Dana 60 conversion in progress.

Tom S · May 20, 2011

I am making a little progress on my project. This axle started out as a nasty greasy dirty mess from a 97 F-350 with 225k on it. A tired worn out truck.

After a serious dose of pressure washing and degreasing.

It took a while to get it torn down. The spindle on one side was very tight. It took a large wide chisle and a 2lbs to get it started. Then I used a large slide hammer and a spindle puller to remove it. It took a lot of hits from the slide hammer. Definately going to use some anti-sieze when it goes back together. The axle U-joints definately came apart with a bang in the press as they were tight. This was also my first time doing this style of ball joints. I discovered the Harbor Freight ball joint press works OK. The adapter is does not have a large enough hole to the stud on the bottom ball joint though. I was able to make it work with some large washers once I got the ball joint started moving.

I am now in the process of refinishing it and resealing it. I have some of the parts sandblasted at this point

Paul@CP_Trucks · May 20, 2011

Yay for Tom

I knew you would have kept all the info.

Tom S · May 20, 2011

Ordered some parts to reseal the center section. Pretty happy with the customer service at Northern Drivetrain. They also had decent prices on the Spicer stuff compared to the other places I checked.

SPI-52148
Inner axleshaft seal
13.89

SPI-30271
Pinion Nut
1.79

SPI-30275
Pinion Nut Washer
0.36

SPI-707233X
Differential COVER KIT
22.24

SPI-48816
Wheel Bearing Hub Seal
4.21

Subtotal:
60.59

Shipping:
11.75

Hopefully the new style Foshida Seals for the inner axles will help keep it leak free. I hope they are not too much of a pain to install. From what I have read up on these spin on themselves kinda like Scotseals do.

If worse come to worse I guess I will pickup the old stye ones.

Northern Drivetrain, LLC: Spicer 52148

The Ford E7UZ-4676-A or Spicer 42449 Pinion seal I picked up off Ebay for cheap.

bluedge8 · May 20, 2011

looks good Tom, keep us up to date

Tom S · May 21, 2011

I got the axle itself ready for paint today.

Black_Pstroke · May 21, 2011

looks good, wanna sell it LOL

Dzchey21 · May 21, 2011

what are you going to use for paint tom?

Tom S · May 21, 2011

I had a hard time deciding on that one. I was thinking about going with something from a spray gun like implement paint. I finally decided not to go that route because I was going to have to do this in so many different stages and I am not quite set up to make my garage a spray booth. In the end I decided to use some products from Eastwood. I am using the Extreme Chassis Black paint and matching primer. So far it seems like good stuff. The one that takes more time is it requires 24hrs between coats. Oh well every evening I have a little project to do.

Whytry · May 22, 2011

Looks good I used a spray can on mine.

OBSWIZ · May 22, 2011

Get it powder-coated..you also may want these...http://mad4wd.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=162&zenid=0f939c81b0e0ac24caffd30178e5e19c

Cary

Tom S · May 22, 2011

I have checked out those outer axle seals a few times.

I used a big washer on a piece of thread all to rake out the goo that was in the tube on this axle. I mixture of some dirt and a little grease gear lube. Once I pull the carrier I want to use the pressure washer and a wire wheel on an extension to clean out more of the crap. Too bad they did not put a seal there to begin with. I think the SD trucks have one.

I think I am going to get the sway bars powder coated and maybe a few other parts. I have some more sandblasting to do this week if it is nice outside as I got all the other parts degreased and pressure washed today..

psdguy95 · May 23, 2011

Nice man. I might do this soon as well.

AZStang · May 24, 2011

Looks good Tom and nice progress. One good thing you've got going for you is that you can still drive your truck while working on that axle and take your time. I did the same thing to mine late last year, but had to hurry through it to get the truck back together.

Shawn

Tom S · May 24, 2011

So I started getting in some parts to rebuild the axle I decided to use the Spicer Life Series U-joints SPL55-3X. I picked the non-greasable ones. I got these from Tyler at www.alljeep.com and they arrive promptly in just a couple of days.

For tie rod ends, I went with Raybestos chassis grade from RockAuto as they had good prices. The respective part numbers are 401-1425, 410-1034, 410-1035. The Raybestos chassis grade was suppose to be the same as Spicer Chassis and I believe they are. One part came in a Spicer box and it looks identical the Raybestos stuff. I also considered XRF but it sounded like one or two parts were out of stock and would be for a while. I did really like that these parts came pre painted.

I also went with Raybestos chassis grade for the ball joints from Rockauto. I have also come across some info that these are the same as Napa Chassis. The part numbers were 500-1048, 505-1181
It was a toss up between these and XRF

Tom S · May 28, 2011

Well played with this a little more and learned a few things. The carrier came out pretty easy. I used a prybar against a one inch block to pry on a ring gear bolt. The shims are retained behind the bearings so all I had to do was keep the races on the right side. The Pinion nut came loose with the Impact with the air pressure bumped up. Watch for the shims when you remove the pinion. A 2 arm gear puller made it easy to pull the yoke. I was able to get the seals pried out with a prybar.

Cleaning out the tubes was no fun. I used a small wire wheel on a drill with an extension and a right angle drill with a wire wheel from inside the case. There was some nasty gunk in there. They came pretty clean after some work and some degreaser. I used the pressure washer to clean out the tubes and then wash out the case. I also sprayed some rust converting primer in the tubes.

The fun started when I went to put in the new inner axle seals. I wanted to used the SD style Spicer 52148 or National 710493 which are made by Foshida. I wanted to used these as the inner axles did not look the best at the seal surface. I had previously read that you have to take down the edge on the inner part to fit in the counter bore on the tube. I did that but did not take off quite enough, which made for a problem. Next snag was that these seals are stupid tight in the bore. I tried for a long to get them in without success. I finally had to sand a taper on the edge of the seal to get them started. I am not quite happy still so I think it is time to give this another go tomorrow with some fresh seals. I do not want to find out these leak and have to go through this again. It sucked with the axle out bad enough.

Good info here: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=878575

JDub · May 28, 2011

Doing a reverse shackle Tom? Help the ride...

Tom S · May 28, 2011

Yes that is phase two of this adventure.

JDub · May 28, 2011

Looks like a big job, but knowing you, once it's done it'll look better than if Ford would've built it. Good luck with it Tom, anything I can do to help, let me know...

bluedge8 · May 28, 2011

funny, I've never thought of sanding the seal edge, I've bounced seals around for an hr before trying to get them started, looks good Tom.

AZStang · May 28, 2011

Tom,

I had the same problem.

I modified the seal the same way you did too. So far no issues as my oil level hasn't moved. I also installed the outer seals someone posted above so I figured it would never leak out the ends of the tube again regardless. Might just have to add more lube if the inners ever fail.

When I installed the axle shafts, I put a small screw driver or something between the inner face of the seal and the carrier bearing to prevent the seal form pusing too far back into the diff housing. Does that make sense?

Shawn