a build date? Our Bronco is a '73 but we traded our Dana 44 for this 30 and we cut the center section out and made it a straight axle so this Bronco is dedicated 2wd only.

Back to 66 king pins not using the dampener, are the bores that the cup, bearing/race and seal go into actually not as deep as 67 and later axles? Has anyone ever actually measured this to see if there's a difference?

Has anyone rebuilt the king pins on a 66 and successfully used the rubber dampeners? Do we just need to compress the hell out of them or what?

I called the tech at Jeff's Bronco graveyard after i too had the same problem.
I also installed the kit witout the spacer , dampener and cup with the kit.( just the race,bearing and seal & old cups) ; however , the tech at Jeff;s BRONCO Graveyard insisted that the kit would work with the 1966????

 

[DirtDonk]

I don’t have an answer, but will ask you how it feels after reassembling it without all the parts?
Does it feel good, with smooth turning, and no excess slop?
It’s been so long since I’ve worked on one I don’t remember all the specifications. We were just talking about knuckle pull-force after installing ball joints on a date 44. is there a pull force specification for the 30?

 

[66BlueGoose]

I called the tech at Jeff's Bronco graveyard after i too had the same problem.
I also installed the kit witout the spacer , dampener and cup with the kit.( just the race,bearing and seal & old cups) ; however , the tech at Jeff;s BRONCO Graveyard insisted that the kit would work with the 1966????

Yes, if you have a 66 you did it the correct way. Once together, per Ford Manual:

Upper and lower king pin cap plates should be torqued to 25-40 ft lbs.
Using a dial type torque wrench on one of the cap screws, turn the knuckle, reading should be between 5-10 ft lbs.
If not within tolerance, adjusts the shims (add or remove) under top cap to get desired preset. May take a few tries to get the right preload.

 

[BOCEPHUS BRONCO]

Thanks,
I feel better now.

 

[BOCEPHUS BRONCO]

ONE MORE QUESTION.
WHY IS MY STEERING WHEEL NOT CENTERD AFTER CHANGING MY DRAG LINK?
NO ADJUSTMENT ON DRAG LINK.