4x4 U-Joints and Axles : Wear Inspection and Replacement

[SenorNoob]

Spindle seats has me curious too. feels like another picture is in order...

 

[eightynine4x4]

It’s this piece of super thin metal. The other one has more of the lip remaining. I looked at enough videos and photos of other people doing the spindle / axle rebuild and nobody else I saw has it at all. And nobody mentions it. But it’s in the parts diagrams of the front hub system. That’s the only reason I know it’s called the spindle seat.
My theory is that it helps to prevent the spindle welding itself to the knuckle.
In any case, I didn’t want this mostly deteriorated thing sitting in my setup so I just omitted it.

 

[Curious Hound]

It’s this piece of super thin metal. The other one has more of the lip remaining. I looked at enough videos and photos of other people doing the spindle / axle rebuild and nobody else I saw has it at all. And nobody mentions it. But it’s in the parts diagrams of the front hub system. That’s the only reason I know it’s called the spindle seat.
My theory is that it helps to prevent the spindle welding itself to the knuckle.
In any case, I didn’t want this mostly deteriorated thing sitting in my setup so I just omitted it.
View attachment 118960

You taught me something today. Perhaps mine are stuck to the spindle or knuckle and I just never noticed them.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Obligatory pic below of some of the work finished, although this one doesn’t show the more difficult work such as the axle shafts and front differential. But you can still see the fresh tie / steering rods which is fun. New rotors and pads too, and new locking hubs.
I am leaving the front driveshaft out for now. I need to take more time with the u joints on that. This aLeo allows me some time to decide if I want to drill out the bracket holes in front diff and use U Bolt for the u joint instead of the little OEM clamps.

I also want to share a method I figured out for expanding a yoke if it is necessary. All of my yokes were pretty much dead on 41.3x millimeter wide, except for one that I hadn’t measured before and turns out was a little bit bent in to around 38mm wide. I had the idea becuse these parts were sitting right in the table in front of me, and I didn’t want to be banging on the yokes with a mini sledge. It’s jsut a classic expansion via nuts and threads. I happened to have these washers which seated perfectly into the flat sections inside yoke ears. This made the expansion a breeze. Took maybe a few quick attempts and it ended up spot on. Just keep the one nut clamped still and turn the other to press out. The only tricky part is keeping the shaft from rotating, but this is the shaft from a slide hammer so it conveniently had a horizontal piece at the top which i could step on to keep it from rotating.

 

[SenorNoob]

Never seen that before, but I's good to know about. I think I'd have done the same thing in your case.

 

[Jazzer]

Spreading the yoke was the method I talked about in post #43, only with all thread, glad you made it work!

 

[eightynine4x4]

Spreading the yoke was the method I talked about in post #43, only with all thread, glad you made it work!

Oh i didn’t even remember that! Haha I really need to pay better attention sometimes :0

 

[eightynine4x4]

Just an update that i took the truck on a 200 mile round trip journey and everything seems great. The new rotors and pads took some time to stop making sound, but now they are effectively silent.
With the all new tie/steering rods and ball joints, the bump steer feels much better when going over potholes and train tracks and such. Steering overall feels easier, a bit more accurate and easy to hold steady in any given position. I was able to adjust the toe to be quite decent. It’s close to perfectly straight in relation to the steering wheel, and it only pulls to one side just the slightest. Certainly with my old tires i can live with DIY alignment and then get it done for real whenever i get new tires.
I still have to install the front driveshaft…. The clips on the u joints again don’t quite fit. It’s the same issue, but this time i need to reduce the thickness to be slightly thinner than even the THIN ones. Just a smidge. Bit otherwise they’re installing very well.
Installing the front diff last week was pretty nuts. Just getting the RTV sealant to not be a total mess was the challenge. It became messy but I’m pretty sure it’s on there and sealed fine. I still haven’t added the oil, but i made sure to always check that my hubs were turned off.
I really don’t like RTV sealing the diffs. My rear diff i did like that once, then the second time i just bought a gasket. i don’t think anybody makes a gasket for the front, but i think if i ever do it again i will just custom cut my own gasket from bulk material. Handling the front diff install with RTV is just silly haha.
Anyways, all seems to be good. Just gotta get the front driveshaft and basically the whole front end is fresh at that point. I could have done my axle pivot bushings when I did my brackets last year, but they seemed strong still so i didn’t bother.
thanks for the help everyone, I’d be nowhere without this forum !
I’ll update when front driveshaft is in…

 

[Jazzer]

Now you know your truck a lot better, that’s a plus.

Good job getting it all figured out!

-Jazzer