54mm Socket and Spring Tention Tool

[MH_Stevens]

Dans stuff should arrive Monday and I am ready to start rebuilding the front Axel. I have not been able to find a 54mm socket nor the thing needed to measure the pre-tention or what ever. Are these main dealer only items? Should I have asked Dan to have included them in my package?

Mike Stevens

 

[lx450landcruiser]

the socket you can try and get locally although i couldnt find one in my town go to marlin they have the snap on one for $24 and also the scale. the tension scale is just a fish scale to check your out door stores ..... also if u cant find 54mm try 2 1/8th

 

[tarbe]

54mm is also 2 1/8 inches. Sometimes it pays to ask in inches. I got one at a Napa. Some guys have found them at Sears. Christo sells one, too.

I used a simple digital battery powered fish scale for pre-load.

 

[Junk]

tooldesk.com is where I got a few 54mm 2 for me and a few for other friends when they had the OTC 1/2" drive on clearance for $6 about 3-4 yrs ago. You don't need a fish scale.

 

[turbocruiser]

tooldesk.com is where I got a few 54mm 2 for me and a few for other friends when they had the OTC 1/2" drive on clearance for $6 about 3-4 yrs ago. You don't need a fish scale.

Junk, out of curiosity, not out of arguement, but why do you say you dont need a fish scale? I got not only a regular fish scale for this but a digitalized fish scale so I could really dial it in...surprise surprise huh? Are you saying you feel this out or that you use something other than the fish scale setup? Please clarify, thanks.

 

[Junk]

Junk, out of curiosity, not out of arguement, but why do you say you dont need a fish scale?

I don't own a fish scale and have no desire to get one for this. Maybe next time setting up different knuckles on a different truck etc, but not for this. This is done by feel - no scale.

 

[Hayes]

I got a 2 1/8 inch one at Sears.
Works great.
Had to get an adapter to the 3/4 inch driver, it works just fine--don't have to torque the nuts much, anyway.

Hayes

 

[Romer]

$22 from Slee offroad:
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/products_drivetrain_main.htm

 

[syrinxstar]

also http://www.marlincrawler.com/

 

[T Y L E R]

This is done by feel - no scale.

Bingo!! Poser taught me this when I was down at his shop. I had only ever read about doing the axle service, and so when I saw him doing the preload (is that what its called? ) and saw no fish scale nearby I inquired. He cocked his head to the side, stared at my dumb ass, and just as the silence was close to becoming unbearable he reminded me just how long he had been working on cruisers .. and at what age he did his first axle job. I was a little embarrassed to say the least ..



TY

 

[TLC42TD]

Do a web search on OTC6612 for the 54mm socket.

 

[tarbe]

tooldesk.com is where I got a few 54mm 2 for me and a few for other friends when they had the OTC 1/2" drive on clearance for $6 about 3-4 yrs ago. You don't need a fish scale.

Perhaps you have set the pre-load on dozens of cruisers and don't need a scale.

Why would you tell someone who has never done the job, that he doesn't need a scale?

I think that is irresponsible.


Use a scale until you get to the Jeddi Master Junk status of bearing pre-load setting

 

[turbocruiser]

I don't own a fish scale and have no desire to get one for this. Maybe next time setting up different knuckles on a different truck etc, but not for this. This is done by feel - no scale.

Ok, good to know thanks, and again, out of curiousity and not out of argument but are the fine folks here who have the "feel" of it finding that the specs in the FSM are off somehow??? In other words, to get the "feel" someone must have made the measurement at least once afterward to confirm that the hand/wrist/arm or whatever was within spec, OR, they must have found that the low range of the range in the FSM was too low or that the high range of the range in the FSM is too high or that the range in the FSM was just off somehow. I really respect the experience of the folks who can simply "feel" it, however I do not have this experience so I aim for the middle of the range, so I guess what I'm asking those who have the experience is have you at least once measured the preload when you had it "perfect by feel" and if so can you tell me what that value was. Yes, I am the type to do it and redo it until it is perfect so I want to know what perfect is. Again, all out of curiosity and OCD!!!

 

[tarbe]

Ok, good to know thanks, and again, out of curiousity and not out of argument but are the fine folks here who have the "feel" of it finding that the specs in the FSM are off somehow??? In other words, to get the "feel" someone must have made the measurement at least once afterward to confirm that the hand/wrist/arm or whatever was within spec, OR, they must have found that the low range of the range in the FSM was too low or that the high range of the range in the FSM is too high or that the range in the FSM was just off somehow. I really respect the experience of the folks who can simply "feel" it, however I do not have this experience so I aim for the middle of the range, so I guess what I'm asking those who have the experience is have you at least once measured the preload when you had it "perfect by feel" and if so can you tell me what that value was. Yes, I am the type to do it and redo it until it is perfect so I want to know what perfect is. Again, all out of curiosity and OCD!!!

I'll stand by my post above. Use a scale until you have done so many that your hands are arms are calibrated regardless of how tired you are, how many beers you've had, etc.

 

[turbocruiser]

Perhaps you have set the pre-load on dozens of cruisers and don't need a scale.

Why would you tell someone who has never done the job, that he doesn't need a scale?

I think that is irresponsible.


Use a scale until you get to the Jeddi Master Junk status of bearing pre-load setting

For the record, I did not interpret it as Junk telling ME that I did not need to use the scale; I just interpretted it that he was telling me that HE did not need to use the scale, two entirely different things in my mind. Also anyone around here who knows ME well enough would know that whether or not I experienced enough 80's to feel the feel, I would STILL measure it with a scale, preferrably a digitalized scale accurate to within +/- .00005% !!! Its just the way I work!!!

I'll stand by my post above. Use a scale until you have done so many that your hands are arms are calibrated regardless of how tired you are, how many beers you've had, etc.

Again, I did not take anything anyone advised me on as a suggestion, just a reference to how THEY do this job. With only about one dozen hub jobs on my belt, and with none of those on the 80, I do not have the computerized calibrated arms that some here have, and again, even if i did, I'm just not the type to "feel" anything that I can measure. Again, its part me, part OCD!!! Still, I'd like to know from those "feelers" out there, has anyone jsut for grins and giggles measured the perfect preload to see what it was??? Thanks.

 

[landtank]

You're working on a 1 ton axle, you've got some leeway here. I've had trouble in the past with bearings loosening up and decided that the fish scale wasn't working for me. I now just torque the inner nut to 10 ft lbs rotate it several times and recheck/tighten and rotate until the 10 ft lbs holds after rotation.


Others have noticed bearing loosening as well. I feel it has to do with the grease you use, how well you pack the bearing, the temperature of the grease and so on. On a resent thread one person mentioned that he routinely measures the torque on his nuts after setting them with the fish scale and gets a range of 6~12 ft lbs. So I guess the 10 ft lbs is pretty close. I do alot of highway driving for extended periods of time and have never had a heating or loosening problem with my bearings in over 140k miles.

On a side note the trucks with a full floater in the rear have to align the inner nut up to the locking ring. So after you find the ideal preload you need to move the inner nut to align it and through the whoile preload out the window. And that's the rear bearings which carry heavier loads than the front.

 

[T Y L E R]

You don't need a fish scale.

Bwaahahha .. black and white Am I going to bust Junk's junk? NO!! .. The man has a whole lot on his plate right now guys ..



TY

 

[tarbe]

turbocruiser

Mike Stevens started the thread and was asking about the scale. The Junkster told him he didn't need a scale. If I was "busting Junk" as Tyler puts it, it was over telling Mike he didn't need a scale.

I am aware of your much greater level of experience in things cruiser related. I did take your post to indicate a level of skepticism over the "Junking" of the scale (pun most definitely intended ) and I wanted to agree with what I thought was your skepticism, mostly for the benefit of folks who want to be like Junk, but shouldn't try yet because of their relative lack of experience.

 

[tarbe]

On a side note the trucks with a full floater in the rear have to align the inner nut up to the locking ring. So after you find the ideal preload you need to move the inner nut to align it and through the whoile preload out the window. And that's the rear bearings which carry heavier loads than the front.

When I did my rears bearings, I was amazed at how little the pre-load changed when I moved the nut to get things lined up. A similar movement on the front would have thrown the pre-load WAAAAAAAAAAY out of spec. Must be finer threads in the back....I didn't bother to look.

 

[tarbe]

Am I going to bust Junk's junk? NO!! .. The man has a whole lot on his plate right now guys ..



TY

The post above made me curious....looked at the recent posts.

Well now, don't I feel like a

Backing off now...


Junk - my best to your little man and you and the whole family.