475,000 mile F7 rear axle

[Paisano]

Ok. That's good that the ring gear size doesn't play into it. Then I'm good. Because I got 4.10 from front to rear.

Thanks Toledo.

 

[sgtsandman]

Gear ratio is gear ratio. Ring gear size doesn’t matter, only the ratio does. You could have a Dana 28 up front and a 9” in the back and it won’t matter as long as the gear ratio is the same.

 

[Paisano]

Nice. Thanks everyone. I am driving the truck now. The ominous sounds coming from underneath the truck are gone. But I'll reserve judgment until I've had several days to drive it.

I didn't have a good quality torque wrench to use on the leaf spring bolts. I made these reasonably tight. But not very tight. How tight do you guys make your leaf spring U-Bolts?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

To the German Measurements ;
Gudentite

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Nice. Thanks everyone. I am driving the truck now. The ominous sounds coming from underneath the truck are gone. But I'll reserve judgment until I've had several days to drive it.

I didn't have a good quality torque wrench to use on the leaf spring bolts. I made these reasonably tight. But not very tight. How tight do you guys make your leaf spring U-Bolts?

You should be fine. Use a paint pen and mark the nut and corresponding spot on the plate. Check a couple times to see if they move.

 

[Paisano]

I can certainly do 'good-in-tight.'

And paint pen is exactly what I've been looking for

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

A kids crayon would probably last long enough to see any movement. Or use some finger nail polish...

 

[Paisano]

I'll get the paint pen. I've tried crayon and it didn't really work out

 

[JoshT]

Since you don't have a torque wrench, before applying the paint pen I'd drive it a few days and retighten. If you are able to tighten, drive it a few more days and repeat, until they seem to stay tight. This will give everything a chance to settle in and retighten before applying the reference mark. From that point you should be good if you just check the mark occasionally.

 

[Paisano]

Good timing Josh. Yes. I tightened the leaf spring U-Bolts twice more since then. This rear axle replacement seems to be successful. There were no less than 4 different abnornal sounds coming from the drive line. All these sounds are gone now. I lean my head out the window to listen when coasting, and all I hear is tire noise on the asphalt.

 

[don4331]

All I hear is tire noise on the asphalt.

That just means your Ranger is plotting something really expensive.

 

[Paisano]

Oh.............I see. It's leading me into a false sense of security. As long as this false sense of security is a 10-year stretch..........................which it will be................Yes?