front u-joint/ axle loose

[wftree]

I was under my truck the other day adding some grease. When I went to grease the front passenger side u-joint it was loose. Not that is was worn out but I could move it up and down. It appears to be moving inside the axle housing? The drivers side is tight

Any ideas why.

WFTREE

I hate to do this but until this site gets a little more useage I am dual posting on that other tightly controled site called the "peoples republic of the diesel stop."

 

[Dale_Lakin]

How much movement are you getting? Only possibility I can think of is that you have lost a few of the needle bearings in the u-joint cap maybe?

 

[wftree]

No the U-joint is tight it is the axle moving inside the housing toward the pumpkin????

 

[ISurvivedNMU]

Does the hub fuunction, and does the 4x4 work... FWIW, I believe there is a clip that holds them in place... Im not familiar with he 450's.

There are some excellent mechanics in the Medium Duty forum, and it fits better there...

 

[Pacific]

I would disconect the drive shaft and grab ahold of the yoke on the front axle and see how much is moves. It shouldn't move actually because the bearings that hold the pinion are preloaded

If this is so take it to a shop that specializes in rear ends/axles get axle fixed. If its been hammering you may have to replace bearings and have the gears reset. I know some people say try do it yourself but I feel a good shop can get them set up properly.

My second question are you having gear lube drooling out the pinion seal ?

The thing with F-450s the Dana 60 is sort of small for a 1.5 ton truck sure they beefed up the housing abit but its still only a 9 3/4 ring gear or so. You get a heavy load on a 450 and you have it in 4wheeldrive that pinion shaft is seeing some stress.

Look at what Marmon Herrington put under the F-Superduty and 3500HD 4x4 conversions they used a custom made Dana 70. So they knew that a 60 isn't quite strong enough gear wise.

What happens when you put a heavy load on a ring and pinion it starts to deflect. Unless the front axle gears are reverse cut (stronger) then its not so bad compared to regular cut gears which are weaker in a front drive application.

Anyhow to sum it up you maybe looking at a expensive repair good thing you may have caught it in time where you may save some more damage.

A bad U joint usually squeeks or if its real bad it clunks. If its greaseable I may have been changed once already I don't know if Ford factory installs lubeable U joints.

To check U joints grab ahold of the Yoke on the axle and the driveshaft and twist to see if there is play.

You will get some up and down play at the slip joint if the splines are worn.

 

[wftree]

I am not loosing a drop of Gear oil out that side of the axle, or anywhere else. and the U joint is brand new and tight. No Ford does not put on greasable ones. The hub functions fine. I guess it may be a trip to the shop. I will spend a little more time checking it out this weekend if I get the chance.

WFTREE

 

[ISurvivedNMU]

Mine have freasable U joints.. Thats the only thing greasable on the truck...

 

[Pacific]

Thats odd if the pinion shaft is moving up and down most of the time it takes out the pinion seal and you have gear oil weeping out.

Well you will find out the problem atleast it doesn't affect the drivablity of the truck.

 

[Dale_Lakin]

Are you talking about the axle shaft u-joint or the driveshaft u-joint?

edit: Nevermind I reread it. And see your talking about the axle shaft joint. If there is play in the shaft side to side you have had to of broken a snap-ring. Look at the illustration I attached in the next post because I can't figure out how to attach when editing ...top left see 3B396 aka hub lockout then going to the right there is a 1B093 aka snap-ring. The axle will move probably 3/4-1" side to side without that snap-ring.

 

[Duke]

He's talking about the axle shaft.

 

[Dale_Lakin]

Originally posted by Duke
He's talking about the axle shaft.

Yea I didn't reread his first post until after I replied the one feller is talking about a driveshaft problem with the pinion etc...

BTW ALL Ford Frt axles that I am aware of have ALWAYS been reverse spiral/cut/rotation whatever you want to call them.

Anyway here is the picture

And I might be a little on the strong side at 3/4-1" more like 1/2-3/4"

 

[Duke]

You're right, Ford uses reverse cut front differentials, which are stronger than the standard differentials.

The Dana 60 Ford uses in the 450/550 is plenty strong for its' intended use. I've used mine hard, never beaten, but used in deep mud, way overloaded, and never had a problem in 6 years. (knock on wood).

I rarely hear of a 450/550 axle breaking, other than a locking hub or a non greaseable upper/lower ball joint going bad.

 

[Dale_Lakin]

Originally posted by Duke
I rarely hear of a 450/550 axle breaking, other than a locking hub or a non greaseable upper/lower ball joint going bad.

The plow people tend to snap alot of them but I contribute that to the wheels being turned to much and a good blast of RPM's binding the u-joint and then snapping the ears off of the yokes on the sshafts themselves. They are pretty stout axles though ashame Ford had to go to ball joints vice the old kingpin knuckles though..That was the start of the wussification of the Ford F450 and the Dana 60 IMO and today it is continued on with the coil springs