Just chiming in on my newbie front axle service this past August: 27 hours of shop time over three or four days (that's a little long though, could have been shortened a LOT by a seal puller - <$10 get one). Also get a pipe that's the right size and length to "help" separate the birfield. Hub socket about $30???$50???, Rebuild kit, cheapest I found was Marlin Crawler's - $90. TLCA discount or CDan or ??? might help with that though. Plus gear oil, grease, at least a full box of latex gloves, and a couple rolls of paper towels, a tarp you'll throw away when you're done, and clothes you'll burn when you're done. Jeff Zepp's site rzeppa.org and some other in the FAQ (http://www.ih8mud.com/cruisertech.php) were good references with pictures. Once you get one side done (recommend short side first) the other goes WAY faster. It was like 19 hours for short side 8 hours for long side for me. HTH
whiny little b!@%&^$
- Thread starter big worm
- Start date
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Well Matt I guess you just set the record for longest front axle service and this is on old hardware. Man those 40's will kick your ass. Work on your dads 80 and I am sure stuff will go quicker.
I personally think that it would be real great to have some one around for your first time doing this job, especially if you have never done much work. Have you done wheel bearing before? Things most often missed is the proper tension on the beairng after you finish(a vast majority are either too tight or too loose), if the spindle is good or bad(too much wear at the place the bearing ride). I am all for getting to know your rig, and it would be great to find a TLCA club near by and meet some other cruiser heads to help you with your new rig if you choose to do it your self. later robbie
I personally think that it would be real great to have some one around for your first time doing this job, especially if you have never done much work. Have you done wheel bearing before? Things most often missed is the proper tension on the beairng after you finish(a vast majority are either too tight or too loose), if the spindle is good or bad(too much wear at the place the bearing ride). I am all for getting to know your rig, and it would be great to find a TLCA club near by and meet some other cruiser heads to help you with your new rig if you choose to do it your self. later robbie
Yay, at least I win at something ;p
Things I learned that will make it go faster: seal puller. Made a 1/2 hour job with big long screwdriver (and almost taking off two fingers at the same time, ask me about that sometime
) into a five-minute job.
The new oil seals WILL fit, even though the hubs and axles were machined a few years ago and the seals were probably made no more than a few months ago. Be patient and DO NOT beat on it so it's wavy...
Just use the pipe trick for separating the birfield. Don't even waste time with any other method. Getting the birfield back together takes practice, and a vise that's on a solid table and doesn't move helps a lot.
Have a good plan for cleaning etc. parts. Hopefully you have a better setup than me (oil pan and mineral spirits over the bark outside the garage. Kinda messy, takes a while to get something halfway clean).
I'm still a newb but at least these are some tricks that I could have used to help me along, and they're things I didn't hear before I dug in. Hopefully they'll make a newb job less newb-ish
Time goal for next front axle service: 12-15 hours if all the junk is in halfway decent shape 
Things I learned that will make it go faster: seal puller. Made a 1/2 hour job with big long screwdriver (and almost taking off two fingers at the same time, ask me about that sometime
) into a five-minute job.The new oil seals WILL fit, even though the hubs and axles were machined a few years ago and the seals were probably made no more than a few months ago. Be patient and DO NOT beat on it so it's wavy...
Just use the pipe trick for separating the birfield. Don't even waste time with any other method. Getting the birfield back together takes practice, and a vise that's on a solid table and doesn't move helps a lot.
Have a good plan for cleaning etc. parts. Hopefully you have a better setup than me (oil pan and mineral spirits over the bark outside the garage. Kinda messy, takes a while to get something halfway clean).
I'm still a newb but at least these are some tricks that I could have used to help me along, and they're things I didn't hear before I dug in. Hopefully they'll make a newb job less newb-ish
Time goal for next front axle service: 12-15 hours if all the junk is in halfway decent shape