Dana 44 hub assm. question

[COjeeper]

Hey everyone, have a quick question. I just got my 87 waggy running well and I’m getting a lot of noise from the front axle. I took the hub assemblies apart, and going by the drawing I got from this forum, found that they were missing the spring cup and spring, I did however find a sleeve that was not on the drawing. I installed the cup and spring, and the axle is now exactly rebuilt to the drawing. My question is, has anyone ran across this and if so can someone explain the reasoning behind this or is the sleeve supposed to be in there and my drawing is wrong?

[Stuka]

Not all years used the spring. Some did use a sleeve in place of the spring and cup.

Did your noise go away? If not, it could be a bearing.

[COjeeper]

Noise is 80% better but still there, outside bearings look good, haven’t checked the insides. It sounds more like something loose than like a grinding, could the front drive shaft make that noise? It’s definitely related to the speed of the vehicle.

[COjeeper]

Found where the noise was coming from just to close this thread. Turns out about a quarter of the center yoke was missing, pulled the front drive shaft and noise is completely gone.