manual hub conversion keeps stripping out locking washer

[whtailhunter319]

I have a 96 ranger extended cab, 4wd 4.0 Automatic. I swapped out the auto hubs for milemarker manuals. The passengerside i had no problems with initially. Now the driverside on the other hand is a diffrent story. When i attempt to put the final torque on the outer nut the locking washer strips past the keyway stripping the dog off of the locking washer. This has happened with two diffrent washers. I used the milemarker conversion kit. Any chance the Warn conversion kit is better? It seems as if the dog on the locking washer isnt machined big enough to solidly lock it in the key way. Has anyone else experienced this??? The passenger side held on the final torque but when i pulled the rotors to have them turned the dog on that washer was half stripped as well. Is there some trick im missing?? or are they just junk to begian with or should i get a new set of spindles even though they look to not be damaged? If so wheres the best place to procure them in good shape or new for stock use?? Please someone tell me they have a solution for this as im sick of calling milemarker for new washers.

 

[Will]

I'm trying to think of a procedure thing that could cause this. The only thing I can think of is that you are putting the nut with the little tits on it on the outside and it is pulling the washer around when you torque it. The titted nut goes on first, tits out, after the preload is set, then the washer goes over the tits and into the groove, then the nut without tits goes on last and is torqued to 150ft#.

 

[wahlstrom1]

Could just be a crappy set of lock washers.....My Superwinch ones stripped during the first install, brand new outta the box. I welded them up and ground them for a perfect fit into the spindle and never had an issue afterwards. Might be worth looking into, but double check your spindle as the bad washer may have caused damage to the threads which could help cause the same issue at a later date.

 

[Downey]

i think your putting it in backwards like stated above. the nut with the holes goes on first to 15lbs then put the washer on with the little stud on the washer goes in. then you put the other nut on to 15lbs. no more or you will wear out the bearings really fast.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

i think your putting it in backwards like stated above. the nut with the holes goes on first to 15lbs then put the washer on with the little stud on the washer goes in. then you put the other nut on to 15lbs. no more or you will wear out the bearings really fast.

You've got to stop throwing out false information all the time....

Put the first lock nut on (the one with the pin on it) and tighten in down while spinning the brake rotor until it doesn't want to tighten anymore with a ratchet by hand (about 35 ft lbs), back off 1/4 turn, adjust to 16 INCH lbs. Install flat locking washer . Install outer lock nut, torque to 150 FT lbs (if you have larger tires/ off set wheels, torque to 220+ FT LBS.)

 

[Downey]

read this

CLICK ME

is that how you are installing the nuts and washer with the holes

 

[whtailhunter319]

ok, thanks for some of the inputs. But to dispell assumptions of my inability to read technical data, yes i followed the installation instructions perfect. I did the swap last winter and had no issues until this Aug when i removed the rotors to be turned. When reinstalling is when things went bad. One side went smooth as a babys bottom while the other as soon as i got past about 75ftslbs on the correct outer nut the dog on the locking washer failed and stripped off allowing the outer nut to turn the inner nut and unable to get the prescribed 150ft lbs without grossly overtourqing the bearings. I called milemarker and got another set of washers assuming is was just component failure. But when they arrived I attempted to install them after inspecting the spindle keyway for damage. Again one side went pefrect the other side repeated the same incident. I removed the 2nd damaged washer and threw on the other new one to check the fit of the dog into the keyway again and notieced the dog is definatly alot smaller then the keyway allowing the slop and the ease in which to strip out. I guess i will have to beef one up in order to get both sides correct. Thanks for the input.

 

[Hahnsb2]

I recall this happening to someone else...

They ended up adding some material to the key by welding on it and grinding/filing it into shape resulting in a much tighter fit.

 

[chris1044]

So is the only solution to this to weld the lock washer dog up, re-grind it, and make sure it fits in the slot better? I had the same problem today on one side when packing the wheel bearings.

And yes, I'm installing them right, the problem is there's a ton of slop/the dog on the lock washer doesn't even sit fully down in the groove provided on the spindle....using spicer parts FWIW

 

[MountainMike]

If you keep running into issues with these washer it maybe be worth it to pick up a set of Ford ones. That's what I did because we had some in stock and I didn't really find it worth waiting for the WARN or Spicer versions. Just get them to look up the nuts for the same truck as your but with manual hubs.

 

[RangerSVT]

The dana 35 is notorious for having a bad wheel bearing locknut design. I have had this problem as well as Jay'94. Double check to make sure it is not creating a groove in the spindle threads, as it did both mine and Jay's (though it is hardly noticeable). We both used new lock washers, only to have the same thing happen less than 100 miles later. The last fix we did was to use a spacer between the bearing and inner lock nut, to move the location of the lock washer away from the normal contact area on the spindle threads. There have been members that have used the dana 44 lock nuts/washers on the 35 axle...Stage 8 makes an awesome lock nut kit for he 44, but it will NOT clear the 35 locking hub (we have tried)...
SVT

 

[legoms013]

I have the same problem with my right side keyed washer...which I ordered here from TRS. The "dog" or key is not a tight fit into the spindle keyway, so the slop allows it to gouge itself into a groove of a thread and when the outer nut is torqued to spec.

For now I used a punch and mushroomed the key out so it has a bigger "footprint", and thus there is less slop inside the keyway, and so far this has worked ok, but I ordered another set of lockout washers to see if a new one would fit better, if it doesn't I'm gonna do like several people have already mentioned and weld a little bit on it, then grind for a tight fit.

 

[chris1044]

If you keep running into issues with these washer it maybe be worth it to pick up a set of Ford ones. That's what I did because we had some in stock and I didn't really find it worth waiting for the WARN or Spicer versions. Just get them to look up the nuts for the same truck as your but with manual hubs.

It's funny you mention this...my truck has had manual hubs on it for years, and when I did them I was working as a tech - the lock nuts/washer came from the Ford dealership we dealt with for parts. I've never had an issue with those, and I do wheel bearing service at least once every 6 months.

The truck I'm doing now isn't mine, and they're spicer parts...not sure if they've cheapened up or what, but they suck, big time...will likely weld and grind them so the dog goes deeper into the land; right now it looks like it's just barely catching on the threads of the spindle

 

[MountainMike]

That is a pretty funny coincidence on you using them on your truck.

 

[chris1044]

Just to update for those who have this issue and find this thread in the future:

I didn't buy the Ford parts...instead I welded the lock washer ear and then ground it down properly so it fit nice and snug in the groove on the spindle. Not only did I make it taller, I made it wider so there's no slop.

Long story short, it works like a charm now...no way it can move up onto the threads as it fits pretty damn tight against the threads on the bottom of the spindle when installed.


For anyone doing this conversion with non Ford parts, I'd highly highly recommend having the washer welded to fit better...