1992 rear axle

Where the semi-float would suffer is heavy payloads. Its still a 10.25" ring gear and 35-spline... lots of drive strength for bigblock, diesel, towing, etc.

u2slow said:

Where the semi-float would suffer is heavy payloads. Its still a 10.25" ring gear and 35-spline... lots of drive strength for bigblock, diesel, towing, etc.

Click to expand...

I agree, I never really worried about it that much. What finally did it in was having a wheel come off and trashing my backing plate (I have trouble keeping lugnuts tight on these aluminum rims even with a torque wrench to 110 ft lbs) lol. good excuse for an upgrade. sorry for the thread highjack

subway, do you have aluminium duallies?
If so, you are aware that the Inner rim must be a steel one?
That might cause your problem of not being able to keep the nuts tight.

Bart F-350 said:

subway, do you have aluminium duallies?
If so, you are aware that the Inner rim must be a steel one?
That might cause your problem of not being able to keep the nuts tight.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion but I am single rear wheel, I have cranked my torque wrench up to 150 and now check them a couple days after I put everything together again and usually find 1 or two that work loose. My plan if I start driving the truck again is to switch over to some basic steel wagon wheels. Simple and I like the style.

subway said:

Thanks for the suggestion but I am single rear wheel, I have cranked my torque wrench up to 150 and now check them a couple days after I put everything together again and usually find 1 or two that work loose. My plan if I start driving the truck again is to switch over to some basic steel wagon wheels. Simple and I like the style.

Click to expand...

Do you lubricate the conical seats on the rim? Aluminum galls severely when faced with high pressure and friction and will prevent you from getting anywhere near the torque spec you think you are getting. When tightening aluminum rims, I always smear a tiny dab of grease or anti-sieze or some kind of lube on the contact face of the lug nut, taking care not to get it on the threads for most applications. Ive been running aluminum rims on my built up F250 for years down the highways and logging trails and never had one loosen up.

ISPKI said:

Do you lubricate the conical seats on the rim? Aluminum galls severely when faced with high pressure and friction and will prevent you from getting anywhere near the torque spec you think you are getting. When tightening aluminum rims, I always smear a tiny dab of grease or anti-sieze or some kind of lube on the contact face of the lug nut, taking care not to get it on the threads for most applications. Ive been running aluminum rims on my built up F250 for years down the highways and logging trails and never had one loosen up.

Click to expand...

no I don't, thanks for the suggestion. I should give that a try. I know lubricating the studs can have a dramatic effect on torque and opinions vary wildly on that one. I know lubrication can have a large effect on clamping loads. Enough that I remember talking to a fastener salesman when he was back in college with me. He would show how superior his bolts were by tightening his bolts to a certain spec, then showing how the same grade "other" brand would snap and fail. What everyone missed was he would run his hand through his hair with gel then touch the "other" brand threads. That little difference on a new thread not designed to have lube added would be enough to send it over the edge when pushing the torque specs.

Myself, I let my studs dry when adding lug nuts.

Thinking about it now I could see where some corrosion build up in the seat or galling that would settle in with some driving could be a root cause. I have never had this problem with any other vehicles or wheels. Just this set on my truck now.

I will admit after being burned, I am a fan of steel wheels now. Watching my wheel take off down the road praying it would not hit anything or anyone after I skidded to the side of the road with my family in the truck was not something I want to do again!

Yeah and there is nothing wrong with steel wheels, at the end of the day, they are going to be stronger than any aluminum wheel. I am a welding and metallurgical engineer and constantly debate the pros and cons of aluminum with my peers. There is never a situation where aluminum is stronger than steel, barring the most expensive, exotic aluminum compared with the absolute worst cast steel.

At the end of the day, all they do is save some weight but are inferior in every other way that matters to a wheel.

ISPKI said:

At the end of the day, all they do is save some weight but are inferior in every other way that matters to a wheel.

Click to expand...

Here's one more thing to add to your list. A friend of mine had some fancy aluminum rims on his 1997 F250 with a PSD. He decided to pull a (probably more weight than he should have been pulling with a 3/4 ton) load of pallets of seed to his father-in-law while he was still farming. It was probably about a 4 hours drive to get to his father-in-law's farm. By the time that he got there, the rear wheels had turned slightly yellow from the heat of the load. He had no mechanical issues at all, but was pretty upset since they were pretty expensive rims.

IDIBRONCO said:

Here's one more thing to add to your list. A friend of mine had some fancy aluminum rims on his 1997 F250 with a PSD. He decided to pull a (probably more weight than he should have been pulling with a 3/4 ton) load of pallets of seed to his father-in-law while he was still farming. It was probably about a 4 hours drive to get to his father-in-law's farm. By the time that he got there, the rear wheels had turned slightly yellow from the heat of the load. He had no mechanical issues at all, but was pretty upset since they were pretty expensive rims.

Click to expand...

That is crazy! Hes lucky the bead didnt melt off the rims and blow out on him with all that weight in the truck.

ISPKI said:

That is crazy! Hes lucky the bead didnt melt off the rims and blow out on him with all that weight in the truck.

Click to expand...

I forgot to mention that the load was on a goose neck trailer. It was heavy enough that the trailer is now bowed slightly.

IDIBRONCO said:

I forgot to mention that the load was on a goose neck trailer. It was heavy enough that the trailer is now bowed slightly.

Click to expand...

Thats insane, gooseneck trailers can usually handle alot more weight than our OBS trucks can.

Ok, today was the day. Got started on the rear end.

Already changed the fluid. Cleaned the cover and diff, and installed a Lube-Locker gasket. Then refilled with 75-140 synthetic.

Got the driver's side spindle off...

I swear these bearings look brand new.

They are Timken brand.

Does anyone know what brand were the original bearings in these rear ends? (Sterling 10.25 full float. Just as a refresher.)

Also: The retaining nut was on there only just barely finger tight. I put the special socket on there, and then with only my fingertips on the socket, was able to unscrew the retaining nut.

Pretty sure that ain't right.

Also, the retaining nut is made of several parts. Two large parts. One inside the other. With a bunch of springs and clips and stuff inside as well.

On mine, the large parts are so loose they seem to be about to fall apart. Is that normal?

Sounds definitely not normal. Here’s what it should look like.
you should have to push in with the special socket to release the locking mechanism while turning. It sounds like that wasn’t the case for you. Perhaps the last person in there didn’t know what they were doing and tried to disassemble the nut.

Nope. I pushed in with the socket. You do have to push those clips in, or it won't turn.

It's just when you turn it over, upside down, the inner part looks close to falling out.


I would have thought though, that just pushing in with the socket, and turning the socket with only my fingertips, should not have been enough to remove that nut. You'd think you'd have to at least break it loose with your wrench or something...

No, that sounds normal then. I went back and reread your previous post. I was mistaken. I thought you were saying it did come apart in pieces.
Being able to remove that nut by hand is pretty normal. The spec for tightening is to tighten to a specific torque, and then back off a certain number of “clicks”. What you end up with is snug. Also, the components of the nut will rattle when it’s not installed and tight, that’s normal. But they should not come apart.