Axles, Suspension, and funny noises.

Zion

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Successfully made another 1800+ mile drive to college and am pleased to say my handiwork did not annihilate the truck. Unfortunately, there are now new issues I’m not sure how to fix.

My front axle had been leaking since before I left and only trickled out gear oil onto the interior of the driver front wheel if the truck was not on even ground. At some point between Wyoming and Utah that same driver front had its ball joints go out and (what I assume to be) a hub seal on the passenger front blew. Right where the chrome cap-piece for the locking hubs meets the rest of the hub there was dark oil, and the rim had a nice Jackson ******* spray pattern on it. I think I can manage the ball joint replacements, but I could use some advice on how to diagnose/change whatever seals I broke.

Besides that, some part of my driveline squeaks at certain RPMs. When the truck is in gear it’ll make the noise in about every gear. Typically shows up in 1st and goes away about the time I need to shift. It’s loudest in 3rd, especially if I’m decelerating in gear. Any gear higher than that, I can’t really tell due to the straight pipe. I can’t tell if it’s the transmission or the rear axle, but it sounds like a very dry metal on metal squeak. I’ve heard the same sound intermittently on the truck before I changed transmissions, and experienced it on out gasser bullnose, but neither were as loud or constant as it is now. It doesn’t seem to be causing any issues, although the trans shifts kind of rough but I attribute that to extra resistance from the ball joint issue. I have no clue how to diagnose this.
 

IDIBRONCO

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What kind of truck/front axle do you have? If you have a Dana 60, your front end could probably leak oil onto a tire, but the independent ones can't. Those only have oil in the differential housing.
I don't think that bad ball joints can affect the way a transmission shifts.
For the squeak, one of the easiest things to do is to check you u-joints, especially in your rear driveshaft. That one turns any time that the truck is moving under it's own power.
 

Nero

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Hope it's not a D60, to do them axle seals you have to drop the guts out. I've done two....
 

Zion

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What kind of truck/front axle do you have? If you have a Dana 60, your front end could probably leak oil onto a tire, but the independent ones can't. Those only have oil in the differential housing.
I don't think that bad ball joints can affect the way a transmission shifts.
For the squeak, one of the easiest things to do is to check you u-joints, especially in your rear driveshaft. That one turns any time that the truck is moving under it's own power.
It’s a 84 250 4x4 with the twin I beam. I can’t tell exactly where the leak is coming from on the driver front, but it hasn’t done it in a while. The only time I watched it actively happen was when I was getting the truck off of its blocks. I didn’t have jack stands or a floor jack, so I just used our tractor’s bale forks and cinder blocks/rail road ties. If the passenger side was lifted higher than the driver side, clean gear oil would drip onto the ball joints and tire. If it’s not possible to leak out of the axle at that point, then I don’t know what the fluid is.

What I meant by the ball joint affecting the shifting was that acceleration is going to force that loose wheel to stay more stable, albeit at a bad camber, but as soon as you let off to shift, the wheel will wonder some and drag a little, so my shift point might get missed. Could also be the slave cylinder, it’s off of the original T-19 and makes a rhythmic noice when you press in the clutch. It might not be disengaging all the way.

I forgot to bring my grease gun, but it could definitely be u-joints. The joint on the axle has never been greased since I owned it, and the new one I put in on the trans yoke didn’t get greased.
 

Nero

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If you have a ball joint that is making noises when accelerating, it's beyond worn out. Jack up the wheel by the axle beam and give it a shake.
 

franklin2

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I agree, balljoints don't get that worn unless you have been driving on them worn out for a long time. Like was said, jack the front up by the axle housing and grab the wheel at 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock and see how much play you have. Then grab them at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and shake the wheel. Play at 6 and 12 will be ball joints. Play at 3 and 9 will be steering/tie rods. Play at both will be wheel bearings.

Listen to the squeak while you are rolling slowly down the road. Picture in your mind the rotations of the tire and the rhythm of the squeak. Something with the brakes will be slow with the tire rotation. The driveshaft turns about 4 times faster than the tires, so if it's a faster squeak it's most like a rusty u-joint.

If you are not in 4x4, then do not worry about the leaking oil in the front, you are not using the axle anyway.
 

ROCK HARVEY

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As someone else said, if it’s not a solid front axle there’s no way for the gear oil to get to the wheel. It would be leaking back at the differential housing, where the axle shaft exits the pumpkin. Are you sure it’s not brake fluid leaking from the caliper? The stuff on the outside of the wheel is probably grease. There’s a o-ring that seals your locking hub, and it’s probably torn. It’s a super easy job to replace it.
 

Zion

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I agree, balljoints don't get that worn unless you have been driving on them worn out for a long time. Like was said, jack the front up by the axle housing and grab the wheel at 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock and see how much play you have. Then grab them at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and shake the wheel. Play at 6 and 12 will be ball joints. Play at 3 and 9 will be steering/tie rods. Play at both will be wheel bearings.

Listen to the squeak while you are rolling slowly down the road. Picture in your mind the rotations of the tire and the rhythm of the squeak. Something with the brakes will be slow with the tire rotation. The driveshaft turns about 4 times faster than the tires, so if it's a faster squeak it's most like a rusty u-joint.

If you are not in 4x4, then do not worry about the leaking oil in the front, you are not using the axle anyway.
I had each side jacked up and the driver front was the only one that had any vertical play, by quite a lot. Neither had horizontal play. Unfortunately, this was done as a parking-lot appraisal by a shop in ID after I realized something was wrong with the suspension. The tech looking over my truck also noticed some spinning resistance on the passenger front and asked about the brakes. I was dumb and honest and told him they’d been cut off the master cylinder by the previous owner. Understandably, the shop wanted to quote me for both the brakes and ball joints. Ended up being a $1000 estimate, so I limped it the rest of the way to OR.

The more I read, the more I think it may just be the u-joints causing the noise. There’s no squeaking when the powertrain is disengaged, but I can give it a rolling check.
 

franklin2

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Replacing the balljoints is a big job. If you go in that far, you don't want to go in again for a long time. So there are other things that need to be checked, including the axle u-joints.

Why don't you jack it up and check it yourself. It it has some play, but is not excessive, I would wait till you get on another break and plan on having the truck down for awhile tearing the whole thing apart up front. You may indeed need some brake work, the calipers like to rust and freeze up, especially if you just put new pads on it. So that is more time and work. You will need help bleeding the brakes.

You have a old truck, so you need to expect this. If you need reliable transportation and are concentrating on school, you need to make a decision on your transportation needs. These older trucks make good secondary vehicles.
 

Nero

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I built a Dana 50 and slid it under my dad's old truck, they aren't hard to do, but like what was said, if you're in there replace a lot of stuff. You have to disassemble it pretty far down to get them out.
 

Prospect62

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Photos would help a lot. But as others have said, with the TTB axle there's really no way to be leaking gear oil at the hubs. Gear oil is sealed in the pumpkin by seals at each opening for the shafts.

Could, however, be grease slinging out of the hub from any number of places. Photos.

And I just finished up a complete front axle overhaul on my 85 F250 which has the Dana 44HD TTB front axle. Ball joints aren't a big job meaning difficult. They are a LONG job meaning there's lots of stuff to take apart to get them out and as others have said, while you're in there you pretty much need to do everything else in there that moves and that takes time and money. Factor in finding lots of other stuff that needs replacement once you start - my truck was like a scavenger hunt - every time I removed one part I found another one behind it that was shot. Parts for these are still relatively cheap, but stuff adds up.

That said, if you do tear into it and have any questions please come back and ask - it's all very fresh in my mind.
 

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u2slow

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An easy way to make ball joints half the work... Only do the bad side!

It's a lot of steps to get the knuckle off, but being careful and diligent... It can all go back together again with nothing more than some grease and labour.

Sometimes an exploratory pre-tear-down is helpful just to prove all the parts come apart easy without obstacles, and that you have sufficient tools.
 

franklin2

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Never have seen that before. If one side is bad, the other side is too or not far behind. But if you drive it everyday, one weekend per side would not be a bad way to go.
 
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