dana 44 ball joint bushing

[bknbronco]

I have never seen a ball joint bushing until i purchased a used dana 44 axle. Do all the early bronco dana 44 have this bushing? How do you know how far in or out to screw it in? Any advise on replacing this bushing would be great. I am going to order up some ball joints and the special socket for the bushing soon.

 

[DirtDonk]

All ball-joint equipped solid-axle 44's had the adjusting collar. There is a procedure for installing them, that involves torquing it down to a certain amount, then checking the resistance to the knuckle turning.
Measured with a fish scale hooked to the steering arm. The specs are in most manuals. If you don't have one, I can look it up in mine. Or maybe someone has that memorized.

Oh, and that's the collar that you'll see mention of now and then when we're trying to align the front end. You can buy offset versions of it that will adjust caster and/or camber, depending on how far you turn it.

Paul

 

[bknbronco]

Ok so you torque it down then measure the force it takes to turn the outer knuckle?

Id like both them specs if anyone has them.

And as for the offset versions... are they the same but with the hole off-center so as you turn it the ball joint would move in and out?

 

[DirtDonk]

Correct on both counts.

Chilton's says to:
Torque lower nut to 70-90 ft lbs.
Torque adjusting sleeve to 40 ft lbs.
Torque upper nut to 100 ft lbs.
Test knuckle. Effort to turn should not exceed 26 lbs.

I believe that someone else's manual stated a slightly different value for that, but don't know what that was. When I get the chance, I'll go look into the Ford books to see what they say.
In the meantime though, that info should get you there.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Another little tidbit, if you haven't done stuff like this before. Sometimes the ball-joint stud will spin in the tapered hole as you try to run the nuts up to torque. If this happens, then, just like you can do with a tie-rod end, run a floor jack up under the ball-joint to put more pressure upward into the tapered hole.
This usually takes care of the spinning and lets you torque the nut to spec.

Paul

 

[bknbronco]

ausome...thanks again paul. So you would hook the fish scale to the knuckle arm where the steering linkage bolts on?

 

[DirtDonk]

Exactly. And obviously it has to be done before you re-attach your tie-rod anyway, or you'd get an incorrect reading.

Paul

 

[bknbronco]

is there a certain book you use to find all your torque specs on the various bronco parts? Is there a "bronco bible"? I went to chiltons web site and couldnt find a book for the early bronco!

 

[DirtDonk]

Only available to old-farts and eBay lurkers. ;D
I'm sure that Chilton's website sucks. They have a hard time with their print versions even!

The Chilton's book, if it's still available, covers ALL Broncos now, but in the same size book as the original " '66 to '73" edition. So detailed information is understandably a bit thin.
If you can go online and find an old copy of either the '66 to '73 OR the '66 to '77 editions, that would do you just fine for most often needed info.
Haynes did sort of the same thing, so finding an older copy in good shape is a goal of a lot of Early Bronco owners. You see links to them every once in awhile. Do a quick Google search and something might come up from the Shop Manual suppliers.

Otherwise and in the meantime, just keep asking here. Somebody is always willing to make something up on the spur of the moment to help a buddy out. ;D
We come up with some real doozies sometimes!

Paul