Anyone seen these locking D35/D44 spindle nuts?

[pjtoledo]

OK. my experience is with a '77 F150 and '78 Bronco, both had Dana 44. the nuts are inside the hub housing on those. didn't get into Rangers until 2000, it has the full time front hubs. so I'll have to admit lack of knowledge on the Ranger locking hubs.

 

[4x4junkie]

Yeah the spindle nuts are fully exposed on the TTB Dana35. However there just is not that much room between the nut and the inside of the hub, so I still don't think they will fit (same goes for the F-150 ratcheting nuts).

I have been tempted to give the Blitzkrieg nuts a shot though just to see how they work, but after I started tightening the stock nuts to 225ft-lbs, they haven't backed off anymore, so that leaves me without a real good reason to spend close to $100 on a problem I no longer have (I have had them loosen when tightened to the book-spec of 150 ft-lbs).

 

[BlackBII]

Yeah the spindle nuts are fully exposed on the TTB Dana35. However there just is not that much room between the nut and the inside of the hub, so I still don't think they will fit (same goes for the F-150 ratcheting nuts).

I have been tempted to give the Blitzkrieg nuts a shot though just to see how they work, but after I started tightening the stock nuts to 225ft-lbs, they haven't backed off anymore, so that leaves me without a real good reason to spend close to $100 on a problem I no longer have (I have had them loosen when tightened to the book-spec of 150 ft-lbs).

Dang. I was hoping the F150 nuts would work, but they may be too big.

The problem I have is that the little pin on the inner nut shears off easily, and then when tightening the outer nut to 200+ft-lbs the inner nut will also tighten and makes the bearing too tight. I've been able to replace the pin with a needle bearing, but the whole setup just seems prone to failure.

When I swapped the Dana 35 into my Ranger, I bought a new set of nuts and now both pins have already sheared off, either from me tightening them too much or they are just garbage.

 

[Curious Hound]

The washer with the tab that fits down into the keyway should prevent the inner nut from turning when you torque the outer nut. I would like something better. But as mentioned above, the D35 manual hubs limit us on the OD of what we install.

I tried a normal tabbed washer like what is used with bearing nuts on industrial machinery. But that size is hard to find. I also had to cut off all the unused external tabs so the hub would fit back over it. Not a great solution.

I had a washer (the original thick kind) whose tab wasn't engaging as much as I wanted. So i gently squeezed the washer in a vice to narrow the ID and make sure the tab fit securely in the keyway when installed. Haven't had any problems yet.

Eric B

 

[BlackBII]

The washer with the tab that fits down into the keyway should prevent the inner nut from turning when you torque the outer nut. I would like something better. But as mentioned above, the D35 manual hubs limit us on the OD of what we install.

I tried a normal tabbed washer like what is used with bearing nuts on industrial machinery. But that size is hard to find. I also had to cut off all the unused external tabs so the hub would fit back over it. Not a great solution.

I had a washer (the original thick kind) whose tab wasn't engaging as much as I wanted. So i gently squeezed the washer in a vice to narrow the ID and make sure the tab fit securely in the keyway when installed. Haven't had any problems yet.

Eric B

Yeah the tabbed washer will prevent the inner nut from turning, provided the tab is large enough to actually fit in the key slot. Just last week I was able to weld on some additional material to the tab to make it a tighter fit, and it's been okay since then.

I'm just looking for a better solution.

I picked up some of the F-150 nuts at AutoZone for $1.99 each. They must have made an error pricing them... Part Number 615-128.1. They appear to be too large but I will find out tonight.

I did find these, though I believe at 2.5" they will be too large to fit in the hub. With some machining they could be made to work.

Nut

Washer

 

[4x4junkie]

Dang. I was hoping the F150 nuts would work, but they may be too big.

The problem I have is that the little pin on the inner nut shears off easily, and then when tightening the outer nut to 200+ft-lbs the inner nut will also tighten and makes the bearing too tight. I've been able to replace the pin with a needle bearing, but the whole setup just seems prone to failure.

When I swapped the Dana 35 into my Ranger, I bought a new set of nuts and now both pins have already sheared off, either from me tightening them too much or they are just garbage.

That sounds like crappy nuts (pins) to me, I've never had an issue with sheared pins.
One time I have had the tab slip out of the groove though (partly damaging the threads right next to the slot). I too welded a tiny bit of metal to the tab and then ground it down square and it's not done that anymore.
The nuts on mine I believe are original OE nuts (they should be, the axle came straight from Ford with the manual hubs option). I've seen where the Warn conversion nuts don't fit quite as snugly, I would suggest stick with the Spicer 28068X nuts mentioned in this thread.

 

[BlackBII]

That sounds like crappy nuts (pins) to me, I've never had an issue with sheared pins.
One time I have had the tab slip out of the groove though (partly damaging the threads right next to the slot). I too welded a tiny bit of metal to the tab and then ground it down square and it's not done that anymore.
The nuts on mine I believe are original OE nuts (they should be, the axle came straight from Ford with the manual hubs option). I've seen where the Warn conversion nuts don't fit quite as snugly, I would suggest stick with the Spicer 28068X nuts mentioned in this thread.

I do believe that is the case; they may have been Dorman(P/N: 05305) nuts and not Dana/Spicer. I think I got them from RockAuto, and looking now they only carry Dorman.

Interestingly, my cousin had some outer nuts actually split in half(perpendicular to the threads), and I believe his were Dorman as well.

 

[Curious Hound]

Those are the tabbed washers I referred to. The tabs will fit your original nuts. So you don't really need to buy those $20 nuts. Notice also that the website you found doesn't list a price for the washer. You won't like the price when you ask them for a quote.

The inner nut for the auto-hubs with the little key that you fish out with a magnet is actually an elegant solution. I looked long and hard at mine trying to find an easy way to modify it for use with the manual hubs.

Eric B

 

[BlackBII]

Those are the tabbed washers I referred to. The tabs will fit your original nuts. So you don't really need to buy those $20 nuts. Notice also that the website you found doesn't list a price for the washer. You won't like the price when you ask them for a quote.

The inner nut for the auto-hubs with the little key that you fish out with a magnet is actually an elegant solution. I looked long and hard at mine trying to find an easy way to modify it for use with the manual hubs.

Eric B

The tabbed washers can be bought on Amazon for $5 and the nuts are $7

I was looking at those because they are listed at being .5" thick, which would make them ideal for adding more pins or even some allen bolts with a little machining, like the warn 37207 kit.

Unfortunately, the wheel bearing retaining nut used by the Auto hubs won't fit in the manual hub. Although with a little grinding, one could make it fit.

And confirming what we already know, the F150 nut is too big

Auto hub

Manual hub

Locknut

F150 Nut

 

[BlackBII]

Made my own version of the discontinued Warn 37207 set.

Jeep JA000865 washer vs RBV washer. Notice the much larger tab.

Drilled out the pin holes and added some larger 1/8" steel dowel pins.

Drilled and tapped two 8-32 holes in the outer nut. Using a dana 44 washer with the tabs ground off. The dana 44 washer has a much better tab on it. Dorman 618-041

 

[Kona]

The washer with the tab that fits down into the keyway should prevent the inner nut from turning when you torque the outer nut. I would like something better. But as mentioned above, the D35 manual hubs limit us on the OD of what we install.

I tried a normal tabbed washer like what is used with bearing nuts on industrial machinery. But that size is hard to find. I also had to cut off all the unused external tabs so the hub would fit back over it. Not a great solution.

I had a washer (the original thick kind) whose tab wasn't engaging as much as I wanted. So i gently squeezed the washer in a vice to narrow the ID and make sure the tab fit securely in the keyway when installed. Haven't had any problems yet.

Eric B

Dana 35 keywat is shit because it is threads not solid , I have a pile of screwed spindles in my scrap pile

 

[97Ranger3.0]

Made my own version of the discontinued Warn 37207 set.

Jeep JA000865 washer vs RBV washer. Notice the much larger tab.

Drilled out the pin holes and added some larger 1/8" steel dowel pins.

Drilled and tapped two 8-32 holes in the outer nut. Using a dana 44 washer with the tabs ground off. The dana 44 washer has a much better tab on it. Dorman 618-041

BlackBII -

I have a few questions on this setup. I replicated what you have done here (at least I think I did based on your pictures and this article https://www.therangerstation.com/tech/blackbiis-dana-35-ttb-spindle-lock-nut-mod/). But, my locking hub interferes with the extra lock washer & bolts. With everything installed like you have it, I have still another 1/8" that my locking hub just won't clear so it won't fully seat. So I'm wondering, are you running the Warn Jeep hubs, rather than the factory Ford hubs?

Or, for your inner lock nuts, are those still the stock ones just with the larger pin? Or did you use outer lock nuts and add a pin to those for the inner locknuts? That's about the only way I could see it working on my truck.

I would really like to do something similar to this setup but like I said, it didn't clear on my factory hubs. If anyone has any insight on this, I'd appreciate it!

 

[97Ranger3.0]

Also I did not have good luck with those Jeep washers. I installed it, then started to tighten up the outer lock nut and noticed the inner one was spinning too. So I backed it off and found this lol. The one on the left I haven't used yet, the one on the right is the one that got wrecked. Apparently that tab didn't hold up too well, even though it's longer and should in theory hold better.

 

[Curious Hound]

Even with a good tabbed washer, it is wise to hold the inner locknut while tightening the outer one. It takes about 7 hands, the coordination of a surgeon and strength of a gorilla to do it. But it can be done.

 

[BlackBII]

@97Ranger3.0

I'm using Jeep Warn hubs. I don't remember which nuts were which... I had a bin full of them. I can pull my wheel off and look, but I do recall having some that were thicker than others. I believe it was the parts store Dorman ones that were too thick, so I got some originals from a junkyard.

How did you manage to wreck a washer like that???