What's going on y'all.
Happy Monday. I've been working on a Closed Knuckle Dana 44 recently and figured I would share some pics for anyone interested. The axle came out fairly easily. I had to cut the drive shaft straps from the yoke and cut the axle U-Bolts out, but nothing I wouldn't expect from a 50 year old truck.
I put the axle on jack stands and started with the brake drums. I had to beat these off with a hand sledge, so I figured I would do a disk brake conversion while I was at it. I'll make a separate post about this.
Next came the Warn Lock-O-Matic hubs. For anyone working on these, see attached assembly diagram. Still a mystery to me as to how these work, even with the diagram. I'm wanting to ditch these for manually locking hubs (10 Spline Outer) so if anyone has a recommendation let me know. I'm hoping I don't have to get the Warn hubs that are +$300
Hub and wheel bearings, brake drum, spindle, steering knuckle and axle shafts came next. This part was pretty straight forward.
The carrier was a PITA to get out, but the bearing cage was bent and it left a heat spot on the race so it needed to come out.
New oil seals and carrier bearings were installed.
Notes on experience with the inner axle.
A National 5131 is a good replacement for the two piece inner axle seal.
There were two "breather holes" in the sides of the carrier bearing and race portion of the axle casting housing. I am still unsure about the function of these, but the Facebook experts said they were supposed to be there.
I didn't replace the pinion bearing as it felt solid and I detect any play. I will be replacing the pinion seals.
Moving outward, the axle shafts were reinstalled, new wiper seal and kingpin bearings and races were installed.
Note: you may have to install the king pin and knuckle several times, adding and subtracting shims to get the proper bearing preload. I shot for 22 LBS on both knuckles because I will have a lift on this truck. Might be way off here but we'll see.
At this point, I have installed the spindle and am working on the brake conversion.
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1968 J3500 - 1985 CJ7 - 1998 Grand Cherokee 5.9 Liter Limited - 2006 Grand Cherokee Limited
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