Did I already mess up?

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Tools R Us said:
Hurry up the trail run starts in 3 hours! :D
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That is why I have two :)

I am getting there-- maybe 80 percent done on one side, 25 percent on the other. Things should go fast the second time I do them. Or in some cases, the third time :frown:

Although what is more likely to keep out of the trail run is the fact that my lower back is now killing me :crybaby:

Jared

/pondering what that left-over vicodin might do for backache
 
Backache bad. Vicodin (before sleeping) good....

I don't know how you're using a tube to fill the birf, as I've always used a tub and a spatula to pack the birf itself and the knuckle housing. Frankly, there are so many nooks and crannies in there I think you'd have a hard time actually filling 75% of the volume without taking an hour to methodically do it. Cram a bunch of grease in the housing until it seems about 75% full and bolt it up. If there's even a couple cubic inches of air in there, then there's plenty of room for expansion of the grease.

DougM
 
cruiserdan said:
You were lucky. When un-locked the dog clutch rotates on the axle shaft and is held in place by a combination of the shift fork and the axle shaft. when you pull the shaft all that is holding the dog is the fork. The dog can easily fall out of the fork and you have a mess on your hands. Vehicles without lockers do not have dog clutches so there is nothing to fall out.


D-
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Dan - I thought that was only on the rear axle. Does the same hold true for the front?
 
sjpitts said:
I am still at it-- I was making slow and steady progress, but I may have made a major screw up. I think I may have put the rubber seal on backward. Crap.

I am talking about the felt/rubber/steel ring that goes on the back on the knuckle housing. The order (coming from the car and toward the wheel) is felt-- rubber-- then the split steel ring. Right? BTW, I would swear they put them on in the wrong order on the DVD.

Anyway, the the rubber ring has a ridge on one side, and a flat side on the other-- which way does it go?-- with the rigdge toward the third member, or toward the wheel????
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The order looks wrong at first on the DVD, but when they go to complete the seal installation the order is correct. The FSM is right. As far as the rubber ring ridge, previous discussions here have concluded that it is preferable that the ridge face the felt ring but it is not a big deal.
 
With no firm printed guidance on the rubber ridge direction, I've concluded from finding mine facing the felt on all 4 from the factory and using a little thought that facing the felt is correct. My feeling is that the ridge quickly establishes a dent in the felt that keeps the rubber ring centered for proper equal pressure around the entire spherical axle tip. Conversely, the ridge against the metal doesn't really provide any improved sealing as water getting between the metal and rubber doesn't do anything - nowhere to go. So, ridge against the felt.

Frankly, I would not tear one open to switch it as this is an extremely well designed seal arrangement and unless you've broken one of the bolts that holds it to the knuckle nothing's going to move anyhow. Overkill.

DougM
 
cruiserdan said:
The diffs ARE supposed to be locked before you pull the shafts.
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No dog clutch in my truck, but I was just wondering, can you still measure the preload with the diff locked?
 
jared/scott, you are doing fine.

well i didn't know the front diff is supposed to be locked on a locked truck. i'll be an uncle's monkey.

santiagol, i believe the preload for the steering arm and hub would be unaffected. the hub turns on the spindle and the axle is only locked afterwards when the drive plates are attached.
 
Well I am still making slow but steady progress. About the diff locks. I really wonder why the FSM doesn't have anything about locking the diff's? Maybe the dog clutch problem is only a minor possibility in normal cases?

Like I said, I am still moving forward. Backache or no. I now have both birfs repacked, and the spindles reattached on both sides. I also have replaced the wheel bearing races and the rotors on both hubs. But I havent figured out how to torque the hub/rotor bolts. The rotor moves when I try and torque it. I tried having my wife standing on the new rotors-- but no luck. I guess I need a heavier wife. So how can I make the rotor hold still?

Also-- can anyone confirm that I had the right rotors--- the part number I had was 43512-60090. I am pretty sure they are right (I got them from CDAN, after all)) But they sure look different. Maybe it is just a combination of old and crusty versus new and shiney--with a little vicodin induced halucinations thrown in.

Finally-- can anybody tell me how to know when you have tightened the felt rings enough? Should the black split rings touch the knuckle housing? Or should it be looser? Is it better to be too tight, or too loose?

Thanks

Jared

/getting there
 
IIRC a black and decker workmate will pin the hub in place enough to torque the rotor bolts.

i think somebody once suggested 10 lbs ft for those wiper seal bolts. I would just tighten them up by hand with a wrench without forcing them.
 
Don't overtighten those bolts on the felt/rubber/steel seal. I don't have my FSM handy for a torque setting, but it's quite low and several have broken them. I simply went around once tightening them gently in a cross pattern like wheel lugs. Then a final tighten until they were firm (NOT tight). If I guessed, I'd say I put about 10 lbs ft on them as suggested by Semlin.

As for the rotors, if CDan sent them to you they're correct. Your truck may have had aftermarket rotors on before.

DougM
 
I don't think there is a torque setting in the FSM for the felt bolts. I didn't tighten them very tight, because they seemed like they were pretty loose when I took the old ones off.

It probably is not very critical, but I don't like it when I have to guess.

Jared
 
One reason you don't have to tighten these much is that a fastener holding relatively uncompressible parts together is held in place by the stretch of the fastener. So, ya gotta torque it properly for it to "stick" in place. The bolts we're discussing are held in place by the tension of compressing the rubber and felt sandwich. So, even if they were to unscrew microscopically, they'd still be under tension from this sandwich vs an all metal application would mean the bolt is completely untensioned and will fall spin out.

DougM
 
I was just wondering, can you still measure the preload with the diff locked?
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Doesn't matter, as you wouldn't have the hub bolted on if you were still measuring bearing preload. So the axle doesn't matter.. in fact you don't even need an axle to set the wheel bearings (in case you ever "pop one" on the trail) hth.. :)
 
Ok, I am finally done with this done with this project. I hope. One final issue-- the front diff took more than 3 quarts of diff fluid before it was full. Maybe even 3.3 quarts. The FSM says 2.8.

Is that just natural variation in the amount, or maybe due to the locker still being locked when I filled it-- or something like that?

Jared
 
were you on a level surface? Mine takes about 3 quarts. I think individual housings vary a bit.
 
cruiserdan said:
You were lucky. When un-locked the dog clutch rotates on the axle shaft and is held in place by a combination of the shift fork and the axle shaft. when you pull the shaft all that is holding the dog is the fork. The dog can easily fall out of the fork and you have a mess on your hands. Vehicles without lockers do not have dog clutches so there is nothing to fall out.


D-
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Good to know. I've done at least a half a dozen without locking the lockers.
 
i find I walways seem to overfill diff housings, t-cases, outboard lower units etc... i don't know if its the way the oil spreads inside or temperature or what but I bet if you open the top hole in the diff housing in a few days some will flow out.
 
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