Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and eightynine4x4
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 779
- City
- New York
- Vehicle Year
- 1989
- Engine
- 2.9 V6
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Total Lift
- 2.5" Suspension
- Tire Size
- 31 x 10.5 x 15
Hey everyone,
Haven’t been here in a while, as I’ve had my work cut out for me and just had to hunker down with the shop manual.
For a few of you who may remember, I’m the guy who‘s wheel flew off while driving last summer! And i was hauling a bunch of large windows, which made it extra sweet fun. The windows made it out ok, I guess since I had built quite the burly wood crate in the bed of the truck. Usually i take pics of absolutely everything interesting with this truck, but this event was such a shocker of an experience that I was too stunned to think about it on the scene and for even the next 24 hours while I rescued the truck and got it home. Wish i had some pics of the truck tilting 30 degree on the side of the road with giant windows teetering high up.
There was damage to a few major suspension and wheel components in that one wheel area including the 4x4 shaft. So, seeing as how my 4x4 U joints already were sloppy and clattered while operating, and also seeing how if I replaced various wheel parts on one wheel i may as well buy sets and do both wheels, and also seeing as how i was going to have everything opened up so may as well do more stuff, I set about the following…
All Ball Joints
Full steering rod/tie replacement
Rotors and pads
All front hub stuff, so bearings and all little things that go spinny spin
All 4x4 axle shaft and related U joints
Dropped the front 4x4 Diff of course, so replaced the seals on either side of it and of course the RTV sealant after throughly cleaning surfaces
Replaced the damaged axle shaft, with help from @Shran here ! Thank you sir for that part, it was game changing to get the OEM instead of something close but not the same.
Front driveshaft Double Cardon joints and ball thingy. It was interesting to find a replacement part number. Ended up scouring all sorts of aftermarket catalogs to find a refefence chart to original Dana Spicer parts that they were copying, and then was able to figure out the number and get the original Spicer.
I am left trying to figure out one or two small things however..
I can’t really reuse the clamps that were around the rubber boots… one boot on the front driveshaft and another boot on the front 4x4 axle shafts near the diff. One of four clamps was missing anyways. So, I’m loooking to replace them all. Every hose clamp I’ve found on the interweb has too wide of the dimension to fit. They need to be just 1/4” wide. Hose clamps are all in the 3/8” range.
So I’ve considered using steel zip ties. These are under 1/4” and have done me well in the past for other things. But will those cut into the rubber over time? It’s hard to tell. The original ones may have softer edges.
Another solution, which i currently have installed, is basic ABS plastic zip ties. Easy peasy. The front axle shaft is probably good to go like this, but the boot for the front driveshaft is pretty close to the exhaust pipe. Gets really hot in that area. It’s maybe 6 inches away, below it and to the side. So i probably can’t depend on that lasting very long at all, maybe a few drives.
Here is a pic of the ones i removed. Anybody have a go-to solution for replacing them?
I’ve got more questions after this but will need to follow up later about those.
Haven’t been here in a while, as I’ve had my work cut out for me and just had to hunker down with the shop manual.
For a few of you who may remember, I’m the guy who‘s wheel flew off while driving last summer! And i was hauling a bunch of large windows, which made it extra sweet fun. The windows made it out ok, I guess since I had built quite the burly wood crate in the bed of the truck. Usually i take pics of absolutely everything interesting with this truck, but this event was such a shocker of an experience that I was too stunned to think about it on the scene and for even the next 24 hours while I rescued the truck and got it home. Wish i had some pics of the truck tilting 30 degree on the side of the road with giant windows teetering high up.
There was damage to a few major suspension and wheel components in that one wheel area including the 4x4 shaft. So, seeing as how my 4x4 U joints already were sloppy and clattered while operating, and also seeing how if I replaced various wheel parts on one wheel i may as well buy sets and do both wheels, and also seeing as how i was going to have everything opened up so may as well do more stuff, I set about the following…
All Ball Joints
Full steering rod/tie replacement
Rotors and pads
All front hub stuff, so bearings and all little things that go spinny spin
All 4x4 axle shaft and related U joints
Dropped the front 4x4 Diff of course, so replaced the seals on either side of it and of course the RTV sealant after throughly cleaning surfaces
Replaced the damaged axle shaft, with help from @Shran here ! Thank you sir for that part, it was game changing to get the OEM instead of something close but not the same.
Front driveshaft Double Cardon joints and ball thingy. It was interesting to find a replacement part number. Ended up scouring all sorts of aftermarket catalogs to find a refefence chart to original Dana Spicer parts that they were copying, and then was able to figure out the number and get the original Spicer.
I am left trying to figure out one or two small things however..
I can’t really reuse the clamps that were around the rubber boots… one boot on the front driveshaft and another boot on the front 4x4 axle shafts near the diff. One of four clamps was missing anyways. So, I’m loooking to replace them all. Every hose clamp I’ve found on the interweb has too wide of the dimension to fit. They need to be just 1/4” wide. Hose clamps are all in the 3/8” range.
So I’ve considered using steel zip ties. These are under 1/4” and have done me well in the past for other things. But will those cut into the rubber over time? It’s hard to tell. The original ones may have softer edges.
Another solution, which i currently have installed, is basic ABS plastic zip ties. Easy peasy. The front axle shaft is probably good to go like this, but the boot for the front driveshaft is pretty close to the exhaust pipe. Gets really hot in that area. It’s maybe 6 inches away, below it and to the side. So i probably can’t depend on that lasting very long at all, maybe a few drives.
Here is a pic of the ones i removed. Anybody have a go-to solution for replacing them?
I’ve got more questions after this but will need to follow up later about those.
