Is this inner birfield joint worn out, and needs replaced. (1 Viewer)

[Rifleman]

I'm helping a friend do a rebuild on his front axle. Anyway we've got everything apart, and were cleaning all the parts today getting them ready to reassemble. Well what we found when we took the inner birfield joints apart to clean them, on one joint we were able to move the cage around by hand to remove it's balls per the FSM. Now the problem started with the other birfield joint, no matter what we did we couldn't move the cage around by hand. We needed to use a brass punch, and hammer in order to tap on the cage to get the balls to move into position were we could remove them. Plus we had to use the punch to drive some of the balls out of this cage. We cleaned up both joints and upon getting ready to put them back together we noticed a difference with the cages. The cage that we had the problem with while removing the balls, had what looked like little dimples in the corners of the top and bottom race where the balls ride.

After cleaning both joints we took some clean grease, and tried to put both joints back together. The one joint went back together easily, and we were able to move its cage and balls around by hand when finished. Note this joints cage had none of the little dimples in it races. The problem came when we went to put the other joint back together. That joint needed the use of a hammer, and brass punch to help what i could best describe as "snapping" it's first ball back into it's cage. Plus we then had to use the punch to move the cage around in order to install all the other balls. Then once we were able to get it all put back together, we were then unable to move the cage and balls by hand. Now if we slipped the inter axle shaft in place, we could then move the problem joints cage, and balls easily. What I'm thinking is you should be able to move both birfield joints cage, and balls by hand without using the inner axle shaft. So since i can't move the one by hand, I'm thinking it might be worn out, and needs to be replaced. So what do you guys think, is it worn out, and needs to be replaced, or would you just put it back together and run it???

 

[chap79]

The second birf doesn't sound to be OEM. They should be more free to move around.

 

[inkpot]

Do you have the cage upside down? They are directional. Hafts look close to see the difference.

 

[Rifleman]

Do you have the cage upside down? They are directional. Hafts look close to see the difference.

Inkpot, when we took the joints apart, we did them one at a time, so we would have one to look at to make sure we were putting the parts back together in the right order. I do have to say we are both over 60 so I'll take it apart again just to make sure we didn't make a mistake.

The second birf doesn't sound to be OEM. They should be more free to move around.

I think Both joints are OEM, the reason i say that is they both have pink inspection paint on the ends, unless both are aftermarket?

 

[chap79]

Was it making any noise previously or indication of wear other than tightness? I would probably just put it back in and continue to run it unless the money to replace it isn't an issue.

 

[Rifleman]

He said no noise, the reason we are doing this job is he had a case of birf soup leaking out on his tires. So he bought all new bearings, gaskets, and seals to replace everything while we were in there fixing his brif soup problem. We came across this problem while cleaning all the axle parts, while we were re lubing everything to put it back together. I found a complete set of Longfield axles with joints, delivered for 600 bucks that we could buy for his truck. Problem is, He's not to crazy about aftermarket parts on his truck, so do any of you guys have any experience with Longfield axles, so i can tell him if they are any good or not.

 

[chap79]

The chromoly in the long fields is good for off roarding due to is tendency not not to snap like stock birfs, but has less longevity for normal use. If he is concerned OEM birfs can still be ordered, replace it now while OEM is still available in the US market. Or just wait until the joint starts clicking to replace.

 

[Rifleman]

The chromoly in the long fields is good for off roarding due to is tendency not not to snap like stock birfs, but has less longevity for normal use. If he is concerned OEM birfs can still be ordered, replace it now while OEM is still available in the US market. Or just wait until the joint starts clicking to replace.

When you say less longevity for normal use, what are we talking about?? Are we talking about 50000 miles or 100000, or what? Now most of his driving is on the street 95% street 5 % off road. Plus he drives maybe 5000 miles total a year. His Land Cruise is just a "toy" not a daily driver, it dosen't even have off road tires on it.

 

[chap79]

I think current advertised chromoly life expediency is somewhere between 30-50k.

 

[Rifleman]

I just did a search on line for the factory outer shaft, p/n 43405-60120, it came in at $567 bucks, plus shipping. Knowing him the way i do, he'll want to replace both sides if he does it at all, and he'll want the best price he can get. Do you know of a vendor where it might cost less then $567 each for factory parts?

 

[Rifleman]

Well, my friend has been waiting the past few days to get his 2 new inner Brifield axle shafts. While we've been waiting on parts, we took the time to clean everything before we start putting his axle back together. While we were cleaning the knuckle housings, we found that two of the lower knuckle arm studs came lose when we removed the nuts. So we checked all the other studs, of the other 6, two were only finger tight, and the other 4 came lose with less then a 1/4 turn of our wrench.

While cleaning, we used a 12MM X 1.50 tap to clean all the crap out of the stud holes. Next we wire wheeled the threads on his studs, then we used brake cleaner, and compressed air to flush the threads in his knuckles. After everything was clean, we put two nuts on each stud to be able to tighten them into his knuckles. We used Loctite on the studs to MAKE SURE they don't come lose again, and then we torqued each stud to 15 FT pounds. We spent alot of time looking for a correct factory torque spec to tighten his studs to, but were unable to find one. We used 15 FT pounds on his studs, because it's the same amount ARP said to use on their 1/2 inch stud kits that i install in my machine shop.

I know this has been talked about many times before, but after finding how lose his studs were, everybody really needs to check this while you have your knuckles apart. Then take the time to clean all your threads, put Loctite on your studs, and torque them back into the housing. I hate to think what would of happened had these studs failed while he was driving.