front driverside axle shaft goes boom in the night

[Dieselcrawler]

yea, by the looks of the pic he will need a new inner and outer shaft. the yolks look hammered.

 

[RLDSL]

X2, this is a good idea. I try to do this often all year round.

A bunch of years ago I turned wrenches at an AMC/Jeep/Renault dealer and we got LOTS of those in all the time, many of them on vehicles that were still under warranty, but it clearly wasn't covered under warranty because that was customer neglect. There was all kinds of warnings to do that little preventive bit to keep that from happening, but the owner of the dealership had a way to bill it out as a warranty the *first* time it happened to someone. The second time they came in with a busted joint that was rusted up, it was on them.

 

[KyleQ]

Use a piece of 6x6 wood to tap the spindle to get it loose. Well, I hit it hard and it only leaves marks on the wood, spindle is fine. Do NOT replace the u-joints with parts store garbage. The ONLY u-joint to use is a Spicer joint, life series if you want to get fancy.

I just did that plowing-

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[BigRigTech]

The main thing to watch for is that the new joint is greasable so you can give it a couple pumps monthly to keep the water out.

 

[KyleQ]

The main thing to watch for is that the new joint is greasable so you can give it a couple pumps monthly to keep the water out.

Unless you buy the Spicer life series joints. I've got three years of 4x4 abuse in my welded D60 front axle and when I took them apart last month they were still clean and had grease in them. The seal design is the best I've seen, I had to put the joint in a vise and use a channel locks to pull the caps off it trunnion.

 

[NJGearhead666]

These were greasable U joints, the truck had a plow and salter since new so up here in NJ its hard to keep rust away from everything. I actually figured I would buy a used axle shaft and put a spicer in it. does any one have a used driver side axle shaft for my truck laying around they wish to part with?

 

[gonecrazyi]

Is it a dana 50 or 44hd? I think I may still have both from my d50 but I think I sold the shafts from my spare 44hd.

 

[NJGearhead666]

Is it a dana 50 or 44hd? I think I may still have both from my d50 but I think I sold the shafts from my spare 44hd.

I'm not sure what front end I have. How can I tell what one I have?

 

[franklin2]

Someone on another forum said the D44 lockout hub is 3.25 inch diameter and a d50 hub is 4 inches in diameter.