Front end, what do I need

[1985 Ford F-150]

Last time I did axle shaft joints I used a block of wood and a big bolt for a punch. If ya have a vise it makes it 100 times easier cause itll hold the shaft from spinnin rather than tryin to kneel on it.

 

[LEB Ben]

Son of a gun...the frickin hubs were fighting me all afternoon, only got one side done over the course of a couple hours. Dunno what I was/am doing wrong, but these SOB's are not being nice at all.

 

[smokey]

Was it the hubs or the spindle ?
Those spines can be a pita to get loose at times.
A BFH and a oak block and a tub of elbow grease if you don't have a puller attachment to get those spindles off.

 

[bucks77ford]

Son of a gun...the frickin hubs were fighting me all afternoon, only got one side done over the course of a couple hours. Dunno what I was/am doing wrong, but these SOB's are not being nice at all.

You probably wasn't doing anything wrong, just a PITA job to do. But, you'll get er.

 

[LEB Ben]

It was actually the hubs Randy...once I got past it, it wasn't too bad.

 

[78F250SCCS]

On my 89 bronco I had to drill most of the allen bolts out. They seized up in the hub. That was a pain in the butt. Plus it took alot of bits.

 

[73F100Shortbed]

HF has a good ball joint/u-joint press for like $40 or so if you don't want to use a vise or hammer. Was money well spent for me.

 

[LEB Ben]

Geez-o-pete...can't believe how much time this took me to do. Ended up being 2.5 hours per side, and 'pressing' in/out the joints was the least troublesome part of the whole thing...those took maybe 10-15 minutes. Everything was seized on/in nice and good. And that dangflabbit big outer lock ring took for frickin ever to get out. And holy bageezus, took me a half hour per side to get the damn spindles off.


With how un-fast the project was going I had enough and decided against doing the ball joints while I was in there...but a nice little 'present' to me was the fact that while the axle shaft was wobbling around, it marred the hell outta the lower ball joint threads.

 

[fatherdoug]

Geez-o-pete...can't believe how much time this took me to do. Ended up being 2.5 hours per side, and 'pressing' in/out the joints was the least troublesome part of the whole thing...those took maybe 10-15 minutes. Everything was seized on/in nice and good. And that dangflabbit big outer lock ring took for frickin ever to get out. And holy bageezus, took me a half hour per side to get the damn spindles off.


With how un-fast the project was going I had enough and decided against doing the ball joints while I was in there...but a nice little 'present' to me was the fact that while the axle shaft was wobbling around, it marred the hell outta the lower ball joint threads.

A small ice pick with a 90 degree bend works very well for pulling that large ring out of its groove.