Dana 60 axle play

[legopnuematic]

What is the rag trick?

I just use a pry bar in the carrier in the open area where the spider gears lie or a against a ring gear bolt and turn the pinion and it will walk out.

The carrier being hard to remove is a good thing, that means the bearings have good preload. Dana specs a maximum of .015 spread on the case for carrier preload (IIRC). If it was that tight a case spreader should have been used and it would slide right in and out.

 

[bucket]

What is the rag trick?

I just use a pry bar in the carrier in the open area where the spider gears lie or a against a ring gear bolt and turn the pinion and it will walk out.

The carrier being hard to remove is a good thing, that means the bearings have good preload. Dana specs a maximum of .015 spread on the case for carrier preload (IIRC). If it was that tight a case spreader should have been used and it would slide right in and out.

I believe the rag trick is running the gearset and letting it eat a rag, to help push the carrier out of the housing.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

I believe the rag trick is running the gearset and letting it eat a rag, to help push the carrier out of the housing.

That was it.

I figured there was a spreader or something but didn’t look up tools because I won’t be removing the innards of any more differential casings, at least until i forget today’s festivities.

Im inexperienced and work slow, and thought putting a pry bar in the carrier might be a bad thing. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

Got more of the parts cleaned up and rattle canned. Got the passenger side spindle reassembled.

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I sprayed everything to make it nice looking, and then of course use copious amounts of anti seize because I like things to come apart when I want them to, defeating the purpose of painting in the first place. That stuff gets everywhere.

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One big revelation from today that I’ve read about but never tried. I have a kiln in my shop. It was abandoned by a family member and I repurposed it for some powder coating a few years ago. Well, I used it to heat the hubs to cook off some junk on them and to install races. Froze the races and they took only one or two taps to fall into place in the hot hubs.

I’m gonna try to get the other knuckle and hubs in place tomorrow. Rest of the front end rebuild will have to come later. It won’t take me long to do (yes it will.).

 

[Trucksareforwork]

Made it outside early and got bearing seals installed and rotors mounted. Then assembled one side including the locking hub.

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In the process I realized one of my (four) spindle nuts was cracked, so I borrowed from the other side to complete this one and have to take a break for a few days to get the part.

These older spicer hubs are pretty simple once you know how they work. Mine were so gobbed up with grease when I disassembled them I didn’t know what was what. I only lightly greased the one I did today and it works slick. Here’s what it looked like when I opened it up.

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[Trucksareforwork]

Other side done. Went together quick. On to calipers.

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[Trucksareforwork]

I got one caliper cleaned up and rebuilt. Was pressed for time so won’t get to the next one til next week.

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The piston was nice and clean (on the inside) and shined up well. The calipers themselves were a mess on the inside. Lots of grime. I cleaned and wire wheeled the outside and did some cleanup on the insides.

New banjo bolts incoming.

Question: when reinstalling, where is it important to lubricate these calipers so that the slide well? I hear d60 calipers can hang up.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

Finally had some time to get back to this. I finished the rebuild on the other caliper and put the calipers on the slides. I’m doing new brake lines to the fronts so didn’t run the lines yet.

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I also decided to try to spruce up the faded spicer Locking dials. I pulled them off and cleaned/scuffed/ahesion promoters/yellow painted them. Not quite oem but I got close.

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[nvrenuf]

I’m not a good example of maintenance or following instructions….

That said, while I should, I have never lubed the calipers on any of my 60’s and I’ve never had an issue with them binding or getting stuck or any kind of unusual pad wear.

The axle looks great! The painted hub dials look good, I love the look of Spicer hubs. (if I ever put a locking hub kit on my daily driver Dodge I’m using Spicers)

 

[Trucksareforwork]

Thanks. I just added a little high temp grease on the slides and edges of the brake pad backing plates. Should be fine. Everything is so much cleaner I expect it to be fine.

The axle is doing well but now I start to think I need the whole underbody to match, and that’s how I take a 15 hour job and make it a 50 hour job. “Might as well since I’m in there” is a bad thing when it comes to looks.

 

[Jawzjeep]

Oh yes. The rabbit hole. Project creep is real..

I knew the 'while I'm here' monster was going to get me so I planned for new from the get go but damn! $

I put a super light coat of grease on the slides.

I wonder if I was the one you saw use a come a long on the kingpin removal? In case not..

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Soak that in. The passenger side needed heat, a rattle gun in the hex, a 2 foot pipe wrench and a chainfall used wrong ALL at the same time.

Ah and don't forget the vice grips on the pipe wrench handle because the first time when the chain slide off the pipe wrench turned into a scary freaking boomerang.

The drivers side bent my 3/4 drive breaker bar and a big iron pipe. I had to point the pinion down and stand on the axle to pry up on the bar because anything else just scooted the 60 around on the concrete. It gave up while pulling with everything I had and wife whacking the kingpin with a 3lb hammer. I went flying. It sucked. Bad.

Sorry for rambling its hot tottie time

 

[Trucksareforwork]

No that’s not it but your picture is…creative.

The one I saw had the come along attached to the truck frame and a very long breaker bar.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

No pics but I spent a few hours under the truck replacing the steering gear and shaft (did the jeep conversion, because I’m in there already.).

The old steering box was leaking badly, so I was going to seal it up, but ran across a good deal on a new one.

I needed four hands to install it. Took me a while to get it lined up working solo.

I’ll take some pics when I’m back at it.

 

[Trucksareforwork]

Installed rear brake lines on the truck and didn’t get to anything on the front.

Question for you guys: I’ve come this far. Whats the best way to know if I should be changing out the leaf spring bushings? At this point I have a brand new front end. Any pics of what would say “change them”. I’ve only had obvious change outs in the past. Mine are a little cracked but don’t look shredded. I’m quite sure they are originals. I’ll have to grab some pics.

When is it time to hit those?

The good news with this truck is that the steering box leaked so bad it has been like having penetrating oil on the driver side! Might not be hard to get at the bushings. “Since I’m in there.”

 

[nvrenuf]

The bushings are really just a replacement (in sets) as needed so I wouldn’t do anything unless you see a problem. Look for things like the mounting bolt not being centered in the spring eye or cracks / chunks missing in the exposed shoulders.